Dominique Jean Larrey Dominique Jean Larrey ( ; 8 July 1766 – 25 July 1842 ) was a French in Napoleon ' s army and an important innovator in battlefield medicine . Biography . Larrey was born in the little village of Beaudéan , in the Pyrenees to bourgeois parents , who later moved to Bordeaux . Larrey was orphaned at the age of 13 . He was then raised by his uncle Alexis , who was chief surgeon in Toulouse . After serving a 6 - year apprenticeship , he went to Paris to study under the great Desault , who was chief surgeon at the Hôtel - Dieu de Paris . His studies were cut short by war . Larrey was surgeon - in - chief of the Napoleon ic armies from Italy in 1797 to Waterloo in 1815 . During this time , he initiated the modern method of army surgery , field hospitals and the system of army ambulance corps . After seeing the speed with which the carriages of the French " flying artillery " maneuvered across the battlefields , Larrey adapted them as " Flying Ambulances " for rapid transport of the wounded and manned them with trained crews of drivers , corpsmen and litterbearers . Larrey also increased the mobility and improved the organization of field hospitals , effectively creating a forerunner of the modern MASH units . He established a rule for the triage of war casualties , treating the wounded according to the seriousness of their injuries and urgency of need for medical care , regardless of their rank or nationality . Soldiers of enemy armies , as well as those of the French and their allies , were treated . Larrey was made a Commandeur of the Légion d ' honneur on 12 May 1807 . He was a favorite of the Emperor , who commented , ' If the army ever erects a monument to express its gratitude , it should do so in honor of Larrey ' , he was ennobled as a Baron on the field of Wagram in 1809 . In 1811 , Baron Larrey co - led the surgical team that performed a pre - anesthetic mastectomy on Frances Burney in Paris . Her detailed account of this operation gives insight into early 19th century doctor - patient relationships , and early surgical methods in the home of the patient . At Waterloo in 1815 his courage under fire was noticed by the Duke of Wellington who ordered his soldiers not to fire in his direction so as to ' give the brave man time to gather up the wounded ' and saluted ' the courage and devotion of an age that is no longer ours ' . Larrey was taken prisoner by the Prussians and condemned to death . However , he was recognized by one of the German surgeons , who pleaded for his life . Perhaps partly because he had saved the life of Blücher ' s son when he was wounded and taken prisoner by the French , he was pardoned , invited at Blücher ' s dinner table as a guest and taken back to France under escort . He devoted the remainder of his life to writing and a civilian medical career . He died on July 25 , 1842 in Lyon . Often considered the first modern military surgeon , Larrey ' s writings are still regarded as valuable sources of surgical and medical knowledge and have been translated into all modern languages . His statue in bronze , as sculpted by David d ' Angers in 1843 , is standing in the courtyard outside the Val - de - Grâce military hospital . His son Hippolyte was surgeon - in - ordinary to the emperor Napoleon III .