Once the US started to escalate its presence in the area in the 1960's, the tunnels where expanded and the tunnel system covered a distance of over 250 kilometres, from the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh city . Medical advances made in the Vietnam War are still used today Public Domain The use of medevac helicopters to provide in-transport medical care in the Vietnam War saved countless lives. We didnt just take care of their physical wounds, any nurse that has served in any war zone will tell you, says Grace Lilleg Moore, who was a second lieutenant at the Armys 12th Evacuation Hospital in Cu Chi in 196869. Washington, DC On Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 7 p.m., the National Archives, in partnership with the National Library of Medicine, will present a panel of Vietnam veterans and historians to recount their experiences and explain the duties of medical personnel in Vietnam. Lou Eisenbrand and her colleagues at Chu Lai took up waterskiing. The records pertaining to your medical care would be filed in your individual medical records. Medical Journal Armed Forces India 2010: 66: 304-08. Today, the statue is a popular tourist destination and a reminder of these often-forgotten veterans. Among them was the use of frozen blood products. } Because of this phenomenon, Vietnam nurses were faced with more patients and more severely wounded men than they had seen in previous conflicts. Nursesworked 12 hours a day, six days a week, caring for soldiers with horrifying injuries. An individuals status depended on the amount of time spent in-country. A U.S. Air Force flight nurse and a Red Cross nurse attend to the needs of American wounded prior to their aeromedical evacuation from Tan Son Nhut Air Base in the Republic of Vietnam. These are some of their photos of the experience. The hospital also provided medical care to the Free World Military Assistance Forces and civilian war casualties. I was responsible for them," Four later told Whyy. The deployment of additional hospitals to Vietnam continued throughout 1966and 1967. A soldier wounded during a battle with the Viet Cong in the Central Highlands is treated by a nurse at an Army hospital on the South Vietnamese coast in February 1965. One 1964 ad showed an attractive, well-scrubbed nurse at work and out on the town, emphasizing that modern nursings most stimulating jobs also included the fine social life that is part of being an Army officer., Another Army brochure actually declared, Dont be surprised if a diamond crops up on your left hand!, As the war escalated, some ads appealed to nurses patriotism, but glamour and empowerment remained central recruiting messages. The use of helicopters allowed wounded soldiers or Marines to reach hospitals much faster than in previous wars. After a Vietnamese rifle severed his spinal cord, Ron Kovic bounced around Vietnam field hospitals and eventually landed in a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in New York. Two combat medics received their Medals of Honor in 2017 army medic James C. McCloughan and Special Forces medic and retired Army captain Gary Rose. I think I was always on the verge of sleeping, waiting for that call and choppers overhead.. Heading up her own staff. Nha Trang Air Base. Title: 3rd Field Hospital, Saigon, Vietnam (US Army Photo) [photograph] Journal: USARV Medical Bulletin, Vol. [1], The 95th Evacuation Hospital was again activated on 26 March 1963 and inactivated in South Vietnam 28 March 1973. [2] During operations in Morocco, Algiers, and Italy, it was attached to the U.S. Fifth Army and to the U.S. While many who served in Vietnam longed for home, the return wasnt always easy. Unsurprisingly, these crews like all combat medics were highly respected by soldiers. They were assigned in the II, III, and IV combat tactical zones at the 8th (Nha Trang) and 3d and 17th (Saigon) Field Hospitals, the 12th (Cu Chi), 24th (Long Fortunately, his captain felt that having a soldier who refused to fight would not be ideal in a battle situation and persuaded the Pentagon to issue Sherman conscientious objector status and assign him as a medic. This was especially true during the brutal and deadly Tet Offensive. Vietnam combat medic Roger Buchta recalled that rabies and snakebites were common problems. Nurses who went to work in civilian hospitals after the war were often frustrated by the limitations of their jobs. The rate of major amputations, 5.2% of all serious injuries and 7.4% of all major limb injuries, is similar to earlier conflicts, including Vietnam. However, as Novosel explained at the 2003 hearing, because Dustoff crews are technically assigned to aviation units, they still are not eligible for the Combat Medic's Badge. Vietnam Special Forces combat medic Gary Michael Rose told the Army website that under heavy fire, he could only give the wounded enough morphine to help them walk without assistance. This new medevac system saved the lives of thousands of men who in previous conflicts would have died in the battlefield waiting for medical assistance. Mandatory deployment to Vietnam lasted one year, with the option to extend. Although most infantry guys greatly appreciated and respected the nurses, not everyone showed those good angels the same respect. Recruiters targeted high schools, colleges and career fairs; ran newspaper articles; aired radio and television commercials; and assigned existing Army nurses to work as recruitment counselors. Not only was it necessary for the staff to build and run this tent hospital, they were also required to use their spare time to visit a new site under construction on My Khe Beach between Camp Tien Sha and Marble Mountain Air Facility. Vietnam combat medic Wayne Smith admitted that the heat of battle got to him. This was the first time blood type O negative had been used for universal donations which it still is today. In addition, a new type of container had been developed that could keep blood viable for 48 to 72 hours in the field long enough to move it to hospitals near the frontlines. A soldier would step on it: instant injury and certain infection.. Among the recipients was Thomas Bennett, who was killed in February 1969 while trying to save a wounded soldier during heavy fire. Item Description Just south of Da Nang stand the Marble Mountains, in which was concealed an underground Viet Cong hospital that was supposedly within earshot of the U.S. Marble Mountain Air Facility. 11/9/2016 12:00:46 AM. Item Description. Every person who ever worked or lived on a medical base became conditioned to feel a rush of adrenaline at the distinctive whoop, whoop, whoop sound of an approaching helicopter. When ONeill, who opposed the war, asked about Vietnam, the recruiter told her not to worry about Vietnam because there was long line of nurses waiting to go there. By the end of June, the hospital had experienced an additional 1215 admissions and 1188 outpatients for a total of 2476 admissions in the first 63 days of operation. Theora L. Peyton (Arlington, VA), changes an intravenous saline bottle on a patient at the 3rd Field Hospital. The 91st EVAC. A soldier wounded during a battle with the Viet Cong in the Central Highlands is treated The nurses in Vietnam were among the most heroic Americans there. Civilian Vietnamese women were hired to handle laundry and housekeeping. Yet the nurses had made an enormous difference in the lives of so many young GIs. A helicopter was shot down on our side of firebase Landing Zone Judy the morning I left for home, and 30 men died that day too. Vets make up 9.7% of their generation. Some drank or turned to drugs, problems that sometimes followed them home. She is currently completing her doctorate in nursing at Missouri State University. Topic: a journal of the liberal arts, Some remarks, by way of contrast, on war surgery, old and new, Journal of the Association of the Military Surgeons of the United States, The evolution of casualty evacuation in the British Army in the 20th century (Part II) 19181945, The contribution of the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group to military surgery during World War II with special references to thoracic surgery, The surgical management of the wounded in the Mediterranean theater at the time at the time of the fall of Rome, Battle casualties and medical statistics. (AP) The nurses in Vietnam were among the most heroic Americans there. Wellcome Collection The Chain of Evacuation After completing basic training in bases around the U.S., some were assigned as combat medics and transferred for ten weeks of medical training, often to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Like many of the men going over to Vietnam to serve their country, young women from all over the nation volunteered to serve as nurses in the hospitals and medical facilities in South Vietnam. That was it. Published online by Cambridge University Press: The successes of the MASH and aeromedical evacuation system in Korea were a watershed for military medical care, and the lessons learned, later applied and refined during the Vietnam War, have proved just as applicable today as they were in the 1950s. "useRatesEcommerce": false 472.3.2 Records of the Office of the Deputy Chief . 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians died. Some nurses who saw active duty during the war were never stationed in Vietnam, serving instead aboard Navy hospital ships or at U.S. military bases elsewhere in Asia. Some nurses who saw active duty during the war were never stationed in Vietnam, serving instead aboard Navy hospital ships or at U.S. military bases elsewhere in Asia. The goal, about 12, 000 kilometers (7500 miles) away: Southern Vietnam. More scenes of seriously wounded patients being treated and prepared for surgery. They arrived in Vietnam with various levels of nursing experience, from newcomers to the field with barley six months of Nursing under their belts to experienced veterans of twenty plus years. Vietnam War Tunnels Tour Chu Chi & Long Tan Battle Field. But, I knew I couldmake a difference nursing-wise, and so I volunteered to go.. CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed. Without body armor or even bulletproof helmets, medics were in as much danger as their comrades and sometimes more. By the evening of 7 July, the hospital reported 323 beds operational. They were under intense physical and mental pressure.". 2. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. The number of American personnel wounded in combat during the Vietnam War outnumbered those killed in action by more than six to one. The U.S. Army Support Command, Vietnam, reactivated the 3rd Field Hospital in May 1965 to provide the best medical facilities in the country for American Forces. Not all the nurses who joined expected to serve in a combat zone. The6th Convalescent Center was established at Cam Ranh Bay. Such speedy medical evacuation significantly improved the odds of surviving even severe wounds. New roads are being built between Da Nang and Sn M. Only 35 percent had two or more years of nursing experience when they were commissioned. Nurses there worked 12-hour shifts for six days a week. During 1966 and 1967, four surgical hospitals, six evacuationhospitals, and another hospital unit of a field hospital arrived in-country. The unit was staffed with approximately 40 doctors, 40 nurses, and 220 enlisted men. Feel inspired by your work. hbbd``b`]@*lZA"k V`biX@; Claire Starnes Collection (Vietnam Women Veterans Association) [VA053676], Vietnam Center 6th Triennial Symposium Session - Saving Lives in Vietnam: Nurses, Aidmen, and Dustoff Pilots, William Foulke Collection (Department of the Army Special Photographic Office (DASPO)) [va035970], Frances T. Shea Buckley Collection [va045054], Frances T. Shea Buckley Collection [va044489], Frances T. Shea Buckley Collection [va044893], Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, 2023 Texas Tech University, 2023 Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive. There were so many traumatic things that happened. %
The 3rd Field Hospital, with an illustrious history of service in the South Pacific during W.W.II and in Korea, was reactivated at Ft. Lewis, Washington on 11 March 1965 to provide medical support for a rapidly expanding US commitment in another fight for freedom. View Count 21580. In fall 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) the army of North Vietnam began artillery bombardments against U.S. troops stationed in the highlands, near Laos. Nurses also treated prisoners of war and civilians, including women and children brought to American hospitals for treatment. But when I was in combat I was tainted by this blood lust and I, too, became a combat soldier.". When they arrived, nurses were assigned to their housing units. Writing in The New York Times, Vietnam combat medic Rafael Matos of the First Armored Division explained that during the Tet Offensive, he and his fellow three medics were constantly on duty. 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