Vietnam+Doctors

=Vietnam Doctors= = = = =

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, advisors from the United States of America went to Vietnam; and with them came medical responsibility. Pretty soon, American troops went to Southeast Asia as well. In April 1962, the 8th field hospital arrived at Nha Tang with dental, and orthopedic detachments. Helicopters helped save many lives in the conflict, both friend and foe. In the helicopter ambulances, the patients were usually brought to a hospital. Some of the hospitals were inflatable. They were called medical unit, self-contained, transportable (MUST). The inflatable hospitals were moved in shipping containers. These hospitals included air conditioning, could be heated, and had full electricity. The first MUST was in Tay Ninh, which was the 45th surgical hospital. It arrived in November 1966. The price of one of these hospitals was about $2,000,000 and they weighed about 4,000 pounds. These inflatable hospitals were often times subject to mortar and rocket attacks. Even though doctors were not usually armed, most of the Vietnam War doctors were well armed. The walls and roofs could be replaced with rubber. As the United States presence grew, so did the medical presence. With the Army’s growing numbers, the number of diseased and injured grew. During the years of U.S. involvement, 70% of patients treated were disease related and 65% of wounds and 36% of fatalities sustained by Americans in Vietnam were by mines and booby traps. Vietnam’s warm, moist climate produced skin diseases, including “paddie foot”. Some forms of malaria could hospitalize a soldier for 5 weeks or longer. Many of the weapons used during the war made it difficult for doctors to operate on victims. Even under the harshest conditions, including heavy rain, sweltering heat, and in a firefight, the doctors would continue on their day-to-day work. By 1969, 90% of American medical specialists serving in Southeast Asia were draftees. After being drafted, they were entrained at Fort Sam Houston in a ten-week, 480-hour course. The doctors and nurses were given 14 hours of battle preparedness training outside the classroom. Army medics were assigned to combat for seven-month rotations. The doctors were extremely young; a 27 year old would be called an old man. Many soldiers volunteered before getting drafted so that they could choose to be a doctor. Many times the war interfered with their work but the medical civil action program (MEDCAP) provided medical care to nearby villages. The United States tried to make friends in the rural villages by providing the village chiefs and citizens with medical care. The doctors went with the army of South Vietnam into these villages and started treating patients. They never knew if the patients were Communist or not, but their mission was to treat patients, enemy or ally. They provided patients with anti-malarial medication, topical creams, and antibiotics. They also played with and gave candy to the Vietnamese children. It is reported that village people wanted to see the American doctors because they felt it was an honor to be helped by the “Bac Si Hoa Ky” (American doctors). Air ambulances were a major part of saving a wounded soldier’s life. They were the fastest form of transportation in Southeast Asia. In 1965, medical evacuation missions carried 13,004 American, Vietnamese, and free world soldiers. In 1969, 206,209 wounded soldiers were carried on medical evacuation missions. In 1965, the helicopters flew about 2 missions a day. In 1969, they flew about 4 missions a day on average. In total, the ambulances in the air carried 900,000 military personnel. A total of 199 UH-IA Hueys, the helicopter ambulances, were lost including 208 pilots and crew and 545 were wounded. An estimated 1300 medical personnel and 690 corpsmen died in the Vietnam war. The lives of those who survived were changed forever. I thank all veterans for their service.
 * (above) My grandfather, Dr. Wyatt S. Beazley, III. Surgeon in Vietnam 1968-1969**.

http://media.nara.gov/media/images/36/29/36-2899a.gif http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=71299&rendTypeId=4__ http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vietnam/basedev/images-full/foto7.jpg
 * Soldiers carry a wounded comrade through a swampy area.**
 * Soldiers carry a wounded soldier into a helicoper ambulance.** [[image:http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vietnam/basedev/images-full/foto7.jpg width="884" height="547"]]
 * Inflatable hospitals in Vietnam during war.**

__Bibliography:__

Greenwood, John T., and F. Clinton Berry Jr. __Medics at War__. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.

Hassan, Allen. “Excerpts from "__Failure to Atone: The True Story of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam.”__ Allen Hassan. 2006. 21 May 2007 __<__[|http://www.allenhassan.com/‌excerpts.htm>.]

Heyn, Pia G. “Medics and Corpsmen. " __Vietnam War: a Political, Social and Military History__." 3rd ed. 1998.

Yablanca, Marc Phillip. “Doctors in the Vietnam War: The Ultimate Training Ground.” Historynet. 21 May 2007 <[|http://www.historynet.com/‌wars_conflicts/‌vietnam_war/‌302757.html>.]