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Navy Medicine in Vietnam - A History of Service Beginning to End

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100414-21
4/14/2010

From Naval History and Heritage Command Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Naval History and Heritage Command has released the third in a series of historical treatments about the war in Vietnam. The latest addition is "Navy Medicine in Vietnam: Passage to Freedom to the Fall of Saigon," by Jan K. Herman, Historian at the Bureau of Navy Medicine.

This fast reading monograph begins and ends with Vietnam humanitarian operations. The first operation was in 1954, after the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu and the nation was divided between the colonel south and the communist North. Refugees, fearing the communist regime, fled to the south. U.S. Navy medical personnel were there to avert the spread of disease and tend to the basic medical needs of the escaping people.

The second and final humanitarian effort was in 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the last stage of America's exit from the country, which entailed the famous helicopter evacuation of American staff and selected Vietnamese and their families from Saigon.

Between those dates, 1954 and 1975, Navy medical personnel responded to the build up and intensifying combat operations, and, according to the author, employed a multipronged approach that proved effective for treating casualties of the war.

The first prong was the use of helicopters for medical evacuations. The principal vehicle was the UH-1 Huey and was the mainstay for ambulance transportation. The second prong of treatment was triaging, or sorting patients into categories based on need and the most likely to benefit from immediate attention including resuscitation of the nearly dead. The third prong was the system of moving casualties from short-term to long-term care resulting in higher rates of survival and targeted care.

The book describes the medical battalions, which set up combat hospitals in the field; a new advanced emergency hospital with specialized medicine established in Danang; the floating hospital ships offshore; and, the one individual the Marines counted on most to save them—the corpsman. The stories are presented in text, photographs, and oral histories.

Herman has captured the poignant recollections of the medical personnel serving in this extended conflict in a product that is graphic and real, as fresh as if it happened yesterday. The book is a fitting reminder of the great sacrifices the Navy medical corps made for their country and their patients over more than 20 years.

The book may be ordered from the secure GPO website at: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GeneralSearch.do.

Navy Medicine in Vietnam: Passage to Freedom to the Fall of Saigon, by Jan K. Herman, 2010. ISBN 978-0-945274-62-9, Paper, 54 p., ill., $12. GPO Stock No. 008-046-00258-4.