At its peak in 1969, the Red Cross operated 67 field stations in Vietnam staffed by more than 200 field personnel. Medical researchers in Vietnam also experimented with adding small amounts of adenine, an amino acid, which extended blood's viability to 40 days. 7) from Jeff Quitney PRO . The success of this approach has inspired emergency medical respondents around the world military and civilian to rely on helicopters as a fast mobile operating theater where the next stage of medical treatment can start even before reaching a hospital. To say challenging doesnt come close to the feelings that I had about being incompetent. Medical staff who served in Vietnam felt the immense responsibility of treating soldiers with terrible injuries, often while under fire themselves, and with very little equipment or training. One minute ONeill was protesting the war, the next minute she was in the middle of it. When the 95th Evacuation Hospital landed in Italy 9 September 1943, it was the first U.S. hospital established on the European continent in World War II. Their lives were in my hands.. ft. and 1,654 rolls of microfilm. Shows doctor with defibrillator paddles and shocking patient on operating table.Please visit our website for more historic archival film titles.http://www.buyoutfootage.com/pages/pd.htmlBuyout Footage is a leading supplier of public domain and royalty free stock footage for filmmakers, broadcasters, advertising agencies, multi-media and production companies worldwide. The idea of the field hospital was conceived independently in several armies, during different times, as a response to the medical needs of troops serving in remote areas. Rocket and mortar attacks were another danger. Today, the government of Vietnam estimates that the total civilian death toll was about 2 million. While in nursing school she was told that if she enlisted the military would provide money that she could use to pay for her last year of school. During World War 2, military regulations had expressly forbidden nurses to marry while in service. But, I knew I couldmake a difference nursing-wise, and so I volunteered to go.. Some were nationally recognized for their heroism. Feature Flags: { New roads are being built between Da Nang and Sn M. By 30 April, the hospital was 99 percent filled, and additional beds were rapidly being added. Manyexperienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological issues not to mention long-term effects of chemical weapons like Agent Orange. On the other hand, its inherent vices are its vulnerability under enemys fire and its inability to hold operated patients for adequate periods of time. For female nurses, being constantly surrounded by men could also be both a blessing and a curse. 3rd Field Hospital, Saigon Cayetano E. Barrera Identifier r3-04235-0006_0068 Creation Date 1-1-1967 Description Color photograph. Twenty-one-year-old Steven A. Wowwk arrived as an infantryman in the Army's First Cavalry Division in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in early January 1969 to fight in an escalating and . Todays Army Nurse can do more, proclaimed a 1969 ad. Nurses witnessed some truly miraculous events such as men recovering from their wounds or acts of true selflessness that are common during combat situations, and many nurses made close friends with their fellow coworkers some of whom still keep in contact into the present day. . So was sexual assault, which added another layer to the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many nurse veterans brought home with them. After their tours, many nurses like many medics and soldiers struggled to readjust to life in the U.S. However, they were usually sent wherever they were most needed, which typically meant being attached to a regiment completing missions in the line of fire. Offering advice, they helped plan the future move of their respective sections onto the new site (a move that was scheduled to start by 4 July). THE 3RD FIELD HOSPITAL by Sterling B. Mutz, Maj., M.C. We were their emotional support. The hospital had its own pier for disembarkation. Vietnam Veterans represent the largest cohort of American Veterans in . The 95th Evacuation Hospital achieved national recognition at Anzio when,[citation needed] on 7 February 1944, a German plane dropped a load of fragmentation bombs on the hospital in an effort to evade two British planes, rendering the hospital inoperable, killing 28 people, and wounding an additional 60. Doctor, nurse and medics administer emergency treatment to a seriously wounded soldier in Vietnam. d"@(#/Hqv^0 This iswhat it was really like as a medic in the Vietnam War. An aerial photograph of the Beau Desert Hospital Center in 1918 in Bazoilles-sur-Meuse . U.S. Army nurse takes blood pressure of patient in bed. Has data issue: true But when I was in combat I was tainted by this blood lust and I, too, became a combat soldier.". Later in the war he was sent to the Ashah Valley, but for his first few months he ran a clinic at a base in Saigon, where the most common complaint was sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), often picked up from brothels. Becoming a medic was also an option for conscientious objectors who had been drafted. Arriving at a military base located near Qui Nhona coastal city in central Vietnamduring the second week of October 1967, Buchta wrote home to his family in Lohman, Missouri, the following month describing his assignment to a U.S. Army ambulance company that supported a military hospital. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. 2. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. She did and heard a scream on the other end of the line. 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 . It was easily the best military hospital in Vietnam. Theora L. Peyton (Arlington, VA), changes an intravenous saline bottle on a patient at the 3rd Field Hospital. 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. Time and its effects on casualties in World War II and Vietnam. I had no experience in emergency room, no trauma or intensive care training, recalls Marsha Four, RN, a former ANC first lieutenant. Different nurses found different strategies for coping with the burdens of war. The 95th Evacuation Hospital (Smbl) was a 320-bed air conditioned facility offering area medical support to U.S. Military units without organic medical support in the area around Da Nang, Vietnam. In addition to dealing with repressed emotional trauma, they found civilian nursing frustratingly unchallenging, hampered by regulations that prevented them from performing basic tasks they'd done every day in the field. Between 1963 and 1969, the total number of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam grew from 16,000 to around 550,000, although until 1965, American troops were still officially considered advisers to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). While that was all true so far as it went, the footage paints a deceptively tranquil picture that does not capture the mental stress of military nursing. More scenes of seriously wounded patients being treated and prepared for surgery. These women volunteered for a variety of reasons: to serve their country, to help the service men who were wounded, to receive training and an education, to further their military careers, to prove themselves or just to have an adventure. The war in Vietnam helped the U.S. perfect a rescue platform for wounded soldiers that would fundamentally change civilian emergency response systems in the U.S. She is currently completing her doctorate in nursing at Missouri State University. Over 11 years from March, 1962 (when the 8th Field Hospital opened in Nha Trang) to March, 1973 (when the last Army nurses departed the Republic of Vietnam), more than 5,000 Army nurses served in America's longest war. Dealing every day with horror presented some nurses with a crisis of faith. 8th Field Hospital in Vietnam. Lou Eisenbrand and her colleagues at Chu Lai took up waterskiing. Despite the long hours and sometimes horrifying wounds these women had to face, many nurses found their service rewarding. That was it. I was responsible for them," Four later told Whyy. 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. Most had no previous medical experience. A green nurse who tried to open a bus window for relief from the heat was quickly warned that the windows had to remain closed for the occupants own protection. The main virtues of the field hospital have always been its mobility and the ability of its team to resuscitate and operate on battle casualties, near the front line. He was sent to Vietnam to serve in the 12th Evacuation Hospital in September 1966. The unit's advance team arrived at the proposed site of the hospital at Red Beach Base Area near Danang on 20 March 1968. Former U.S. Army nurses Diane Carlson Evans and Marsha Four, who both served in Vietnam, explained that part of their anxiety about being in the war zone was that their under-preparedness would result in soldiers' deaths. A few male nurses who served in Vietnam were draftees, part of a mostly unsuccessful effort to fill ongoing shortages. ANC-Clinical Staff Nurse Christmas time 1967--Ward 19 Medical Intensive Care. Most Vietnam-era military nurses were in the Army, with smaller numbers serving in the Navy Nurse Corps and a handful in the Air Force. The commanding officer of the 91st EVAC in 1970 (Colonel Keawyn Nehoa) said the facility was "the most active hospital in Vietnam with the greatest turnover of patients." A medivac ride to the rear was part of . During the Vietnam War, many of the 16-week Naval Hospital Corps school graduates went directly to 8404 Field Medical Service School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, or Camp Pendleton, California . The goodwill didn't always work. Some nurses missed the strong bond theyd formed with their comrades, which they rarely found again. Why I ever thought that I would be able to have any impact on the war that way was way out in left field. During my final 30 days, I was promoted to sergeant, which made me a squad leader. US Army 3rd Field Hospital, Saigon, Vietnam 1968 This is the 3rd Field Hospital located in Saigon. (Seven other American nurses died of injuries or illness during the war, but no others were killed by enemy action.). National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Item Description Another nurse said that during her first days at the hospital she had to open about 20 body bags and write the cause of death on the tags. According to official United States government statistics, 1,857,304 men were drafted through the Selective Service during the Vietnam War (specifically between August 1964 and February 1973.) Military recruiters sometimes led nurses to believe that only those women who volunteered would be sent to Vietnam which made for a rude surprise upon receiving orders to ship out. } The Vietnam War also led to advances in the storage, transport, and use of blood. It serves as the primary treatment facility for U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam until 1963, when the Navy establishes its own facility in Saigon. ca. Navy Nurse Corps Vietnam Veterans parade in Fredericksburg, Va. Mary Niel, Frances Shea Buckley, Minnie Wiggins Yates. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. One nurse said a seriously wounded soldier asked her to call his mother. The first was Desmond Doss, who was honored for his actions at the battle of Hacksaw Ridge in World War II. By conserving construction resources, the unit was able to construct a tropical structure suitable for air-conditioning. endstream endobj 127 0 obj <> endobj 128 0 obj <>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC/ImageI]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Type/Page>> endobj 129 0 obj <>stream 3rd Field Hospital, Saigon, Vietnam (US Army Photo) [photograph] 3rd Field Hospital, Saigon, Vietnam (US Army Photo) [photograph] Search this record. ", As sentiment in the U.S. turned against the war, the hostile attitudes of American civilians towards veterans prevented many from finding an outlet once they were home. There were so many traumatic things that happened. ), Notes on the history of military medicine, The birth of the hospital in the Byzantine Empire, The knights of Saint John and the hospitals of the Latin west, The Knights Hospitallers in the Holy Land, Military medicine in the Crusaders Kingdom of Jerusalem, Health, sickness and medical services in Spains armed forces c. 16651700, Hospital care and the British standing army, 16601714, A contribution to the history of the care of the sick and wounded during Marlboroughs march to the Danube in 1704, and at the battle of Blenheim, Jonathan Letterman of Jefferson: Medical director of the Army of the Potomac. May 27 saw a 400-bed hospital with a census of 240 and an experience of a total of 320 medical patients, 941 surgical patients and 1058 outpatients, with a total of 1261 admission and 1021 dispositions. 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. Dustoff missions alone picked up an estimated 900,000 wounded soldiers and Vietnamese civilians during the course of the war. The nurses served in the hospital ships of the Navy, the airlift helicopters and airplanes of the Air Force and the hospitals and field hospitals of the Army. 1, no. Moore recalls thinking, Im done with you, God. Hospital personnel adapted, finding that the combined operation of a tent evacuation hospital and a Medical Unit, Self-contained, Transportable (MUST) operating room was feasible. [6], Commanding Officers: Col. Paul K. Sauer, Lt. Col. Hubert L. Binkley (commander after Sauer was wounded in the 7 February bombing.) Army nurse in Vietnam checking medical charts at desk in holding area. CU of oxygen mask. In this Article: Historical Nurses, Nurses at War, Vietnam War. His fellow combat medic veteran James Cruz was sent to a refugee camp in the mountains. Dealing with Vietnamese civilians was complicated by the fact that few American nurses spoke the language. According to We Are the Mighty, most had an M16A1 rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, and grenades. One of the worst memories of Vietnam was seeing children die, says Mary Beth Crowley, an ANC second lieutenant from 1969 to 1971. The average age was 23, but some nurses were as young as 20 and a few were in their 40s. You had to apply for conscientious objector status when signing up for the draft. 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. Nurses also volunteered their time in the communities around them, often going to the local orphanages or hospitals to offer the civilians their medical services or to teach classes on basic hygiene, first aid or even English. Built by the Colonial French government of Indochina in 1949, it became a training school for Vietnamese pilots. These are some of their photos of the experience. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Medical, surgical and consultative assistance was provided to the DuyTon and Provincial Hospital of Da Nang on a regular basis. The casualty rate is estimated to have been as high as a third. I was drafted at age 19 and served in Vietnam from September 1969 to September 1970 with Company C, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, 196th-198th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). Adding to the challenges, some of the makeshift hospitals had no running water or air conditioning. From 2001 to 2006 soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan sustained 3854 lower extremity and 3349 upper extremity injuries classified as serious by forward medical teams. When she saw me, I went to greet her and I had this leg under my arm. ft. 472.3 RECORDS OF HEADQUARTERS OF THE U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND VIETNAM (MACV) 1958-73 2,270 lin. The hospital was sent to France where it participated in the St. Mihiel Campaign of World War I. For most of my tour, I was an assistant M60 machine gunner or the gunner. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. The war in Vietnam has always been a source of controversy and anger to Americans--both for the reasons it was fought, and its outcome and consequences. But as Vietnam nurse Joanie Moscatelli told Whyy, "I don't think the war ever ends. Physical Description .JPG, 1 Photograph Recommended Citation Cayetano E. 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