Navy Medicine in Vietnam: Passage to Freedom to the Fall of Saigon

Provides an overview of Navy medical activities in Vietnam from the evacuation of Vietnamese from North to South Vietnam post-1954 Geneva Accords to the collapse of South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War.

Navy Medicine in Vietnam begins and ends with a humanitarian operation—the first, in 1954, after the French were defeated, when refugees fled to South Vietnam to escape from the communist regime in the North; and the second, in 1975, after the fall of Saigon and the final stage of America’s exit that entailed a massive helicopter evacuation of American staff and selected Vietnamese and their families from South Vietnam. In both cases the Navy provided medical support to avert the spread of disease and tend to basic medical needs. Between those dates, 1954 and 1975, Navy medical personnel responded to the buildup and intensifying combat operations by taking a multipronged approach in treating casualties. Helicopter medical evacuations, triaging, and a system of moving casualties from short-term to long-term care meant higher rates of survival and targeted care. Poignant recollections of the medical personnel serving in Vietnam, recorded by author Jan Herman, historian of the Navy Medical Department, are a reminder of the great sacrifices these men and women made for their country and their patients.

Agency website: https://www.history.navy.mil/

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Station Hospital Saigon

hearts and Minds

The Medical Battalions

Naval Support Activity Hospital, Danang

Mercy Ships

"When You Lose Your Corpsman"

Medevac

Epilogue

Sidebars:

Eyewitness to a Coup

"Torpedo in the Water!"

Resuscitation of the nearly Dead

Dr. Dinsmore's Souvenir

Frozen Blood on Trial

A Navy Nurse's Recollections

Field Medical Service School

Medal of Honor

Prisoners of War

The Author

Acknowledgments

Suggested Reading 

Members of the military, especially the Navy, as well as military Veterans and Vietnam Veterans, and anyone with an interest in naval medicine during the Vietnam War, the Navy, the history of the military, and first-hand accounts of the Vietnam War will enjoy this publication.