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

The book chronicles the story of the Navy Medical Department's participation in Vietnam, beginning with the Navy's rescue of the French survivors of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and ending with the Navy's rescue of Vietnamese refugees fleeing the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. Even before Marines stepped ashore in 1965, Navy medicine had established itself in South Vietnam, since two years earlier Navy medical personnel converted an old Saigon apartment house into Station Hospital Saigon.When American involvement reached its peak in 1968, the 750-bed Naval Support Activity Hospital Danang (NSAH) was in full operation, and two hospital ships - the USS Repose and the USS Sanctuary - cruised offshore, often only a 30-minute medevac flight from the battlefield. Whether the situation called for saving the lives of injured sailors aboard a burning aircraft carrier or treating a critically wounded Marine for shock in the rubble-strewn streets of Hue, Navy medical personnel were in Vietnam from the beginning of American involvement to the very end. This book weaves their personal experiences into the fabric of the Vietnam War, telling the story of the Navy Medical Department's involvement through first-person accounts by patients and the Navy medical personnel who served them, including physicians, dentists, nurses, and hospital corpsmen. More than 50 historic photos document their work.