White Blouse and Tiger Striped Uniform

Transcription

1 White Blouse and Tiger Striped Uniform Dr Nguyen Van The, M.D. Lieutenant Colonel Today on the front cover of the Magazine Register, Orange Country, California, I saw the picture of an American medic who had been awarded by the US president the highest medal: The medal of Honour. It was already 30 years after this medic, in an operation at Long Khanh had used his own body as a shield to protect wounded brothers in arms whom he had been treating. He himself was wounded by several machine guns bullets and shrapnel. I then thought of the Vietnamese Marine Corps Doctors and medics. A number of them were killed while they had been taking care of other Marines. I also wanted to see them being decorated with highly precious medals of the Republic of Vietnam - a Vietnam which would stay in my heart forever. Some years ago, during a visit to Orange Country, Major General Bui The Lan the last commander of the Marine Division asked me and also suggested: Mr. The, why didn't you write something about the Marine Doctors? You all had contributed a lot! The reason for this recommendation was that the Marine Corps had published the book "History of Vietnamese Marine Corps" in which I had written the article "The life of a Marine Surgeon". It recounted the time I had been serving in the Marine Corps and about operation Lam Son 719 in South Laos. I was not a writer but Doctor Tran Xuan Dung, the editor of the book "History of Vietnamese Marine Corps" had always encouraged me to write an article which would be printed in a book about military medical corps. It would be published at the General Conference of Vietnamese Doctors, Dentists and Pharmacists in the free world, in the Summer Year of 2000 at Paris. Dung was the Doctor of the 4th Marine Battalion in 1966, 1967 and then the Doctor of Marine Task Force B in Later on, he was appointed to be commander of 2nd Medical Battalion of 2nd Infantry Division before being transferred to Military Medical School. Dr. Dung had more Marine blood in his arteries than medical blood and continued to serve Marine Corps with his pen and left many precious works to next generations. I had to salute him. After having graduated in the Class 11 of Military Medical School in 1964, Dr. Tran Ngoc Minh and I were transferred to the Marine Corps. Since then, our white blouses were replaced by tiger striped uniforms. Dr. Minh never knew that his name would be later used to name a Military Hospital situated next to the Military Medical School. I presented myself to Captain Nguyen Thanh Tri, the commander of the 4th Marine battalion at the beginning of 1965 and before the Lunar New Year. Dr. Minh was assigned to the 3rd Marine Battalion. In my unit, I was told that the 4th Marine Battalion had suffered heavy losses at Binh Gia battle where it had to combat an overwhelming NVA force being armed with modern weapons. The whole Battalion headquarters were

2 killed, including the Battalion Doctor. Dr. Truong Ba Han was the first Marine Doctor to be killed in the war. His name was later used to name the Military Hospital in Soc Trang. I walked around to see the Battalion rear base and the Battalion dispensary. The Base was named as Hoang Hoa Tham Camp and was situated close to the Junior Military School and the Military Hospital. The dispensary was in a two storied old home situated inside the soldiers' family camp. The Battalion primary school was in the ground floor. The dispensary occupied the upper floor. While walking around, I saw that the number of widows carrying a mourning white band on their heads were more numerous than the number of Marines. When I entered the dispensary, 1st Sergeant Cong, the chief medic and five to seven other medics who had survived the Binh Gia battle, stood up to salute me. They were survivors of the medical platoon which had been numbered at about fifteen. The 1st Sergeant, Cong gave me a list of recently killed medics and briefed me about some matters which needed to be done. In the following days, in parallel with consultations, treatment and training, I also encountered difficult problems with mourning losses and suffering which had been caused by the war. These problems had never been taught in the Faculty of Medicine and in the Military Medical School. Only then I understood the meaning, in depth, of words such as "killed in action", orphans, widows, "12 months salary for dead soldiers" and comprehended the heart-broken situation which was hidden behind those words. After months in the recovery period, the 4th Marine Battalion was ready to perform operations again. We moved to Ba Hom, a hamlet outside the Phu Lam district to replace the 3rd Marine Battalion in the mission of protecting the Capital. This 3rd Battalion would move to the Centre of Vietnam. I was sitting on the same Jeep with Captain Nhon, the executive officer of the Battalion, on the road leading to Ba Hom. Incidentally, I saw Dr. Minh's Jeep coming in the opposite direction. We stopped. Dr. Minh and I gladly shook hand with one another. It was a great joy because we had not seen each other since the day we became Marine Doctors. We conversed emotionally then we had to part. Dr. Minh held me tightly in his arms and said: "Be careful, The! I'll go to the centre of Vietnam first. I'll meet you later!" Some weeks later, in a straw hut, in Ba Hom, where the 4th Marine Battalion headquarters had been, I suddenly felt very anxious. I hurriedly walked across a road to ask the signal underofficer: "Have you heard any news about the 3rd Battalion?" He replied: "That Battalion engaged in battle. It already probably had eight "killed in action", and none was an Officer. I felt reassured and returned to the Battalion headquarters. However, a moment later, that Signal sergeant came to me and said: "Doctor, I just received the news, that among the killed, there was one officer and that was the Doctor of the 3rd Battalion". That news hit me like a thunderbolt. I sobbingly choked, because this was the first time I tasted a great loss due to the war. He was my close friend, a classmate and a companion. Right now, there was only me in Marine Corps. I felt an absolute loneliness and I thought: "When would it be my turn?" Thinking back the moment of parting with Dr. Minh, I became superstitious. Later, whenever I went into operation, I never greeted goodbye to anybody. I just silently went, not saying a single word even with my wife and my children. Then the 4th Battalion performed operations in the centre of Vietnam: Bong Son, Hoai Thanh, Tam Quang, Hill 10, Phu Cu, Quang Ngai, Minh Long etc and in

3 Highland areas: Pleiku, Kontum, Duc Co, Phu Bon, Pleime and Ban Me Thuot. During this time, another friend of mine, Dr. Le Huu Sanh who had been a Doctor of the 5th Marine Battalion for some months, was killed in a battle in Quang Ngai. His name was later used to name the Marine Hospital. The war escalated with fiercer battles, in many more areas than before. Many doctors who had also been close friends of mine, namely Airborne Dr. Do Vinh, 5th Infantry Division Doctor Nguyen Van Nhut and Armour Dr. Tran Thai were also successively killed. A year later, 1st Sergeant Dien replaced Sergeant Major Cong who was transferred to another unit. Dien became chief of medics. After a period of time he was wounded and then was demobilised. The 4th Battalion returned to Rear Base at Vung Tau to rest for a week and then went into operation in Ba Hom again, then An Lac, Rung Sat, back to the centre in Qui Nhon, La Tinh stream, An Lao. In the centre of Vietnam, Battalion 4 used to perform operations in parallel with the 1st Marine Battalion which had been commanded by Major Ton That Soan. Its Doctor was Dr. Tran Manh Tuong, another class mate of mine. He, being mobilised, entered Marine Corps 6 months after me. He and I frequently met each other and so I felt less lonely. After the operation in La Tinh stream, An Lao district, I returned with many malarial attacks. I lost a number of kilograms in weight. I was then replaced by Dr. Tran Xuan Dung. Dr. Pham Huu Hao entered Marine Corps at the same time with Dr. Tuong and became Doctor of the 2nd Marine Battalion. In mid 1966, this Battalion was ambushed at Pho Trach. Dr. Hao was wounded in his left thigh. A medic carried Dr. Hao, piggy-back, to run out of the ambush area and Dr. Hao survived. Being just replaced in the 4th Battalion, I was ordered to substitute for that wounded Doctor in the 2nd Marine Battalion, although I still had had malaria. I returned to the Medical Company after two years accompanying the Marine Battalions in operations, with battles, big or small, in forests, on rice fields, up in the mountains or on hills. A number of Marines lay down, succumbed. Only by witnessing it and going through such hardships one could then realise the prosperities and safeties in cities had been due to the contributions of sweat and blood of a great number of combatants. They defended the country in remote areas and nobody had taken notice of their presence or thought of them. Two other Doctors also returned to the Medical Company: Dr. Tuong from 1st Battalion and Dr. Cuong from 3rd Battalion. They stayed in the Marine Corps and together we worked until Dr. Ngo Quang Trung replaced Dr. Cuong in the 3rd Battalion. In an operation in Tan An, Cai Lay district, this Battalion engaged the enemy. The fighting was heavy. A bullet hit Dr. Trung's helmet and ploughed a burned line on his scalp which bled. His hair was also burned. After having medevacuated all wounded Marines, the chief medic pushed Dr. Trung into the last helicopter which carried them to Cong Hoa Military General Hospital. Although the wound was light, it left a remarkable impression in the mind of that new Marine Doctor. After a short period of rest, Dr. Trung returned to the 3rd Battalion until the end of his tour of duty.

4 The Tet offensive brought Marine units to the north of the Capital to stop the NVA infiltration from War Zone D. In , the Marine Brigade transformed into a Marine Division. Lieutenant General Le Nguyen Khang was still the commandant. Marine Medical Company was upgraded to a Medical battalion. The dispensary Cuu Long became Hospital Le Huu Sanh. The battles extended to MRIV, U Minh forests. One day, I was informed that Dr. Long of the 1st Marine Battalion had been wounded. A bullet hit his spinal cord and both of his legs were paralysed. He was treated in an American Hospital in Long Binh. Although being severely wounded, Dr. Long still kept his humoristic spirit. He was brave and ready to accept his disability. The next day, I received news saying that Dr. Nguyen Trung Khanh of 1st Battalion had been wounded in the abdomen and had been medevacuated by an US helicopter to unknown place! Dr. Tran Chu My, the Commander of "Collect and Triage of wounded" Company, Major Shackelford, my American advisor, and myself, went to Can Tho to find Dr. Khanh. After a day of making radio contacts with American units, we managed to see Dr. Khanh. He was being treated in an American Field Hospital, on a ship anchored in the middle of the Mekong River. We then boarded a military ferry from Chau Doc to Neak Luong to visit Dr. Hai and his medical platoon who had being accompanying a Brigade which was performing an operation in the border area. Many Marine medics had also sacrificed. For me, as their Commander, nothing was as difficult as to go to fix a medal on a coffin and to express sympathy with the family of the killed medic. Words, no matter how impassioned they were, were still unable to bring anything to replace the loss and the collapse of the mourning family. I always felt sharp pains in my heart which had seemingly been tightened in a vice. I just hoped, in such occasion, to bring some small warm consolation to that family. In 1970, Marine Medical Battalion moved to Rung Cam, inside the Song Than Base, near Di An. The Hospital was spacious and had 250 beds and a maternity. Midwives were female children of the Marines. They were trained by the Marine Medical Battalion. In the end of 1971, while I was attending a Marine Staffing course in San Diego, California, a young Doctor of the 6th Marine Battalion, Dr. Dinh Quoc Bao, was killed by a NVA shelling in an abandoned American base in MRI, near the DMZ. In 1972, the situation in the centre of Vietnam boiled up. Marine units, having a new commandant, Major General Bui The Lan, were almost permanently present in MRI, because they had to replace the US Marine units which had retreated to USA. The Vietnamese Marine units combated with the NVA who had crossed the Thach Han River and had advanced to the My Chanh river in so many battles. Marines units then reoccupied lost areas and finally recovered the Quang Tri Old Citadel. It was the last episode of the Vietnam War before the Paris cease fire Agreement. During this time, the Marine Medical Battalion was very busy with medevac and treatment of a large number of Marines being wounded in the battlefields from My Chanh to Trieu Phong, from Thanh Huong to Lang Thuy in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Provinces. More than twenty Marine Doctors and about 500 Marine medics were present in the battlefields. I still recalled names and facial features of a number of Doctors who had

5 been working with us during this difficult time: Dr. Truong, the beard, Dr. Trung Chinh, the singer with a guitar in Brigade 369, Dr. Minh and Dr. Thanh who were reticent and very conscientious, of Brigade 258, Dr. Truong the moustache and Dr. Rau, a very agile doctor of Brigade 147, and all other young Doctors of the twelve marine Battalions I would also never forget Dr. Hiep, Nam, Tam, Dong, Hanh, Hai and many other who had been ready, day and night, in the Le Huu Sanh Hospital in our Rear Base. Dr Nguyen Van The, M.D. Lt-Colonel