Praise For WELCOME HOME FROM VIETNAM, FINALLY
“Gus Kappler’s book is a remarkable work….It has many lessons essential for Americans in today’s world - - personal courage in adversity, how to understand and function in foreign cultures, the need to cultivate social responsibility for those who serve their country and more….Dr.Kappler’s own story is inspiring and his insights on the larger context in which it unfolds have a vital message for all those concerned about America at home and abroad.”
- RALPH BUULTJENS
New York University and Cambridge University (UK)
“Welcome Home is a riveting and biting memoir by one of the corps of unsung heroes of the unpopular Vietnam War: the medical professionals who struggled to save the lives of America’s gravely wounded young soldiers. Dr. Kappler’s gripping account of the daily life or death challenges facing Army medical teams working in remote and difficult conditions makes for compelling reading. His commentary about the inadequacies of PTSD treatment are still very timely now that America is involved in even more conflicts around the globe.”
- CAPTAIN CHARLES CONNOR, USN (RET)
“It has long been my opinion that each Vietnam veteran’s experience is unique to the veteran. Never has a book come so close to my personal experience as this one. Thanks Gus, for taking the time to get the ‘welcome home’ right.”
- PHIL KRAFT - SP5 US ARMY LONG BINH 1970
Executive Director - National Veterans Service Fund
“Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally is an autobiography of a compassionate, dedicated, Army trauma surgeon who highlights the carnage of war and the lasting effects of post traumatic stress disorder (PTS). A thoughtful insight by Dr. Kappler as to how this disorder may be managed is worth considering.”
- ROGER KING, M.D. – TRAUMA SURGEON 85TH
EVACUATION HOSPITAL, VIETNAM, ’70 - ’71
Retired General and Vascular Surgeon, Morgantown, WV
“One of the best books I have read about Viet Nam. I was a Navy combat Corpsman (8404) with the 1st Marine Division in VN. I am a 2-time Purple Heart recipient. I got to see both sides of the story as a first responder and as a patient. The parallels between Dr.Kappler’s experience and that of mine and other Army medics and Navy Corpsmen are similar but different in the stages at which we became involved with patients. My job was to keep them alive long enough to evac them to Dr.’s like Gus so he could get them stabilized and on to more definitive care.”
- DAVE DEVRIES - USMC CORPSMAN (HM 2 ) ’65 –’72
“Well said.”“I was a GMO with the 5th/4th Arty in Quang Tri, RVN, 3/70-11/70, then at the 93rd Evac until 3/71. I experienced many of the conflicting emotions you related. It is undeniable that the Vietnam experience has shaped my life and my psyche, and this book gives voice to the brutality and reality of that war and our loss of innocence.”
- ROBERT JOSEPH, M.D. – GENERAL MEDICAL OFFICER (GMO) QUANG TRI and 93rd EVACUATION HOSPITAL, VIETNAM, ’70 –’71
Retired Medical Oncologist, Longview, WA
The Vietnam Effect
Vietnam Veteran Responses to Book’s Facebook Postings
“After 40 years have you not learned you do not come back from Vietnam.”
- GARY HUNDLEY
“We fought so hard to stay alive and come home but we all left a piece of us to make it happen.”
- GREGG KENYON
“Is it ever going to be over?”
- DAVID HARBOUR
“I’m there more than here.”
- JAMES COOK
“We never left.”
- GEORGE DALE
“The truth is, no one who was part of the war ever comes completely home. War only ends for the dead.”
- ED LETOURNEAU
85th Evacuation Hospital’s Meritorious Unit Commendation
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Also see: www.85thevachospital70-71.com
E-mail me: [email protected]
PREFACE
Usually authors write about their life experiences within a few years of the occurrence. Facts are still fresh in one’s mind, new projects have not become more primary, and the inertia of procrastination has not gained a foothold. Why did I wait over forty-five years?
I guess the most dominant reason I did not commit to telling my story was that I would not prioritize writing above other aspects of my existence. Those factors included building and maintaining a solo surgical practice, preserving quality time to be an acceptable husband and father, enjoying my personal time to recharge, planning for retirement, and facilitating first-year medical students in a problem-based learning curriculum at Weill Cornell Medical College after retiring.
In 2015, the facilitating responsibility became history. The 2014–2015 winter in New York City did not welcome one to venture outside. I had also completed my computer projects. At age seventy-five, I thought I better get started with my storytelling before my gray matter became too scarred with amyloid plaques.
I have been lecturing about my Vietnam experience since 1972. The discussion of “Battlefield Trauma: Vietnam to Afghanistan” has been annually sponsored by the Stimson Surgical Society at Weill Cornell Medical College. In September 2014, all members we could find of the 1970–1971 85th Evacuation Hospital family met for our fifth reunion. I felt primed. Most importantly, I now felt grown up and whole enough to tell my story. Here we go.
By the way, I took the great majority of this book’s photographs with my first good camera, a Minolta SRT 101.
Hippocratic Oath, Classic
“I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.”
—From The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation, by Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943.
In the 1960s, the Hippocratic Oath’s language was changed to reflect a more secular concept, accommodating a more modern society. As once required in Greece, this oath is not to be taken before God or
