how close the pilot landed to the ED doors.
Usually, the injured soldiers arrived in groups. Mass causalities involved many patients. Triagewas performed in order to begin organizing efficient use of resources, personnel, operating rooms, blood, meds, etc.
Please refer to Appendix Five and meet my friend Bob Nevins, founder and director of Saratoga WarHorse, who as an Eagle “Dust Off” pilot with the 326th Medical Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division heroically rescued the wounded and deposited them at the 85th Evac’s doorstep during my tenure at the hospital.
Marilyn
Ambulance, bunker for patients’ ammo, and KIA Shack
KIAsneeded no care.
Expectantswere so damaged, so close to death, and required an inordinate amount of resources ultimately endangering the chances of survival of others. Therefore, they were placed behind a screen, given morphine, and allowed to die with dignity as a nurse held their hand and promised them they would be OK. One expectant, I still recall, was a dying dehydrated, unintelligibly moaning boy whose skull on one side was missing and displayed slithering maggots nibbling on his devitalized brain tissue.
The salvageablewere brought to the OR after resuscitation was initiated in the ED or laterally evacuated to other hospitals, as the 95th Evac in Da Nang, which had medical specialists we did not.
The last triage groupwere those whose injuries did not require immediate definitive care. They were operated upon when the ORs cleared of current patients with life-threatening injuries.
All quiet in the ED
ED
As related previously, day or night, there was never a shortage of dedicated helping hands in the ED. Our pharmacist, Wes was a constant. Marilyn and Sergeant Ken ran a tight ED ship. The airway and chest integrity were always checked. Oxygen was given. Blankets were used for warmth. Multiple intravenous, i.e., IV routes, were established by cut down, incising the skin to find a vein and using large caliber IV tubing to administer blood and fluids as rapidly as possible. A needle was passed blindly through the skin of the chest wall under the collarbone into the subclavian vein i.e., a large vein that carries blood from the arm into the chest.
Multiple fragment wounds (MFW) of the legs, abdomen, and chest; subclavian catheter inserted on the right
A catheter followed this puncture through the needle to also administer blood and fluids and to check on the patient’s blood volume and heart function (on patient’s right side). A tube was placed in the urinary bladder to measure urine production, a gauge of the effectiveness of the patient’s restored circulation.
The ever-present corpsmen shepherded the wounded in the ED and scrubbed in at surgery to assist in operating and in organizing the instruments.
“Tree” (Dave), Donn, Gus, Duane, and Mike
We were brothers doing our job. I just spent time with Dave, Donn, Duane and Mike at our 85th Evac reunion in September ’14. Roger and Patti were also there. Unfortunately Dave recently succumbed to Agent Orange (Dioxin) induced colon cancer.
We were all essentially kids, i.e., in our early twenties to early thirties in 1970, and all performed admirably as a cohesive unit.
Read One Man’s Story: Memoirs of a Vietnam Vetby Michael Clark to appreciate 85th Evac corpsman’s experience.
ANESTHESIA
The quality of anesthesia reflected Casey Blitt’s high level of academic and practical expertise. Back “in the world,” he eventually chaired that department at the University of Arizona. In Vietnam, he was a fully trained anesthesiologist and as chief of service supervised Bill and Mike who with just one to two years of medical residency experience were exposed to three months of army anesthesia training and sent to Vietnam. They were the typical OJTs, i.e., on the job trainees, and learned quickly, one had to, and were totally responsible and dependable.
Casey checking the level of spinal anesthesia
“Phu Bai” Fred
“Phu Bai” Fred, then a captain, was an army nurse anesthetist who was an extraordinary professional and kept me out of trouble in and out of the OR. Fred was also at our reunion, having retired as a full-bird colonel.
It may have been a side effect the anesthetic gases they were exposed to, but both Casey and Mike married women who also served during that terrible time at the 85th Evac. Casey married Kathy, who represented the Red Cross for our patients. Mike married Carol, a medical ward nurse. Robin and I just visited with both couples at our recent reunion.
Casey and Kathy in Vietnam
Casey and Kathy are currently organizing our 85th Evacuation Hospital ’70–’71 reunion for 2016 on the West Coast.
Casey, Bill, and Mike are retired from active anesthesia practice. I see them at our reunions.
The expression tempus fugit becomes a reality when we admit serving together in 1970, forty-five years ago.
85TH COMPOUND
The army, in its infinite wisdom, triangulated the 85th Evacuation Hospital with three major targets that the Viet Cong rocketed, usually with poor accuracy, thus increasing the probability of the hospital compound being hit.
85th Evac Compound (nonblurred lower two-thirds of the photo)
These VC enticements were a huge military airport cluttered with lethal Cobra gunships bordering the emergency department and the helipad for the Medivac choppers, a huge communication center, the 8th R&R, officially referred to as the Radio Research Field Station, that triangulated enemy transmissions for targeting by B-52s, and a Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) complex for training the South Vietnamese (ARVN) troops. Rectangular upright revetments made of plywood on the ends, corrugated metal front and back, and chain-link fence green metal posts were filled with sand and stood around the hospital buildings as Stonehenge monuments protecting the patients and staff from red hot lethal flying shrapnel.
Revetments (lower left), ammo dump
