In 1963 Bobbi Hovis and four other nurses arrived in Saigon charged with the monumental task of converting, in four days, a dilapidated apartment building into the first U.S. Navy Station hospital in Vietnam. This engaging memoir, one of the few books written by and about women in war, describes their efforts to provide the first American casualties with excellent care despite third-world conditions. It is an inspiring story told with candor and humor. Operating in a city of chaos, where the extraordinary became the ordinary as the war escalated, Hovis provides a rare inside look at Vietnam in the early years of conflict. Her vivid impressions contrast the serene beauty of the countryside, before the ravages of full-scale war, with the excitement of Saigon and the horror of Viet Cong bombing attacks. Her gripping firsthand account of the Diem coup gives the reader a true sense of the turmoil and uncertainty experienced by the beleaguered medical staff. Her recollections of activities that helped to alleviate the intensity of her hospital duty--holidays in Cambodia, tennis and tea parties with the Westmorelands and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge--further highlight the contrasts of her experience and allow the reader to become part of the small circle of U.S. personnel then in Vietnam. This accurate, very personal memoir makes a significant contribution to the history of the Navy Nurse Corps and the Vietnam experience. Drafted in 1964, while her memories were still fresh, and recently revised for publication, the work captures the confidence and esprit of men and women who were proud to be part of the military effort and had no inkling of the agonizing conclusion to the war that was to cometen years later. Illustrated with over forty of Hovis's personal photographs and introduced by Rear Admiral Frances Shea Buckley, NC, USN (Ret.), Station Hospital Saigon will appeal to everyone who spent time in Vietnam or knows someone who did, and will serve as a valuable primary reference for historians.

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. -- Provided by publisher.

This U.S. Navy publication tells the story of medicine in the Vietnam War. 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.America's long Vietnam nightmare began that fateful year -- 1954. Shortly after Haven's participation in Operation Repatriation, the Navy was again called upon to spearhead a humanitarian operation. Under the terms of the 1954 Geneva Accords, which ended the war between France and the Communist Viet Minh, the people of Vietnam could decide where they wished to settle. Few in the south chose to go north, but with the collapse of French rule, hundreds of thousands of refugees streamed south to escape the Communists. The U.S. Navy provided the transportation.Passage to Freedom had a major medical component headed by Commander Julius Amberson. The medical unit consisted of three medical officers, one Medical Service Corps officer, and four corpsmen. Among the doctors was Lieutenant (jg) Thomas A. Dooley, who later became famous for his books and speeches about Passage to Freedom and his subsequent medical missions in Southeast Asia. Navy physicians and hospital corpsmen were charged with providing medical care for the refugees, many of whom were already debilitated by their ordeal. Disease was widespread and shocking. Malaria, trachoma, smallpox, typhoid, worm infestation, fungi of all sorts, yaws, tuberculosis, dysentery, beriberi, rickets, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, measles, and impetigo were commonplace. Dr. Amberson later recalled what his team members found when they arrived at one of the refugee camps. "As we entered Haiphong, we found every available vacant lot, parks, schools, and vacated buildings packed with refugees. We estimated there were about 200,000 at that time. They were living in the most squalid conditions--no sanitary conveniences. The human excreta combined with the presence of enormous numbers of flies were the making of epidemic diseases among these unfortunates."As the refugees were brought to Haiphong-- the port from which they would embark for South Vietnam--the Navy set up temporary camps for them, complete with tents, potable water, food, and medical care. Preventive medicine teams worked diligently to control the rodent and insect population, spray for malarial mosquitoes, and purify the water. Men, women, and children were vaccinated, deloused, and treated for their illnesses.

The book chronicles 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. 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. 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, saving thousands of lives. This book tells the story of the Navy Medical Department's involvement through stark and gripping first-person accounts by patients and the Navy physicians, dentists, nurses, and hospital corpsmen who treated them. More than 50 historic photos document their work.