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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-01761 to 363-01764.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-01761 to 363-01764
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Title
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Col. Gerald A Champlin second interview
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Description
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Original title: "Out-of-Control Evacuation." Second interview with US Army Deputy Surgeon, Colonel Gerald A Champlin
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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out-of-Country Evanst
Interview with Col. Gerald A. Champlin, deputy surgeon, MAC-V Surgeons office;
attribution should not be made to him personally, but to US medical authorities
or US military sources or to the MACV Surgeon's office.
Also interviewed Maj. Daniel E. Tully, medical regulating officer, major,
Medical Service Corps, from San Pedro, Calif. He handles the evacuations
from US hospitals in vietnam out of the country.
First part of this interview with Champlain--not for personal attribution.
On fewer amputations--in nearly all cases the surgeons do more vein grafts.
if a major artery or vein is wounded or damaged, they put in a tube--also
the patient gets blood faster than before, which helps save the limbs.
In other cases, the hospitals have more equipment and medical supplies of
greater sophistication--i. e. have artificial kidneys on the USS Repose; have
a machine in which the blood can be shuttled around the heart while heart
is being repaired.
In addition to the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH)--on the Army side-
(see next interview for listing of them) the U. S. Marine Corps in I Corps
has Marine Companies or a medical battalion in Hue, Danang and Danang East.
In addition, there is UT S. Ar Teree 12th USAF Hospital in Cam Ranh Bay--
but they call it a convalescent center, of 1000 beds, mostly for malaria
and other long-term medical diseases, rather than combat wounds. Also treats
hepatitis.
The MACV regulating office also has responsibility for Thailand.
The MACV offices keep track of the no. of beds occupied and available in each
hospital in the country on a daily basis; if one hospital is getting too
full, then the patients are evacuated elsewhere either in or out of VN,
depending on length of time estimated for him to be ready for combat again.
This office can send patients also to the USSRepose; the USS Sanctuary
is due first of 1967 in VN waters and there will then be two hospital ships
on station near VN.
On the average 100 US patients are evacuated out of Vietnam to other US
hospitals in the Pacific or US on a daily basis; but during the Op.
Attleboro in Tayninh 160 were evacuated out on some days.
Those
The x points for aero-medical evacuation out of VN are Danang, Chu Lai,
Casualties from Pleiku or An Khe
Qui Nhon, Nha Trang, Cam Rar, Saigon.
are sent to Qui Nhon or Nha Trang for out-of-country evacuation.
casualties in Bien Hoa, Cu Chi, Tayninh come to Saigon for evac out of VN.
hold the patients for 24 hours
These staging points for evacuation out of VN
before the evacuation.
all go straight to
others
For out-of-country evacuations there are makamba seven scheduled flights--
one day as normal, but more can be scheduled if needed;
HSA4cmm Cal Clark AF Base on the USAF 903rd Evacuation Squadron;
go on to US; on Tues. Thurs, Sat and Sun, flights take the
patients
to Japan
and some from there onto US.
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2. "Everyday we get a call from Jpa Japan-I'm a branch of the Far East
Joint Medical Regulating Office," Tully Said. (they handle all casualties--
army, navy, air force and marine.) "They give us the number of bed credits
in Japan, Okinaway, Then we know where to send our patients."
Hospitals backing up Vietnam, where VN casualties are sent to are:
two USAF hospitals at Clark and Tachikawa, Japan; six US Army hospitals-
four in Japan, one i in Hawaii (Tripler) and one on Okinawa; the four
Army hospitals in Japan are the 7th Field Hospital; 106th General Hospital;
249th General Hospital and one in & Zama. The two Navy hospitals to which
US patients from VN are sent are on Guam and at Yokosuka, Japan.
xx. "This (office) is the key to the systme (of out-of-
country-evacuations), Tully said. "This tells us how many beds (there are
in each hospital) and the specialists that are available (in each hospital)."
Hence, for ama example, they know that one hospital specializes in
plastic surgury or has iron lungs; patients requiring these specialities are
sent there. Maxillo facial wounds, for example, go to one hospital;
amputations go to Tripler, the 106th or the 249th. The office tries to
evac army patients to army hospitals; air force to AF hospitals etc-as a
general rule--but if an AF casualty needs a specialty provided by an Army
hospital, he is sent to an Army hospital.
Each of these hospitals throughout the Pacific calls the Japan office of the
Far East Joint Medical Regulating Office and then the Japan office coordinates
this and calls Vietnam as to where patientsareto be sent; Vietnam also
informs Japan about no. of patients and special care they demand.
If a patient can be cured and returned to duty in 30 days, he's
held in vietnam. He can be moved from one hospital to another for special
treatment for example, the Third Field Hospital specializes in plastic
surgury for facial wounds. But this in-country evacuation is handled by the
44th Medical Brigade, USARV.
the Pacific booking up
within Vietnam the Army has 4150 beds; Navy has 1077 beds; Air Force
has 650 beds." All of these beds are in the Far East axexxxя and are capable
of taking US casualties from Vietnam. The patients are evacuated to
Pacific hospitals if it will require 30-120 days for the patient to recover;
if recover will be a long-term affair and the patient can not be returned to
he can
duty and the special medical care is not available in the Pacific,
then be transferred to Continental US. For example, severe burn cases are
These are flown
sent to the Brook Army Hospital in Ft. Sam Houston, Tex.
directly from VN to Fort Sam Houston via the Starlifter USAF aircraft, via
Travis AF Base Calif. These aptie patient are flown direct
to US on the
same plane all the way; there is no off-loading unless the patient needs
immediate care. Each patient is given as much individual care as possible.
If a patient has amputations and will not be returned to duty, for
then the Far
East
example, and will get fitted for artificial limbs,
office in Japan or in Saigon can call the Armed Service Medical Regulating
Office in Washington DC, they give the Washington office all the necessary
medical information, including the nearest hospital to the
patients home-
town, and he will be sent there. This is
almost individualized palcement
in the US this is handled by directly Saigon-Washington telephone
communications.
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3.
a patient with
which specializes
hand surgeons
Other specialized needs of patients from Vietnam:
deafness would probably go to Walter Reed in Washington DC,
in this; chest care and TB to Fitzsimons Hospital in Denver;
and renal reconstruction are concentrated at Walter Reed.
Hence the ladder for evacuation is this:
1. for immediate care within Vietnam, casualties go from the battlefield to
the MASH hospital. This is the most important step where the most lives are
saved-ho. transport is the key. But from a MSAR MASH, they would then
jump to an Evacuation Hospital in VN; the MASH is the smallest hospital,
EVAC next and Field is the 125gest. Hence,
from the battlefield to the MASH
to the Evac. From battlefied to the Ex MASH hospital is generally 15-25
minutes from any point in Vietnam. The corpsmen carry plastic inflatable
sprints as part of their standard equipment (unlike Korea), and this helps
to reduce bleeding from battlefield to MASH. The "statistics are working
against us--because the casualties get from the battlefield to the hospital
so fast
where in ordinary circumstances the people would be far gone."
1% of all troops in Vietnam can expect to be wounded; and of this 1%
which reach a medical facility, 1% will die-hence 1% of 1% or 1/100th of the
whole number * of troops within VN will die. Hence, 1/100th of the troops
will be kia-"This is a working factor"--or the statistics that are generally
used.
2. 75% of the people wounded and admitted to a hospital in VN are evacuated
to US hospitals in the Pacific or continental US-these are wounds arm as a
result of hostile action--not non-combat statistics. However, 60% of the
casualties wounded by hostile fire are hospitalized; 40% are not.
alot of cuts, grenade frag on the skin who are treated and returned to imm
duty without admission to a hospital.
There are
The out-of-country evacuations reflect in a rough way the battlefield
situation. In July, 1965, about 900 a month were evacuated; but in June,
1966, 2500 were efacuated when the 1st Div. had Operation El Paso along Hway
13. In Nov. 1965, 2000 were evacuated during Ia Drang Valley campaign. During
'Operation Prairie, July, 1966, 2500 were evacuated. The evacuation figures
"are still climbing," Tully said. Between Nov. 65 and Nov. 66, 3 evac
hospitals and M 3 MASH hospitals were added, plus a Marine facility at Chu Lai.
Tully said,
"We are very much ahead of the medical problem in Vietnam,"
meaning we have more hospitals than casualties--they try to keep 50% of the
hospitals empty, in case there are a rapid influx of battle casualties--they
can evacuate out of the country as fast and as many as are necessary.
Beds in Vietnam: 735 for the Navy 0 (the Repose doubles this figure);
215 for the AF, excluding that 1000 bed convalescent center; 2805
for the
The USAF
convalescent center
Army. (The Navy is support for the USMC).
Cam Ranh bay is for txmmmmmmmmam convalescence-not treatment.
172 of the beds empty--it is 70% occupied now.
They try to kee
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4.
are:
MACV also handles Thainand U. S. medical facilities in Thailand.
5th Field Hospital in Bangkok;
They
the US Army has taken over responsibility from the
U. S. Navy on this; actually the U. S. Army has simply leased
some beds from the 7th Day, Adventistax Hospital there.
this & th
31st Field Hospital in Korate. Both of these are Army contolled.
USAF Don Muong Dispensary.
35th Tax Tactical Dispensary at Tak Li
8th Tactical Dispensary at U Bon., at U Dorn and at U Tapao . All of these are
USAF Dispensaries or Army dispensaries.
The US Marine helicopters are not broken down into specific air ambulance
units--the tactical ho. are used to pick up medical and combat casualties.
When a Marine helicopter is bringing in casualties, they turn on their landing
lights when get near the heliport--so the medical people keep watching for
landing lights and then go out and pick up the casualties.
The mod evacs to the US got to both the East and the West coasts--there's
much more evacuation to the US than during the Korean War.
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Date
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1966
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Champlin, Gerald A.; United States. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam; United States--Armed Forces--Medical care; War--Medical aspects; Interviews; Military hospitals; War--Relief of sick and wounded
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Location
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South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6297
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B83, F6
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Format
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interviews
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Collector
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections
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Language
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English
