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First U.S. Army Field Hospital and Air Ambulance Units in Vietnam

April 18, 1962

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1962-04-18_DSC_0206_(2)
Captain Norma E. Small, General Duty Nurse, 8th Field Hospital, turns a patient in a hip cast with the assistance of other hospital personnel, February 23, 1966. (National Archives)

The U.S. Army’s 8th Field Hospital becomes operational at Nha Trang. It provides both medical care and medical logistics. It serves as the primary treatment facility for U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam until 1963, when the Navy establishes its own facility in Saigon. The 8th Field Hospital receives support from the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance), which is equipped with UH-1 “Huey” helicopters. The 57th’s first rescue mission takes place on May 12, 1962.1

1Mary T. Sarnecky, A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 332–34; Peter Dorland and James Nanney, Dust Off: Army Aeromedical Evacuation in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2008), 24–25. See also O’Neill Barrett, U.S. Medicine in Vietnam: The Early Years (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Surgeon General and Center of Military History, 1982), p 22, http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/vietnam/genmedvn/default.html (link is external) (accessed 3/25/14).