Rosenberg, Stanley and Carol

Army

"It's Phu Bai. And Phu Bai is all right. And that was our motto, by the way. Phu Bai is all right. And then I got put in a Jeep and … up to Phu Bai."

Description of Interview:

Stanley Rosenberg was raised in Detroit, Michigan. Carol Rosenberg grew up outside Akron, Ohio. He went to the University of Michigan for both undergraduate and medical school. The Army paid for his medical school. She went to Kent State University, then St. Luke's School of Nursing in Cleveland. The Army helped pay for her nursing school. Both then joined the Army. Carol did basic training at Camp Bullis, Fort Sam Houston, and then worked for a year at Brooke Medical Center there in San Antonio. Stanley did his internship and on the job training, studying anesthesiology, at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Both deployed to Vietnam in 1970, Stanley in the springtime, Carol in mid-summer, and both ended up at the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Phu Bai. Carol dealt mostly with medical (malaria, drug addiction, overdoses, immersion foot, liver flukes, even tuberculosis—“everything that we were told in microbiology we would never see.” Stanley dealt almost exclusively with trauma, in anesthesiology. They met at the O Club, later became good friends, and finally fell in love. They remember fast friendships, great camaraderie, a high level of trust in the unit, and no trust at all for the Vietnamese. They discuss white phosphorous, B-52 bombs, missing limbs, friendly fire, and other horrors. They recall midnight breakfast, American Soldiers carrying big “Cambodia or bust” signs during the “hush-hush” invasion, and treating VC, NVA, and Chinese patients. They both loved their boots. Carol and Stanley have been married for half a century.

Key Words: Akron, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Microbe Hunters, University of Michigan, Kent State University, St. Luke's School of Nursing, Cleveland, Ohio, basic training, Brooke Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, Camp Bullis training, K-rations, Fort Sam Houston, OJT, Fort Gordon, Georgia, anesthesia, Long Binh, caddy shack (KIA shack), Phu Bai, tuberculosis, immersion foot, drug addicts, malaria, liver flukes, O club, RA (Regular Army), Firebase Sword, phosphorus grenade, potassium permanganate, liver fractures, vena cava, CONEX, friendly fire, boots, obstetrician, Duke University, ether
 
Key Names: Paul de Kruif, Colonel Sugiyama, Dr. Mel Aben, Westmoreland, Miss America, JFK, LBJ
 
Interview Date:
September 08, 2016
 
Service Date:
1968-1972 (Stanley), 1970-1971 (Carol)
 
Unit: 
85th Evacuation Hospital
 
Specialty:
Doctor (anesthesia), Nurse (medicine)
 
Service Location:

85th Evacuation Hospital, Phu Bai, I Corps

 
 

Read the Complete Transcript of this Interview.