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Back To Scrap Book Volume No.15



12th Evac Hosp Is “Personalized“

  SAIGON (ARC-IO) - An American soldier has just been shot by a sniper while patrolling the Vietnamese jungle near the Cambodian border.  He receives first aid from a medical corpsman on the scene who stops the bleeding and applies temporary bandages, while a rescue helicopter descends to pick him up.  Minutes later, the wounded man is being treated by U.S. Army doctors in the 12th Evac Hosp at Cu Chi.
   The mission of the 12th Evac Hosp is to give immediate medical care and stabilize the condition of wounded servicemen until they may be safely moved.  Those with minor wounds - approximately half of the patients - are able to rejoin their units after a short stay. Of the remainder, half are moved to convalescent centers located elsewhere in Vietnam, while the more seriously wounded are evacuated to military hospitals in the U.S.

   But emergency medical care is not all that the 12th Evac provides: a staff of trained Red Cross women assists the military by providing patients with the kind of personal attention that doctors - struggling to save lives and repair the human damage of war - are too busy to give.  These women do their best to make hospitalization more comfortable for sick and wounded GIs by furnishing needed personal articles, medically-approved recreation facilities and supplies, and by helping to ease the patient's minds about the things that trouble them, such as problems of communication with home.

  The Red Cross workers at the hospital are not alone in their efforts to make life easier for wounded soldiers. The American Red Cross chapter in Kansas City has “adopted” the 12th Evac Hosp at Cu Chi.  Through a program called OPERATION HELPMATE, Red Cross volunteers at home are busy gathering paperback books and magazines, toilet articles, ballpoint pens and stationery, games and playing cards, recording tapes for messages to worried families at home, and a variety of other personal items to make hospitalization easier for patients at the `12th.'

   These articles are shipped to the Red Cross women at the hospital and distributed to the patients when they make their regular rounds in the wards.  Since last April, the Greater Kansas City Red Cross chapter has sent 3-4 cartons each month to the 12th Evac. Said Miss Cathy Carlin, of Cleveland, Ohio: “The Chapter has been extremely thoughtful and generous with its assistance. We've received two portable tape recorders for use in the wards; a polaroid camera, so that the men can send pictures of themselves home to reassure their families; inexpensive birthday gifts for the men; U.S. travel posters to decorate the lounge; Christmas cards, ribbon and gift-wrapping paper; and many other items, large and small, that we've made special requests for.”

  Cathy is one of three American Red Cross workers at the `12th,' including Pearl Hayes of Wayneville, N.C., and Gwen Turbeyfield, from Tacoma, Wash: There are more than fifty young women now serving 1-year tours of duty with the Red Cross at U.S. military hospitals throughout Vietnam.  All are college graduates trained in social work and recreation, and all worked in military hospitals in the U.S. before assignment in Vietnam.

   Their duties are many: They visit each man shortly after his admittance, bring him a comfort kit so he may wash his face and shave (patients arrive at the hospital directly from the field with no personal belongings), and see if he has any special needs or wishes to contact his unit for any reason.  The Red Cross workers operate the recreation lounge within the hospital complex where convalescing patients may gather to read, listen to music, play ping-pong or pool, have a game of cards, or simply enjoy a chat with an American girl.  They make daily rounds to talk to patients in the wards, go shopping or buy money orders for them, arrange phone calls (the military provides each patient with one telephone call home free of charge), and distribute recreation materials and needed personal articles.  They handle individual problems and give casework services normally provided by Red Cross Field Directors serving with able-bodied troops.  And perhaps most important of all, they give the men the individual attention and comfort which is psychologically necessary for speedy recovery.

   As long as the Vietnam war continues, the Red Cross workers at the 12th Evac Hosp in Cu Chi will continue to comfort its casualties, daily bringing smiles and encouraging words to every wounded man.
  25th Div Base Camp Mortared

  The 25th Inf Div's base camp at Cu Chi received 48 rounds of 82mm mortar and recoilless rifle fire Jan. 19.

  The 20-minute attack, which began at 7:48 p.m. resulted in three U.S. soldiers killed and 45 others wounded. Thirty-two of the wounded soldiers were treated and released. There was light damage to U.S. facilities and equipment.

   Counter-mortar fire and helicopter gunships pounded suspected enemy positions. The results are unknown.


26 Feb 68
 Div Kills 400 Around Cu Chi
By LT Bruce Burton
  In two weeks of continuous contact, elements of six 25th Inf Div battalions have killed more than 400 Viet Cong during the fighting in the Cu Chi area.

   Battles raged along Highway 1 from the outskirts of Saigon to the north of the division's base camp at Cu Chi. Heavy fighting also broke out during the Tet period from the Ho Bo Woods to Duc Hoa in the northern and southern extremes of Hau Nghia Province.

  Soon after the Viet Cong shattered their declared Tet truce, the 1st and 2nd Bns, 27th Inf “Wolfhounds” airlifted into the Saigon area to reinforce American units defending the capital.  When it became apparent that more troops would be needed to handle the string of coordinated attacks along Hau Nghia Province's stretch of Highway 1, units were dispatched from the 3rd Bde, 25th Inf Div.

   Both the 3rd Bn, 22nd Inf and the 2nd Bn, 12th Inf came in heavy contact within hours of arriving under 2nd Bde control at Cu Chi.
  The 1st Bde's 4th Bn (Mech), 23rd Inf already under the operational control of the 2nd Bde on a land clearing operation in the Ho Bo Woods, also saw heavy action in the Viet Cong Tet offensive.

  The 2nd Bn, 27th Inf airlifted into Tan Son Nhut Air Base where the 3rd Sqdn, 4th Cav was repulsing a massive enemy assault. The “Wolfhound” battalion set up a base nearby and began to battle enemy units poised to strike at the Tan Son Nhut military complex and at the capital.

   Also on January 31, an ambush patrol from the 1st Bn, 27th Inf killed 15 Viet Cong and captured a 75mm recoilless rifle. Reinforcements from the battalion's forward base at Duc Hoa killed 22 more and captured a second 75mm recoilless rifle.

  Three companies made heliborne assaults into the Saigon suburb of Hoc Mon, which the Viet Cong had overrun the night before. The American force immediately began clearing operations.

   In the early stages of the fighting around Cu Chi, the 3rd Bn, 22nd Inf and the 4th Bn (Mech), 23rd Inf bore the brunt of the action.
   Within days, however, the 2nd Bn, 12th Inf also became fixed in a continuous struggle to push entrenched Viet Cong from two villages to the east of the Cu Chi base camp.

  Early on the morning of February 1, the ARVN Cu Chi subsector reported it was under attack by an estimated Viet Cong battalion.
   The reconnaissance platoon of the 4th Bn (Mech), 23rd Inf led a company of the 3rd Bn, 22nd Inf in a daring charge through heavy enemy automatic weapons and recoilless rifle fire to relieve the burning sub-sector compound.

(Continued From Page 1)

  At daylight, three more companies of the 22nd Inf joined the fight in a three-pronged attack into the village of Cu Chi. Street-fighting raged for five hours until the enemy force abandoned the village.  The enemy unit, identified as the 1st Bn, MR IV Main Force Regiment, suffered at least 12 killed, five weapons lost and 21 personnel detained.
   The fighting in Tan Phu Trung and Ap Cho, neighboring villages along Highway 1 less than 10 kilometers from Cu Chi, began January 31 when the 3rd Bn, 22nd Inf moved in to clear two enemy companies blocking the road.
   In almost five hours of continuous contact, the infantrymen killed 17 enemy. The Viet Cong unit, believed to be from the 272nd Regiment, appeared to withdraw from the village.
  Two days later, however, fighting again erupted in the two communities, this time as a truck convoy attempted to pass through from Saigon to Cu Chi.
   While the convoy waited three kilometers to the south, a company from the 4th Bn (Mech), 23rd Inf and elements of the 3rd Bn, 22nd Inf fought their way into the town.

  Although the 3rd Bde battalion has borne the majority of the action in Ap Cho and Tan Phu Trung, elements of the 3rd Sqdn, 4th Cav, Alpha Co, 2nd Bn, 34th Armor; and the 4th Bn (Mech), 23rd Inf have assisted the 22nd Inf in its attempts to drive through the enemy fortifications.
  So far, at least 106 Viet Cong have died in the American assaults on their fortifications, lost six individual and two crew served weapons and several personnel detained.

   The 2nd Bn, 12th Inf killed at least 115 Viet Cong in the battle to clear Highway 8A at Tan Hoa, and in action between there and an Phu Trung, six kilometers to the south.

   Also faced with Viet Cong entrenched in reinforced concrete bunkers, the 3rd Bde unit fought against elements of an estimated two battalions of the 272nd Viet Cong Regiment.

   Although the American unit had faced sporadic contact shortly after it airlifted into the Cu Chi area, its first significant contact came on February 5, when it killed 33 Viet Cong who had dug in at the hamlet of Phuoc Hung.

   The following day, the infantrymen moved north in an attempt to drive through the village of Tan Hoa. Like the action along Highway 1, the fighting has raged ever since.

  On February 6, a company of the battalion killed 22 Viet Cong who had opened fire with small arms, machine guns and rockets. Artillery fire from Cu Chi and armed helicopters supported the troops in their assault.

   Air Force fighter bombers dumped thousands of pounds of explosives onto the enemy fortifications during the eight-day battle.
   Although the U.S. troops several times penetrated the enemy defenses and captured several automatic and crew-served weapons, the Viet Cong force has continued to resist with heavy fire all attempts to break through the town.

   In other actions throughout the province, the 4th Bn (Mech), 23rd Inf killed 24 Viet Cong and captured one RPG-2 rocket launcher in a five-hour fight in the Ho Bo Woods.

  Throughout the two-week period, tactical air strikes accounted for 35 Viet Cong killed, artillery 30, and helicopter gunships 25 enemy killed.
  Two kilometers to the east, two companies of the 2nd Bn, 27th Inf were locked in battle with a large enemy force.  Fighting until dark, the infantrymen killed 102 enemy, and were supported by tactical air strikes, artillery and gunships.
 
MAP OF FIGHTING FOR TASK FORCES OF THE 2ND AND 3RD BDES, 25TH INF DIV, FROM JANUARY 31 TO FEBRUARY 14. THE CHART SHOWS GENERAL DIRECTIONS OF ATTACK AND GENERAL LOCATIONS OF ACTIONS ONLY. (MAP BY LT BRUCE BURTON)