Care and Comfort – Doctors and Nurses of the Korean War

Care and Comfort – Doctors and Nurses of the Korean War. . Throughout the conflict, doctors and nurses performed vital and heroic functions to save lives. Whether on-board hospital ships, conducting airborne medical evacuations, or serving with frontline Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units, days were long and the stream of patients endless., Captain Lillian Kinkella Keil (USAF) of Covina, California became on of the most highly decorated women in U.S. military history. One of only 30 nurses stationed in Asia when the war started, Keil participated in 175 air evacuations of the wounded. Between her world war two and Korean War service, she tended to over 10,000 wounded military personnel., Dr. Dexter Ball of Santa Ana, California was with the 8209 MASH unit. “We constantly moved with the troops, as many as twelve times each year,” he explained. “We would sometimes perform surgeries on up to 1,000 casualties a day. I’m proud that 95 percent of our patients left the MASH unit alive.” The innovations developed in the field during the Korean War – helicopter” evacuation, paramedics, advanced methods in the treatment of shock – would find their way into civilian life in the coming decades.,

My hand is the last one he holds , My face the last one he sees , “Don’t go yet…he pleads , …until I leave?”, The mask of pain he wears , Fever shining in knowing eyes , Exploding shells.. , Flames of hell…. , Are torturing him inside , Red fingers clutching…. , I can’t let go, Not another one, I pray , Screaming silently… , This can’t be so , How many can I lose each day? , Warriors…all so young , Merely boys , Are there quotas He must fill?, My powers useless , Tears of joy , Hours… , Minutes… , He’s finally still , Lynn Harper (Poems of the Korean War) , Nightingale