I found some old photos of my Dad in Vietnam. I wanted to share them with you.

[Aristus]

I had lunch with him yesterday. He's recovering very slowly from pancreatic cancer, and is dangerously skeletal. God bless him, he kept ranting about how he can't wait until "we get that fucking idiot out of the White House!"

Anyway, some Vietnam pics:


Taken after 36 straight hours of surgery during the May Offensive, 1968:



Moving a casualty from the helipad to surgery:



Entrance to the 93rd Evac at Long Binh. (That's not my dad in the photo.):



My dad with some Vietnamese children at the Gia Dinh Refugee Camp:

[sasquatch]

1. In that first pic he looks so exhausted

:o

[Aristus]

3. A good depiction of MassCal, or Mass Casualty situations in the Army OR's

in Vietnam can be read in "Home Before Morning" by Linda VanDeVanter. Staggering...

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Nice pics, Aristus! Thanks for sharing.

Hope your dad feels better soon! :hug:

[old mark]

4. The Army medical corps in Vietnam saved a lot of

lives on both sides.
You should be very proud of him.

Best wishes to hem for a full recovery.

Mark
(82d Airborne Div - 1968-71)

[Aristus]

6. I am very proud of him. His last test for cancer came back clean.

When he told me, I had to put down the phone and cry just a little before I could talk again. He's on another round of chemo just for good measure. But he has no nausea and he ate well yesterday when I treated him to lunch. He had fish and chips, and a huge piece of chocolate cake for lunch. Anything I can do to fatten him up a little...

[old mark]

27. Aristus, I spend nearly a year in an Army hospital in the late '60's

and I have special feelings about military medical folks.
I wish him and your family all the best.

mark

[BeachBaby]

5. Thank you for sharing these!

I had been actively doing volunteer work with Vietnam veterans from 1997 until the beginning of last year, when life called me away from it for a bit.

I've seen sooooooooooooooo many personal pictures from these guys; and while I must have at least 5 big picture books of the war, none of them compare to the personal snapshots.

Thanks again. :hi:

[Crabby Appleton]

7. I was stationed close to the 93rd Evac on Long Binh Post

got there in Aug 68. My unit was right next to the LBJ and 24th Evac which was a few "blocks" from the 93rd.

Hope your dad gets to feeling better.

[Aristus]

9. You might have run into him some time. He was in-country from January 68 to Jan. 69.

I remember him telling me that the 24th Evac was not far away. I remember thinking it was weird to have two major hospitals so close together.

[Crabby Appleton]

12. We lived in the same neighborhood at the same time

so we might have bumped into each other, I was there Aug '68 to Oct '69, extended to get a 5 month early-out. We all thought it odd to have the two hospitals so close.

[Aristus]

13. Thanks for posting that map.

It's interesting. :thumbsup:

[Taverner]

8. Wow - just wow

[soleft]

10. I wish him a full recovery!

Thanks for sharing the pics.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My dear Aristus...

Oh, these are such moving pics...

Thank you for sharing them today...

And I honor your father's service, and yours!

May his recovery be swift and complete...

:hug:

[applegrove]

14. Hope your dad is okay! Great pics.

[DustyJoe]

15. Good Luck

He may have worked on me may 8 68. I was there in surgery. Give him regards and wishes for a full recovery.

[Aristus]

18. It's entirely possible. That would be so cool!

If you don't mind my asking, how were you wounded?

And welcome to DU! :hi::patriot:

[DustyJoe]

19. Schrapnel

199th Lt Infantry outside of Saigon, medivaced to 93rd evac. Collapsed lung and leg and back wounds. They did a great job patching me up.

[Aristus]

20. I'll mention it to my dad.

He wasn't always in the OR, though. He also served as a Dust-Off medical team commander, and also participated in what the 44th Med Brigade called Surgical K-Teams. They would go out to these isolated villages and offer medical care to the villagers. He did that a lot.

[skygazer]

16. Those are great pics

Here's wishing your dad a full recovery. I salute him. :patriot:

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Great pics! Wish him good health from me. :^)

[Haole Girl]

21. Great pics...

it's good to remember him being healthy and strong, too. :hug:

[BlueIris]

22. Great pics! And recovering from panc cancer—way to beat the odds. nt

[crim son]

23. What marvellous pictures.

Don't you sometimes wish you could just grab the story of his life and put it in a box, to pull out whenever you want? Life is long, and we change so much over its course.

[Sanity Claws]

24. Thanks for sharing the photos

When will war stop?
I now realize how visionary John Lennon was.

[lizziegrace]

25. What an honor

to have him as a father. :hug:

May he be well enough to pull that lever himself in November.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

26. Thank you for sharing

My dad was in the Merchant Marine during WWII
I don't have only 3 pictures from that time.
Have one with he and some other guys in front of the plane they were learning to fly (before he joined the MM), a group picture from Kings Point and one taken in front of my aunt's house in his dress uniform.

[Skittles]

28. mmmmmmm he is very handsome

yes INDEED! *swoon*

[Aristus]

30. Here's a better picture of him, Skittles:

A charcoal portrait by a German artist in 1970.

His dad, my grandfather, was a pretty good-looking guy, too:



You kind of have to look at me and ask: What happened? B-)

[Skittles]

31. WHO SAYS YOU'RE NOT AS HANDSOME AS THEM?

I WILL KICK THEIR ASS :7

[Aristus]

32. I can die happy; Skittles offered to kick someone's ass on my behalf.

Thank you. B-)

You be the judge; me then:



Me now:



No, seriously. Me now:

[Skittles]

40. LOOKING GOOD!!!!!!!!

I see a lot of your dad and grandfather in you! YES INDEED!

[JohnnyLib2]

29. Thank you and thanks to your father.

It's great that he has your appreciation and he sure has mine.

[Bullwinkle925]

33. Thanks Aristus . . .

for posting those. I have photos tucked away of one of my high school friends when he was serving in Viet Nam.
I also have a few photos of my step-father serving in WWII.

I wish your father well. It's a horrendous thing to watch someone you love go through something like this.
I'll keep you both in my thoughts!!





:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[Aristus]

35. You might like to see these, Bullwinkle:

Here are me and my brother visiting Dad just after the New Year:



And all of us in May, watching the Mariners stomp the Tigers:

[Bullwinkle925]

36. Your father looks like a wonderful man . . .

and very lucky to have such loving sons!!

which one is yourself?


thank you for sharing such private moments with me.

[Aristus]

37. I'm on the left in both pics (how appropriate!) My brother is on the right, but only in the pics.

If it were possible to be further to the left than me, it would be my brother; he's practically an anarchist. Strangely enough, he's also a successful businessman. Funny how those two go together...

[Bullwinkle925]

41. well, ya know . . . .

anarchists have created great change in the world!

they are sorely needed today.

i saw a wonderful bumper sticker yesterday .....

"Patriotism means supporting our troops,
and our Government when it deserves it."


:applause:

[UTUSN]

34. I guess he was too far from us water people, but SALUD!1 n/t

[flvegan]

38. Great pics! I wish him a full recovery, and I thank him for his service.

[Captain Hilts]

39. GREAT photographs. Thank your dad for helping others get home.

Tell him to hang tough!

Here's a photo of my dad: