FROZEN IN MEMORY: U.S. Navy Medicine in the Korean War Review

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(More customer reviews)Was the Korean War really like M*A*S*H? Not according to Lt.(j.g.) Henry Litvin, MC who served with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in Inchon. "I was literally grasping at straws to treat shock. Stop bleeding, keep them flat and evacuate them to the rear fast. I never knew about MASH until years later when the show came out. I remember sitting with my wife watching it and being furious. They were laughing and I never remember much laughter. I don't remember any laughter where we were."
Litvin is one of several Navy physicians, dentists, nurses, and corpsmen who tell the real story of how they practiced medicine chronicled in Frozen In Memory: U.S. Navy Medicine in the Korean War, by Navy Medical Department Historian and author Jan K. Herman.
Published in 2006 by Booklocker.com Inc., Frozen in Memory is a sequel to Battle Station Sick Bay: Navy Medicine in World War II, but with one important addition. In Battle Station Sick Bay, Herman confined his interviews to only the caregivers. In Frozen In Memory, he includes stories of the Marines and sailors who were on the receiving end of Navy medicine during the Korean War.
Through oral histories, this book vividly describes the unimaginable circumstances under which these forgotten heroes worked. Operations were performed on scores of mangled young men without the benefit of x-ray equipment and using retractors made from the brass of discarded artillery shells. Corpsmen and physicians entered the field of battle right along side the Marines carrying with them a bag of medical supplies from World War II that contained bandages, a surgical kit, bandage scissors, and morphine. Casualties had to be moved back to battalion aid stations before they could get life-saving IVs and plasma. These caregivers survived on frozen C-rations that would be thawed on the engine block of a truck or jeep, ingesting whatever food particles would thaw. Many times the only water source would be contaminated snow. At the battle aid stations they would care for the wounded even though the station would be under fierce attack by enemy rockets and gunfire.
In additions to first-hand accounts from the battlefields of the Pusan Perimeter, Inchon, Seoul and Chosin, Herman also includes the stories of medical staff as they treated casualties onboard medevac flights, at Yokosuka Naval Hospital, and aboard hospital ships. These stories often go beyond the medical arena as the veterans share observations and opinions about the meaning of their war and how it had affected their lives since.
Herman also included a fascinating section in his book entitled "The Cast," a listing of those who were interviewed with a brief epilogue describing what occurred in their lives following the end of the war. As a Navy nurse historian, I was especially pleased to see the names of Navy nurses Marilyn Ewing Affleck, Rosella Nesgis Asbelle, Sarah Griffin Chapman, Nancy "Bing" Crosby, Lura Jane Emery, Bobbi Hovis, and Dorothy Venverloh, most of whom I have had the pleasure to meet through the incredible network of the Navy Nurse Corps Association.
This is a much needed and important historical account of the men and women who endured the unimaginable circumstances of war and sacrificed so much in selfless service to heal bodies. Just as many Korean War veterans will have their memories of the brutality of war frozen in memory, the reader will also find this superbly written mosaic of oral histories unforgettable. Frozen In Memory: U.S. Navy Medicine in the Korean War is a must read!

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Was the Korean War really like M*A*S*H?In their own words, Navy physicians, dentists, nurses, and corpsmen tell the real story of how they practiced medicine during the so-called "forgotten war," often in unimaginable circumstances.