44 VIETNAM
he jungles, rice paddies, rivers, coastal waters and mountainous
terrain of Vietnam presented extraordinary challenges when
troops were wounded or injured in combat. An estimated 96 per-
cent of American casualties survived if they made it to nearby
military hospitals. The key was getting them there, which was
where the helicopter, to an unprecedented degree, came in—often under in-
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conventional improvisations it took to keep the casualty alive long enough to be
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North Vietnamese, lacking the technology of their opponents, had little alterna-
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Troops wounded in a
booby trap explosion south
of Da Nang in 1968 are
raced to a UH-1 “Huey”
medevac helicopter for
transport to a hospital.The medics, doctors, nurses
and technology that kept
the wounded alive
Lifesavers
By Jon Guttman