[On May 21st,
1881, Clara Barton founded the American National Red Cross. So this week
I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of histories and contexts related to nursing and
medical aid, starting with my colleague and friend Irene’s Guest Post on Barton
herself! Add your responses and thoughts for a healthy crowd-sourced weekend
post, please!]
Thanks to this website’s exhaustive
list, here are three of the fifteen medics who received the Medal of Honor
for their service during the Vietnam War.
1)
Donald W. Evans Jr.: One
of the eight medics who received the Medal of Honor posthumously, the 24 year-old
Californian Evans did so for going far above and beyond to provide medical
attention to the soldiers of a different platoon from his own (which was not
yet part of the battle). Wounded multiple times, he continued to move soldiers
out of harm’s way and to safer positions; while treating one more such soldier
he was killed by enemy fire. Just as I wrote about WW1 nurses in yesterday’s
post, there’s no way to see what Evans did as anything other than military
service, and indeed the most ideal version of that service, one entirely dedicated
to his comrades (even those outside of the platoon for which he was
responsible).
2)
Alfred Rascon:
21 year-old Mexican American immigrant Rascon’s story of courage and resilience
under fire (and while being wounded so many times that his survival in and of
itself is a miracle) is so incredible that I can’t possibly sum it up in a few
sentences, and would ask you to check out the whole thing at that hyperlink. At
an age when most of us are barely formed as adults, Rascon performed one of the
most impressive acts of selfless heroism about which I’ve ever read, truly embodying
the spirit and ethos of combat medics.
3)
Clarence Eugene Sasser:
An African American from Houston, Sasser was only 20 years old when he
performed similar acts of extreme heroism to Rascon’s, also while taking
multiple wounds that left him “in agonizing pain and faint from loss of blood.”
Per that hyperlinked account, after reaching that point he attended the wounds
of a large group of soldiers for another five hours until they could be
evacuated to safety. More than anything, I believe these medics’ stories, like
those of all the nurses and aid workers I’ve highlighted this week, reflect the
strength of the human spirit and how it can often be witnessed most fully in
service to others.
Crowd-sourced
post this weekend,
Ben
PS. So one more
time: what do you think? Other nursing or medical histories you’d highlight?
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