Page 28 - Delaware Medical Journal - November/December 2018
P. 28
E. F. J. Siebold
There is no record of a Delaware Doctor providing medical services in Vietnam for the Coast Guard.
UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
The United States Public Health Service was established in 1798 by John Adams, the second President of the United States. The service organized a number of “marine” hospitals for all seamen, both merchant marine and U.S. Navy personnel. The service was expanded in 1878 to address a growing concern with smallpox and yellow fever, further expanding in 1912 in response to tuberculosis, hookworm, malaria, etc. Today, the service has
a wide-ranging portfolio, from providing medical support to the United State Coast Guard to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Vincent Carr
Vincent F. Carr
(Also served in the USAF)
Vincent F. Carr began his medical career after graduating
from The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1974,
in the Philadelphia area in a group practice for 10 years and also served in the United States Air Force Reserve program during that time. Dr. Carr entered active duty in the United States Public Health Service, assigned to the United States Coast Guard as the the Maintenance and Logistics Command, Atlantic, Governors Island, NY. He was granted an inter-service transfer to the active- duty Air Force.
Vincent Carr
John J. Chabalko
Graduated from medical
school in 1971. Was accepted
for a position at NIH and
subsequently commissioned
in the USPHS. Assigned as a
Staff Associate, Epidemiology
Branch of the National Cancer
Institute, July 1972 to June
1974. Active participant in
study of childhood cancers.
Published several papers on
the subject in conjunction with other associates and colleagues in my branch at the NCI. Honorably discharged in 1974.
John Chalbalko
Lanny Edelsohn
I remember like it was yesterday the tumultuous times of the Vietnam era, especially as a medical student and intern knowing
Graduated from medical school
in June 1969. Pediatric Residency
Hahnemann Medical College Hospital,
1969-1973. Entered Active Duty in United
States Air Force as volunteer, at rank of
Major, October 10, 1973. Served most of
two years as Chief of Pediatrics, Langley
AFB Hospital. Honorably discharged in July 1981. While serving
as pediatrician, the physician draft had ended. Physician staff declined and the staff of pediatricians reduced from four to two. All physicians regardless of specialty covered the hospital Emergency personnel, retired members and their families. I was honored to have been provided this service opportunity.
E. F. J. Siebold
COAST GUARD
Vietnam is pictured as a war fought in jungles and rice paddies. But there was another combat beyond, known by some as “a sailors’ war.” Much of this war was fought from the decks of United States responsible for securing a 1,200-mile coastline. The Coast Guard deployed some 8,000 personnel and employed at one time or another 56 different combat vessels. Among the many missions assigned were the destruction of enemy supply ships, direct support of ground troops, rescue, and from time to time humanitarian roles, which
patrol boats with the initial mission of stopping the enemy’s seaborne supplies. The boats deployed at the 17th parallel and in the south, the border between South Vietnam and Cambodia. These efforts were successful, requiring the enemy to use small sampans that only had a 10 percent possibility of getting through. Other missions performed at this time included support to Special Forces Camps, personnel
The next contingent on the scene was known as Squadron
in size from 255 to 378 feet. The missions already cited continued
provided not only to Coast Guard vessels but also to Navy Patrol Craft and the support of amphibious assaults.
Coast Guard aviators, along with the Air Force, provided protection and support to merchant vessels.
It has been reported that while in Vietnam, the cutters
missions and boarded nearly 250,000 junks and sampans.
Medical support to the Coast Guard is provided by the United
States Public Health Service (USPHS). USPHS physicians served on the large cutters for Squadron Three. There is no record of a Delaware physician serving in this role.
E.F.J. Siebold
Bill Duncan
John J. Chabalko
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Del Med J | November/December 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 8
