Page 29 - Delaware Medical Journal - November/December 2018

that our education would be interrupted by the doctor draft. All docs were required to serve; the only question was when. Would we be granted a deferment under the Berry Plan (a lottery system) to pursue our residency or enter the service out of internship? My name did not come up, and subsequently I was commissioned as changed my life. I was sent to Tampa, FL in July of 1968, where
I cared for retired military personnel and their families, Coast Guard, FBI agents and the Merchant Marine. A year later, I was sent to sea on a Coast Guard Cutter and spent six weeks drifting in the middle of the Atlantic as the crew monitored the weather and salinity of the water for military purposes. (Submarines can hide in changes of salinity.) As the ship doctor, I was responsible for the health and safety of the crew as well as serving as the physician consultant for any ships in the area that had medical issues. While in Tampa, my career choice changed from Internal Medicine to Neurology. My two years in the USPHS were a wonderful experience. I was indeed fortunate that I was not
sent to Vietnam, where so many lost their lives or were forever changed physically or emotionally.
Lanny Edelsohn
Joan K. Short
My introduction to Vietnam was in the spring of 1973. Graduated from medical school in June 1956, followed by a
rotating internship. Completed a two-year Pediatric residency followed by a three-year NIH Fellowship in Child Neurology.
In 1973, I became a member of a teaching team to Vietnam for three months, as part of an aide program administered by the AMA and funded by the State Department. The mission was continuing medical education for the local physicians — through formal lectures and consultations around their clinical problems. During my last weeks, I taught at the Children’s Hospital in Saigon. As a member of Project Hope, I performed emergency work as needed for U.S. Public Health Facilities. In addition, over several years, I served at eight Native American medical facilities for periods ranging two to eight weeks. In 1979, I received a direct appointment to the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel. Was assigned to 2nd General Hospital, Landstuhl, Germany. The facility is the medical center and neurological center for Europe. After one year, resigned from the Army but subsequently performed reserve duty at several major Army facilities.
Joan Short
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
There is no record of a Delaware Doctor serving as a member of this service during the Vietnam Era.
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