The Book:
SEABEE71
IN CHU LAI
A 350 page memoir of a Navy Journalist's 14 months with the Seabees.
Photographs and text copyright © 1967 and 2019 by David H. Lyman
The Doctor Is On The Way
Mid morning, Chaplain Dennis and his assistant “Raunchy” Reedy YN3, climbed into a jeep, followed by a “cracker box” (a military ambulance) with Doctors LT Jerry Hubbell, MD and our dentist LT Sam Whisper, DMD and their staff. They were all head north on Route One to the village of Khuong Long.
Once the medical team arrived, the Corpsmen and Dental Tech set up makeshift clinics in the middle of the village. The Doctors begin treating a line of villagers for a myriad of ills, soars, injuries, and complications common in these small underdeveloped villages. Most problems involved skin infections—inadequate sanitary conditions, heat and humidity complicate skin infection.
Corpsmen treat the kids for scrapes and pass out bars of soap, together with instructions—in broken Vietnamese and lots of hand-waving—on how to use the soap to prevent future infections. On the other side of the ambulance the Dentist, Lt. Whisper, and his Tech settle down to extracting teeth beyond repair.
“I’ll make you a movie star” jokes the Dentist—in a language his patients hardly understand. But his hands are skilled and reassuring as he goes about his work. For many, this is the first time they’d had relief from the constant pain in their jaw.