Averting Disaster in Minh Thanh
Dr. James Woods, Special Forces surgeon, got a call. Three people had died in a nearby village. Not combat related. What happened?
Not all great victories involve combat, not even in the Vietnam War. Quick action, great medical training, and prompt Army support may have saved many lives. This is the third in the series on frontline surgeon Dr. Jim Woods and his abbreviated tour in Vietnam.
Minh Thanh was a South Vietnamese village of approximately two to three thousand villagers, located a few miles southeast of An Loc. Here, Air Force Special Forces Captain Dr. James Woods served as the chief surgeon. As a Captain, his medical responsibilities included the area surrounding An Loc, all the way to the Cambodian border about 25 miles west. His primary mission was to help save the ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) and American soldiers. The major in charge of the Special Forces base near An Loc, and his superior, said he was not to perform elective surgery on civilians. It was an order that Jim considered superseded by a Higher Power.
The North Vietnamese placed their military and political headquarters in Cambodia, but very near the South Vietnamese border. Communist operations throughout South Vietnam were run from this HQ. That’s why Jim would hear the big booms of American and ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) artillery shooting over the border toward the enemy positions. The Viet Cong (short for Vietnamese Communist) were thick around An Loc. They were the guerrilla fighters of the Communist side, infiltrating the villages, hiding out in the jungle from where they would launch ambushes, or, if needed, retreat to safety across the border. Their “uniform” was the ubiquitous pajamas, while the North Vietnamese regular Army (NVA) wore khaki or light green uniforms and pith helmets. That hive of enemy activity just across the border was largely untouched by US and ARVN ground forces. US public policy was to adhere to Cambodian neutrality, which suited the North’s leaders just fine.
In 1966, four years before Dr. Woods arrived, the US presence was gearing up. Minh Thanh was near the site of a ferocious engagement. The VC were building up their forces in the area, conducting repeated ambushes and raids. The 1st Infantry Division commander, General DePuy, came up with a plan to draw them out in numbers and ambush them. Knowing there were VC spies in a position to learn his plans, he let it be known that a small convoy with bulldozers was heading to the Minh Thanh airfield to conduct repairs. But it was a much larger group, accompanied by four battalions to block the VC escape and react to the expected ambush.
The VC did ambush, and the US forces hit them hard. The US lost 25 killed, but counted 278 VC bodies and estimated another 300 killed, with their bodies recovered by the VC. But many VC escaped the cordon meant to capture them and disappeared into the dense jungle.
The “victory” did little, of course, to limit VC activity in the area. One thing that did make a big difference was in March 1970, when President Nixon decided to invade Cambodia with US and ARVN troops. Contributing to his “Tricky Dick” reputation, he said it was no invasion, just an incursion. Militarily, it was a great success. Politically, it triggered the most vigorous protests of the war, protests that ended tragically at Kent State University with the National Guard killing four students. Political action led by Senators Cooper and Church ensured that all US activity, including the secret SOG missions, would end in Cambodia.
The Communists were pushed out of the west side of Cambodia which made life easier for a while for those near the border. Terry Crump’s Cobra missions into Cambodia supported ARVN Special Forces recon teams, but the Pink Panthers considered them “milk runs” with little anti-aircraft and groundfire, at least compared to the hot zone of Laos.
But death by bullets and blasts was not the only thing to threaten the lives of those living in Minh Thanh and the immediate area.
Dr. Woods received a radio call informing him that three people had died in this remote farming village. Two young people and a middle-aged person. No wounds or bullet holes. No obvious cause of death in otherwise healthy villagers. Jim ordered them to leave the bodies as they were until he arrived. Minh Thanh, like the entire region, was essentially occupied by the VC. He flew in by a Huey slick, a passenger carrying Huey, as the roads were subject to ambush. Removing their clothes, he was shocked to find bubos in their groin areas. These are painful swellings of the lymph glands. There was one obvious cause, but could it be?
He suspected the cause, but the dreaded disease had been irradicated from the US. He recalled a brief study on it done many years before. But, according to Jim, by the grace of God he knew what he had to do.
He aspirated the blue lump, removed some of the fluid, and prepared to send the samples to the lab in Saigon. Jim’s initial concerns were validated when during his examination he heard a villager explain how the rats that normally infested the ceilings of the crude hooches where most villagers lived, were dropping from the ceiling and dying on their floors. Rats. Bubos. Bubonic plague!
This dreadful plague caused massive deaths in Europe in the Middle Ages. Estimates are that in Europe as many as 50 million may have died, with the plague killing up to 60 to 65% of the population. In Florence and Paris, at least half the population died. The plague was also seen in the East, but there is no accurate estimate of the millions killed.
Jim’s training kicked in, both his medical training and his military officer training. He ordered an immediate quarantine of the entire village. He ordered or requested the Army to inoculate the Minh Thanh area with a spray that would kill the fleas causing the spread of the disease. Bubonic plague is transferred by fleas living on rats. When the rats that were infesting the hooches died, they dropped onto the floors from their nests in the ceiling. The fleas then sought new hosts in the form of the humans inhabiting the crude houses. Those infected faced a 30% to 90% chance of dying without prompt treatment. The painful death typically would come within 10 days of the flea bite.
The Army team arrived in Hueys, and the entire village was sprayed. By that time he had to jump aboard a Huey and get back to his surgical table as urgent calls had come in to treat combat wounded. Jim treated 13 cases of bubonic plague in the next days, but with prompt antibiotic treatment to kill the Pasturala Pestis organism, the plague is no longer the killer it once was. Every one of those he treated survived.
One rite of passage to the war zone in Vietnam was an almost endless series of shots and vaccinations. One was for bubonic plague, so Jim went about his lifesaving business without too much concern about being infected himself. It wasn’t a good time to hang out in a Minh Thanh hooch for a cup of tea.
Medals, awards, and honors are rightly (usually) handed out to those who show courage, skill, and selfless acts of heroism. Saving a village from a disaster, and possibly many beyond, does not typically qualify for such awards. Jim would be awarded a Bronze Star, not for this mission or any particular action he took but for his excellent service overall.
But we can recognize and honor him for this life-saving effort, along with all the other actions he took to save lives. Dr. James Woods: A Tardy Salute, sir!