Charlie Med-Danang

Several times during my brief stint as a crew member with HMM-263 we brought wounded or heat exhausted marines to "Charlie Med" which I believe was located near 1st Marine Headquarters in Danang. I was usually only on the ground for a short period of time helping to off load and carry stretchers into the operating room.

These short visits gave me glimpses of what went on at this place of immediate action where injured marines were medically stabilized as we brought them in from the field.

During one medevac we brought stretchers into a large sandbag room (with no door but a wide opening) and placed the stretchers on saw horses so the medical staff could begin their work. What I noticed before I left the room was how the staff work urgently to stabilize the patients while at the same time cutting off their clothing/boots. I did not stay long enough to see any medical procedures but did notice how a thick overhead beam had many different organizational patches and individual insignias nailed to it representing the different units and ranks of those people they had treated. I also notice how the floor was inclined so blood could flow to a sump area where it disappeared into the floor.

During another one of our medevacs I helped load wounded marines into ambulances which I presumed were headed to areas that would provide more advanced medical treatment. We loaded a number of double amputees into the back of ambulance while they were moaning deliriously in pain. I also stopped at one of the hooches that was a patient holding area and held a number of grieviously wounded marines. I notice one marine totally inert on a respirator and another unconscious marine with gauze covering most of his midsection. He apparently had been hit by schrapnel and had many wounds that were seeping through the gauze ranging from his penis to his upper chest.

I left the room quietly and returned to the ship (helicopter) for our next mission.