A Minnesota PBS Initiative
From music to medical corpsman/surgical tech
A music major in college, I joined the US Navy to become an E-5 hospital corpsman and added a specialty as a surgical technician. After two years of a four year engagement, I was assigned to the US Marines and spent l966-l967 in Vietnam--mostly in battalion aid stations and surgery- think the movie MASH but w/o the nurses--we underwent frequent attacks- usually at night in locations between Danang and the DMZ. Worst was in Khe Shan at the DMZ which was overrun by the bad guys about 60-days after I got out of VN.
A music major in college, I joined the US Navy to become an E-5 hospital corpsman.
At the end of 1967 I took a 60-day school cut from my last duty station in the US in order to go back to college; otherwise with my position I was slated to go back to VN for another tour. The first 13 months were enough.
I've provided 160+ color slides with the MN Carver County Historical Society which has digiitized them and used some of them as large scale print behind the VN era display in the museum in Waconia MN. This experience gave me a 40 year career in healthcare as a materials manager plus leadership roles the community, state, nationally and at church.
All photos courtesy of the Carver County Historical Society.
Camp Pendleton, CA, 1966.
Surgery.
Hospital at Khe Sanh.
Waiting for the wounded.
Chinook helicopter in air at Dong Ha Marine Base.
Myron in Vietnam.
In port at Subic Bay. Ship facing camera is the USS Hope (a Navy Hospital ship). My first chopper ride from in-land during my first days in VN was to bring injured to this ship in the ocean. Many of the female nurses on ship were those I knew from being in operating room work at Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois.
Olongapo street vendors.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: Waconia, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Hue, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Military Service
Dates of Service: 1964 - 1967
Veteran Organization: none
Unit: US Navy/US Marines
Specialty: E-5 Corpsman and Surgical Tech
Additional locations during Vietnam: Phu Bai and remote locations between Da Nang and the DMZ
Myron Karki.
Story Themes: Camp Pendleton, Corpsman, Da Nang, Demilitarized Zone, DMZ, Helicopter, Hue, Khe Sanh, Look, Medical Personnel, Nguyen Cao Ky, Okinawa, Philippines, Photo Album, Subic Bay, Surgical Tech
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