The captivating individual stories of 17 U.S. Navy corpsmen who served in Vietnam, told in their own words. Their accounts relate why they joined the Navy in wartime, why they became corpsmen—the enlisted medical specialists of the Navy and Marine Corps—along with many day-to-day, sometimes minute-to-minute recollections of caring for both the wounded and the dead under fire. They also reflect on the long-term effects the war had on them and their families.

Harry Spiller is the author of 17 books and numerous magazine articles. He served ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps with two tours in Vietnam. He also served as Sheriff of Williamson County Illinois and retired as an associate professor of criminal justice from John A. Logan College. He lives in Marion, Illinois.

Harry Spiller
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 215
Bibliographic Info: 52 photos, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8569-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4351-9
Imprint: McFarland

Author’s Note ix
Acknowledgments x
The Corpsman’s Oath xi
Introduction 1
1. HM3 William R. Ditterline (Petty Officer Third Class) 5
2. HM2 Jay Allen Cohen (Petty Officer Second Class) 15
3. HM3 Thomas G. Kirby (Petty Officer Third Class) 22
4. HM3 Lamar Hendricks III (Petty Officer Third Class) 30
5. HM3 Henry Richards (Petty Officer Third Class) 41
6. HM3 John N. Wurth (Petty Officer Third Class) 47
7. HM2 Daniel J. Milz (Petty Officer Second Class) 63
8. HM2 Martin P. Beichner, Jr. (Petty Officer Second Class) 78
9. HM3 Leon D. Brown (Petty Officer Third Class) 83
10. HM3 Loren D. Brown (Petty Officer Third Class) 92
11. HM2 Paul Douglas Reininger (Petty Officer Second Class) 102
12. HM3 Paul T. McCann (Petty Officer Third Class) 114
13. HM3 Ronald L. Dotson (Petty Officer Third Class) 119
14. HM2 Dennis Kauffman, Sr. (Petty Officer Second Class) 126
15. HM3 Steven Lee (Petty Officer Third Class) 154
16. HM3 Garland E. Sizemore (Petty Officer Third Class) 170
17. HM3 Theodore Schindeler (Petty Officer Third Class) 176
Appendix A: A Corpsman’s Prayer 181
Appendix B: Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, KIAs in the Battle at Cam Vu, April 30, 1968 183
Appendix C: Navy Corpsmen Killed in Action in Vietnam, 1962–1975 185
Index 195