Combat medics, navy corpsmen, and military nurses and doctors saved the lives of thousands of American soldiers, sailors, and Marines during the Vietnam War. The military medical facilities used in Vietnam were quite an advance over what was available in previous wars. During the Revolutionary War, a soldier's family or civilians were expected to care for the wounded. During the Civil War, Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix were pioneers in treating injured soldiers in a professional and efficient manner. Nurses and doctors treated soldiers during World War I in field hospitals on the front lines. By the time of World War II, a system of medical evacuation had been developed in which injured soldiers were sent to medical facilities behind the lines. The Korean War saw the first use of helicopters to ferry the wounded to hospitals in the rear, but the medical evacuation...