Winnie Smith

Once the combat medics had treated the wounded in the field, the casualties were evacuated in helicopters—called dustoffs—to hospitals in nearby base camps. Most of the injured were being treated by American doctors and nurses within an hour of being wounded. Such prompt response times drastically reduced the number of deaths in the field. During World War II, the percentage of wounded who died from their injuries was 29.3 percent; during the Korean War it was 26.3 percent. In Vietnam, it dropped to 19.0 percent. Casualties in Vietnam received the best medical care in the history of warfare.

Winnie Smith, like all other nurses in Vietnam, volunteered for her tour of duty with dreams of being a combat nurse. She was disappointed to discover, however, that she had been assigned to the medical ward of...