Comments on: The Philippines: Allies During the Vietnam War http://www.historynet.com/the-philippines-allies-during-the-vietnam-war.htm From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:03:40 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: 26Charlie http://www.historynet.com/the-philippines-allies-during-the-vietnam-war.htm/comment-page-1#comment-38143 26Charlie Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:54:14 +0000 #comment-38143 Very enlightening article. I was a teenage volunteer stretcher bearer at the Clark AFB PI hospital in '66, helping with the med evac effort and followed the news of the first Philippine troops deployed to Vietnam. They had casualties on their second day, when a jeep was flipped by a land mine and injured at least three of them. A few days later, some of the VN arriving wounded included a few asian nationalities that didn't look like Thais or Koreans (whose more serious cases were routed to Clark). I inquired and they said they were Filipinos. When i asked if they were the ones injured by a land mine, they acted surprised i could know that. I told them i read it in the Stars and Stripes newspaper and that, imo, they could expect to be getting lot of attention from the media, as soon as the Filipinos found out they were back in the PI. They were the first Philippine casualties of the war. I remember telling them they'd be heroes, from what i'd been reading in the S&S. But i can see now that they probably had a different perspective on things and that might explain their uneasiness with the surroundings. The hospital had volumes of VN wounded cycling in and out every day. The med care there was excellent but Marcos had them moved to a Manila hospital before the day was over. Very enlightening article. I was a teenage volunteer stretcher bearer at the Clark AFB PI hospital in ‘66, helping with the med evac effort and followed the news of the first Philippine troops deployed to Vietnam. They had casualties on their second day, when a jeep was flipped by a land mine and injured at least three of them. A few days later, some of the VN arriving wounded included a few asian nationalities that didn’t look like Thais or Koreans (whose more serious cases were routed to Clark). I inquired and they said they were Filipinos. When i asked if they were the ones injured by a land mine, they acted surprised i could know that. I told them i read it in the Stars and Stripes newspaper and that, imo, they could expect to be getting lot of attention from the media, as soon as the Filipinos found out they were back in the PI. They were the first Philippine casualties of the war.

I remember telling them they’d be heroes, from what i’d been reading in the S&S. But i can see now that they probably had a different perspective on things and that might explain their uneasiness with the surroundings. The hospital had volumes of VN wounded cycling in and out every day. The med care there was excellent but Marcos had them moved to a Manila hospital before the day was over.

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