It seemed a shame to let this tiny, specialized, Army medical unit (around 122 men full strength), its troops and its mission* pass into total obscurity. I’m looking for photos to add if you have any. The header photo was taken just short of the 20th’s headquarters compound perimeter during the morning of the Tet offensive on Wednesday, January 31, 1968. There is next to nothing to be found on the internet about the 20th Preventive Medicine Unit, 44th Medical Brigade Vietnam . The Veterans Administration books don’t even show the unit as having been in Vietnam.I’m looking for photos to add if you have any. The header photo was taken just short of the 20th’s headquarters compound perimeter during the morning of the Tet offensive on Wednesday, January 31, 1968.

*MISSION

Historically, disease has caused more morbidity and mortality than enemy actions during wars. Bubonic plague and malaria, among other diseases, were endemic in Vietnam. The mission of the 20th PMU was to reduce troop morbidity and mortality caused by such diseases, and by poor environmental sanitation (e.g. contaminated drinking water, unsanitary mess hall practices). Though all troops received multiple inoculations before and during deployment, there were many diseases for which there was no prophylaxis, such as schistosomiasis (an infection of the blood by parasitic flukes from contaminated water) and dengue fever. In addition to working with soldiers and military units, the 20th, and later the 172nd, also engaged in civil affairs operations in Vietnam. That work included such things as checking the safety of village water supplies and inoculating Vietnamese civilians.

THE PATCHES

The patches above, from left to right, are those of USARV (United States Army, Republic of Vietnam), the 44th Medical Brigade (now the 44th Medical Command with an airborne rocker), and the 20th’s pocket patch. At the start of formal military operations in Vietnam, the 20th was originally an independent unit under MACV (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam), hence the MACV-like format of the pocket patch. It was soon consolidated under the 44th Medical Brigade, USARV. Interestingly, USARV became operational in July of 1965 and the 20th just one month afterward. Those things take a good deal of time to plan and organize, suggesting America’s intent to become fully engaged in the conflict long predated our entrance into formal military operations.

HEADER PICTURE

The header picture was taken on the morning of the Tet Offensive in 1968. The VC had attacked from the far western end of the air base and had penetrated the nearly-two-miles of the large base to the eastern end of the runways, roughly straight in front of the on-looking soldiers. Not far beyond the treeline in the picture, some VC had taken over a large water tower and repeated strikes by helicopter gunships had failed to dislodge them. In probably the first-ever such event in military history, two F100 fighter jets bombed a structure on their own base with 500-pound and napalm bombs, effectively ending the battle for the base.