Raymond Emilio Torres |
Raymond Torres in his barracks, Vietnam [1968] | Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Navy
E Company, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division
Khe Sanh Hill 861 and Phu Bai, Vietnam
Hospitalman Third Class
Cheneyville, LA
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A Navy medical corpsman in Vietnam, Raymond Torres didn't spend his tour of duty in a hospital, but out in the field, carrying a gun (not permitted by the Geneva Convention) and being shot at (also not permitted). In a lecture to a community college class, Torres offers a wealth of detail about daily life in country, with a long section devoted to what he saw during the siege of Khe Sanh, when he was manning an aid station on Hill 861, three miles north of the embattled base. Torres discovered that his training hadn't prepared him for much of what he encountered, from bloodsucking leeches to dealing with the culture of Vietnam.
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