Preserving the Wounding Agents of War
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the National Museum of Health and Medicine is showcasing its historical and archival collections related to the role of American military medicine during the conflict. In support of this mission, Dr. Norman M. Rich, a renowned vascular surgeon, has generously donated an impressive collection of Vietnam War-era medical artifacts, photographs, and films to NMHM.
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Title cover of booklet.
PRESERVING THE WOUNDING AGENTS OF WAR
A Vietnam War Medical Collection at the National Museum of Health and Medicine
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Page 2 of booklet.
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the National Museum of Health and Medicine is showcasing its collections related to the role of American military medicine during the conflict. In support of this mission, COL (Dr.) Norman M. Rich (Ret.), a renowned vascular surgeon, has generously donated an impressive collection of Vietnam War-era medical artifacts, photographs and films to the NMHM.
While serving as the chief of surgery within the 2nd Surgical Hospital (Mobile Army) in An Khe Vietnam, Dr. Norman Rich set up a small medical museum within the hospital. The idea to create the museum occurred to Rich while reading "Wound Ballistics," a review of ballistics and wounding power during World War II and the Korean War, on a ship heading for Vietnam in the fall of 1965. After he finished reading the book, Rich decided he would collect similar information for surgeons treating wounded service members in Vietnam.
After arriving at the hospital in Vietnam, Rich began asking for donations of bullets and other objects retrieved during surgery. When word of the project spread, Rich soon had enough items to begin compiling his medical museum. All branches of the American military services contributed, he said, and each item was saved, identified, and catalogued. Reports were also made with a detailed description of the wound and the origin of the wounding object.
The collection ranges from a display board featuring bullets and fragments from explosive devices once embedded in the limbs of service members, to a Vietnamese pharmaceutical kit. The collection also includes several punji sticks - a type of wooden stake made of sharpened bamboo and primarily used in booby traps.
After completing his tour of duty, Rich arranged for many of the items he collected in Vietnam to be shipped to NMHM, which at that time was called the Armed Forces Medical Museum and was an element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington, D.C., so that the objects could be viewed by the public.
(IMAGE: Major Norman Rich, MC, with a display of punji sticks, Vietnam, 1966. OHA 288.05)
(IMAGE: Dr. Norman M. Rich (center) and Alan Hawk, NMHM Historical Collections Manager, next to some of the Vietnam War-era objects Rich donated to the museum.)
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Page 3 of booklet.
"Dr. Rich's collection is in the tradition of the Army Medical Museum during the Civil War, preserving the wounding agents of war to inform contemporary and future military surgeons. It is a very important collection, and we are glad to have it and be able to preserve it." Alan Hawk, Historical Collections manager, National Museum of Health and Medicine.
(IMAGE: A display board featuring bullets and fragments from explosive devices once embedded in the limbs of service members who served during the Vietnam War.)
(IMAGE: A soldier's boot that was punctured by a punji stick, currently on display in an exhibit commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Army Medical Museum (today's NMHM).)
(IMAGE: Vietnamese pocket pharmaceutical kit with various containers of pills and medicines.)
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Page 4 of booklet.
COL (Dr.) Norman M. Rich (Ret.)
After his tour, Rich went on to become the first fellow in vascular surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and shortly after assumed the position as chief of vascular surgery and director of the fellowship from 1967 to 1978. He also founded the vascular surgery registry, an outcome study of vascular surgery performed in theater during the Vietnam War. Upon retirement from the Army, Rich became a professor of surgery at USUHS and later was awarded the Leonard Heaton and David Packard Professorship, named for two USUHS founders. In 2002, the USUHS department of surgery was named in his honor; Rich served as the department's chairman from 1977 to 2002.
"Since my service in the Republic of South Vietnam (1965-1966), I have been dedicated to putting all of our items from the 2nd Surgical Hospital (MA) Museum into the National Museum of Health and Medicine as originally communicated to and with then Brig. Gen. Joel Blumberg as Director of the AFIP." Dr. Norman M. Rich.
In keeping with its mission, and in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, NMHM continues to seek and collect documents, photographs, films and artifacts related to the contributions of American military medicine during that conflict.
If you would like to speak with NMHM staff about donating to this important collection, email us at: USArmy.Detrick.MEDCOM-USAMRMC.List.Medical-Museum@health.mil
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Back cover of booklet.
(IMAGE: Exterior of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.)
The National Museum of Health and Medicine, a Department of Defense museum, was established in 1862 as the Army Medical Museum, and inspires interest in and promotes the understanding of medicine - past, present, and future - with a special emphasis on tri-service American military medicine. As a National Historic Landmark recognized for its ongoing value to the health of the military and to the nation, NMHM identifies, collects, and preserves important and unique resources to support a broad agenda of innovative exhibits, educational programs, and scientific, historical, and medical research.
NMHM houses five collections comprising 25 million objects. The collections represent archival materials, anatomical and pathological specimens, medical instruments and artifacts, and microscope slide-based medical research collections and focus particularly on the history and practice of American medicine, military medicine, and current medical research issues.
NMHM is an element of the Research and Development Directorate of the Defense Health Agency.
(IMAGE: National Museum of Health and Medicine logo.)
(IMAGE: Department of Defense - Defense Health Agency Logo.)
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