Colonel Marie Rodgers - 90th Birthday - 2016

“They unloaded one young man from the evacuation helicopter. Both legs were in a body tourniquet, almost like tights. An IV dripped morphine into his arm. He was quiet, almost peaceful, and did not express pain – probably the morphine. We removed the tight bandage to find both legs practically blown away. Only strips of flesh clung to pieces of bone. We began flushing the wounds, and the doctors went to work on him. He died that night. I think of that to this day, every day. I’ll remember him my whole life. “But you know who I always think of at those times? That young medic, just a private, who bandaged him up and started the morphine! That soldier would never have made it to the hospital without his actions. Those young PFCs in the field were the real heroes.” Retired Col. Marie Rodgers related her experience in the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh, Vietnam in 1966. As a young major, Marie supervised the surgical ward of the hospital. After Vietnam, she returned to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. While there, President Lyndon Johnson presented Marie with the Bronze Star for her actions in Vietnam.

Area: Central / Chamizal

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History