Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:01 | Before Jesse Tamayo was ever in the Army, his father had served before him in WWII. When it was his turn, Tamayo went into the Army and trained to be a medic for the fight in Vietnam. Tamayo believes it was his father's hard parenting style that really motivated him to sign up for the Army, and he is forever grateful for that.
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Tamayo remembers one instructor he had during his training days that sticks out in his mind. When his Battalion finished medical training, they shipped over to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. He describes the types of patients he had to work on and the people he worked with. His patients were from several infantry divisions. Since he didn't work in an actual hospital, it was his job to handle the simple minor injuries such as bullet wounds.
As the war started getting heavier, more and more patients were rushed to Tamayo's aid station for immediate care. During his time there, Bob Hope actually came to visit the country for a special Christmas show for the military. Tamayo was able to come home from Vietnam after spending a good amount of time in medical work, and was then stationed again as a medic in Germany. This would not be the last time he was in Vietnam, however.
After spending about two years as a medic in Germany, Tamayo took it upon himself to volunteer to go back to Vietnam. It was around this time that the Tet Offensive broke out about a month beforehand, and he arrived back to the country to help aid the countless amounts of wounded soldiers. A year later, he would join MAC-V as an advisor.
Throughout his time serving as a medic in Vietnam, Tamayo remembers a few close calls he and his doctors had while set up in their aid station tents. In addition there were a few humorous stories he remembers, such as the hectic time he almost had to deliver a baby.
Upon finishing his time over with MAC-V in Vietnam, Jesse Tamayo was ready to go home. After he got back to the states, he remained in the service for two years and planned to stay in the Army for much longer but wound up getting married and settling down instead. He gives us some of his final thoughts about his experiences in the Vietnam War, and what he wants future generations to remember about its impact on American history.
