Dang Thuy Tram’s Dairies

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One must go through big storms in life, but one must never bend his head in the face of the storms.

April 8, 1968. Had to do an appendix operation without enough medicine. Only a few tubes of Novocain, but the wounded young soldier never cried out or yelled. He continued to smile so to encourage me. Looking at the forced smile on his dry lips, knowing his fatigue, I felt so sorry for him. Very bad because his stomach is infected, but not from a burst appendix. I searched for an hour but couldn’t find the cause, so I closed him up and restored circulation, using antiseptic in his abdomen. My concern and the admiration of this wounded soldier make me uneasy. I lightly stroked his hair. I would like to say to him, “Patients like you who I cannot cure cause me the most sorrow, and their memory will not fade from my medical career”.

April 10, 1968. That is finished. This afternoon all the soldiers went on their way and left everyone with an empty feeling in the wild and quiet forest. All of them left but their shadows were still here on all the roads, in all the chairs in the clinic, and in all those beautiful love poems. I heard Tuan order “All Packs go”. Their packs were not well made from the American bags, but sat very neat on their shoulders. Everyone stood in front of me to shake my hand once again and to say good-bye.

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