POW Assignment ~ 3rd Surgical Hospital

         The 3rd Surgical Hospital was located at the Airfield in Binh Thuy on highway LTL-27 about nine kilometers from Can Tho. It was the largest American medical facility in the area. If an enemy combatant were wounded or injured and needed medical attention, they were brought to this facility.

        Assignment to guard a POW was given to new MPs and those members of local Security Guard unit at Can Tho Air Field, who were working on an MOS change. It was the easiest assignment we had.

        The POW(s) were confined to beds in the Vietnamese ward of the hospital and all the MP had to do was see to it that: the POW complied with the orders of the hospital staff; protect the staff and other people present from the prisoner; and make sure the POW did not escape. The injuries and wounds the POW's had were for the most part pretty severe and the job was rather easy.

        The real up side to POW duty at the hospital was the air conditioning and the four meals a day/night that they served. The food was better than we normally received at the Special Forces Mess and there was always an American nurse assigned to the ward.

        Unfortunately for our detachment, the only MP to lose his life during my tour was on the way to 3rd Surgical Hospital to take a relief MP to guard a POW. SP/4 Thaddeus Dennis lost his life on 11 April 1971 in a vehicle crash.

SP/4 George F. Long, II, B Company, 7820th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, Can Tho Detachment, August 1970 to August 1971.