Abingdon veteran was featured in 1966 'Nam documentary

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- Marcelino Burgos is adamant about not being called a hero. A former Army medic who served in Vietnam, Burgos said he evacuated enough Soldiers who were wounded or killed in action to know what heroism means.

“The real heroes never made it home,” he said.

Burgos grew up in Puerto Rico in the 1930s and 40s. When he was 16, his father signed for him to join the Puerto Rico National Guard. He tried twice to volunteer for the Korean War but weighed only 100 pounds and was turned away. He finally was approved to go active in 1956.

Burgos trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey and at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for combat engineer and demolitions. Remarkably, when he reached his first duty station at Fort Ord, California, he was assigned as an ambulance driver for the post hospital. He eventually received additional training and became an Army medic, then served out his 2-year enlistment and left the Army in 1958.

“That turned out different than what I expected,” Burgos said of his first tour.

He returned to Puerto Rico with hopes of finishing school but things didn’t work out and he was back in the Army by the end of the year.

He was sent to Panama where he served in the 193rd Infantry Brigade at Fort Kobbe in the Canal Zone and then returned stateside in 1960. Assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, Burgos said, “that’s when things got interesting.”

DISCRIMINATION
Segregation laws and discrimination schemes targeting people of color were hallmarks of the South during that era, Burgos said, and he found that Hispanics were no exception.

“Tensions were bad all over,” he said. “There were a lot of places we knew we couldn’t stop for gas or to get a bite to eat. It didn’t matter that you wore your country’s uniform. I remember wondering, ‘how is it that we serve out country but we’re still outcasts?’”

On a friend’s recommendation, Burgos put in for advanced medical training at Womack Army Community Hospital (now Womack Army Medical Center) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was accepted. He said he found things no better there.

He recalled when he and a fellow Soldier in uniform stopped for gas and burgers while traveling through the state. After 15 minutes and no burgers they decided to leave when they were stopped by state troopers who detained them for a short while before escorting them to the outskirts of the town.

“They told us get out of my town and I don’t want to see you again,” Burgos said. “It was not a very pleasant time. Some people think discrimination is just a word. But it existed then and it still does.”

Burgos completed tours in Korea and Fort Lewis, Washington and then things started heating up in Southeast Asia. He said it wasn’t long before the Army realized the need for medical ambulance personnel.
First tour in ‘Nam

His first tour in ‘Nam was from 1965-66 with the 283rd Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance). In 1998, the 283rd was re-designated the 68th Medical Company (Air Ambulance).

“I looked at it as a duty I had to perform,” he said of his first combat tour. “I focused on my mission to pick up the wounded – sometimes the dead – and transport them to the nearest field hospital or surgical hospital depending on the severity [of their injuries]. A lot of times we went in under fire. A lot of times we had to wait for a landing zone.

“Whatever the circumstances, I was determined to do the best job I could. So many were counting on us.”

He said the red crosses on the “Dustoff” helicopters didn’t deter enemy fire. He was wounded twice but turned down his nomination for the Purple Heart Medal.

“I was picking up people with no arms or legs,” he said. “I couldn’t live with myself if I accepted that medal.”

During the tour, Burgos gained a bit more than his 15 minutes of fame when a film crew arrived to shoot a documentary about military medicine.

‘TO SAVE A SOLDIER’
The crew, which flew with Burgos’s team during their initial visit the previous month, requested the same team for the documentary.

The result was the film, “To Save a Soldier,” which documented the medevac of an American Soldier from the jungles of Vietnam and followed him through treatment at hospitals in the Philippines and stateside, all the way back to his home in Wisconsin.

The late actor Henry Fonda narrated the film which aired nationwide on ABC-TV networks Monday, Oct. 24, 1966.

Burgos said their segment of the film was less of an adventure than it appeared.

“We just did our jobs while the cameras rolled, he said. “I cared for him [the patient] like I normally would.”

A photo of Burgos inside the helicopter, administering plasma through an IV, was used to advertise the documentary. It put a face on the Army medical corps that the public had never seen before.

The event was some of his lighter duty in ‘Nam. For courage under fire, Burgos was awarded the Air Medal with 14 oak leaf clusters and the Bronze Star with V-device and two oak leaf clusters; one for making his way through a mine field to rescue a wounded Soldier and the other for entering an embattled area under intense fire five times to rescue wounded Soldiers.

During that single tour, from August 1965-66, Burgos logged 397 combat hours, flew 539 missions, and treated 1,240 patients.

Burgos said he had no idea about the fuss being made about “To Save a Soldier” until he returned to the states.

From ‘Nam he went to Fort Hood, Texas, a specialist 5 by then, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Infantry (Old Guard), but he was in-country only two months when he was ordered back to ‘Nam.

“Medical personnel were sorely needed back there, but I needed to spend some time back home with my family,” he said.

When told by his commander he could get him out of the orders if he stayed with the unit for one year, Burgos readily agreed.

“Then they found out that that was my picture in the “TV Guide” and everything changed,” he said. “I was pretty much a celebrity after that.”

A LOCAL CELEBRITY
When the local press got hold of the information, Burgos went to interview after interview. He maintains a scrapbook of most of the news clippings, including a “Stars & Stripes” article attributing “the lowest combat death rate in history – some 400 percent below World War II and 200 percent less than Korea,” to “Operation Dustoff” the nickname for the mission helicopter ambulances fly in Vietnam.”

Burgos still has the original “TV Guide” with his photo in it and the late, iconic comedienne Lucille Ball on the cover. The issue cost $0.15.

Within that year in the states, Burgos rose from specialist 5 (E-5) to sergeant first class (E-7) and became the 1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry medical platoon sergeant. He returned to ‘Nam for a second tour, from 1967 to 1968, and a third tour from 1969 to 1970.

RETIREMENT
After his ‘Nam years Burgos served in Puerto Rico, at Landstuhl, Germany and at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. He retired in 1980.

Burgos met his wife, a Harford County native, in Germany and they returned to this area where he worked for the U.S. Postal Service at Aberdeen Proving Ground until he retired in 2007.

Married 38 years in April, Burgos said he is happy with life as it turned out. With two daughters, one son, four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and one on the way, he said he is happy to live quietly and enjoy his family.

He said he turned to the post office after the Army because he’d had enough of the medical field.

“In ‘Nam, I performed minor surgeries, I prescribed medications. You couldn’t do any of that when I got out. And the job market wasn’t the best.”

He said when he remembers ‘Nam he recalls it as an exercise in focus.

“Once you dedicated yourself to do your job it was just a matter of leaning on and trusting in your training,” he said. “Every time I left ‘Nam, I left ‘Nam behind. I knew I would go back but I’ve always tried to prepare myself for what’s ahead and leave what’s behind, behind. You have to take responsibility for what you do with your life. No one else on earth can do that for you.

“We trained every day for the unexpected,” he added. “Life was ending all around us. But a certain amount of danger exists no matter where you are.

“If there’s one thing I learned from Vietnam it’s to live your life. It’s what you make of it. And it can be whatever you want it to be.”

###
Like any other war, Vietnam produced an array of veterans. When the conflict ended, some veterans opted to continue service in the military while others returned to civilian life. Some returned with life altering wounds - physical and psychological - while too many others, who never came home at all, remain among the Missing in Action.

On the surface, the veterans of the Vietnam War faced the same challenges as veterans of other wars, except for one glaring difference: they were vilified by American society like no other generation before or since.

Today, nearly 50 years after the war's end, the veterans of Vietnam are in their 60s and 70s. The passage of time has cooled the tempest of indignation that shrouded their homecoming and an ambiance of repentant thanks thrives in its wake. Many still do what they can to serve this nation.

This article originally appeared in the "APG News" as part of an ongoing, multi-year series hailing the service members and civilians who served the nation during the war in Vietnam. Giving a voice to local Vietnam veterans, it is through their stories that we honor their service and sacrifice, and offer a long-overdue "Welcome Home."

The "APG News" is the weekly newspaper produced at Aberdeen Proving Ground, an Army installation located in southern Harford County, Maryland, nearly midway between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. APG is recognized as one of the world's most important research and development, testing and evaluation facilities for military weapons and equipment, and supports the finest teams of military and civilian scientists, research engineers, technicians and administrators.

For more information about the series or the veterans featured, contact "APG News" Editor Amanda Rominiecki at amanda.r.rominiecki.civ@mail.mil.