Title: The medics' war
First published: 1987
Description: **Foreword**

This is the fourth volume published by the U.S. Army Center of Military 
History in its United States Army in the Korean War series. Once termed a 
police action, the Korean War was fought by massed armies on a constricted 
field of operations. Its battles were as intense as those of any other war this 
century. 

The Medics’ War views this conflict from an uncommon angle. It documents 
the efforts of American Army doctors, nurses, and enlisted medics to save life 
and repair the damages wrought by wounds and disease. Though the charges of 
biological warfare made at the time are shown to have no foundation, the 
disease-ridden environment of wartime Korea aided the side with the best 
medical care. The real MASH clearly emerges in this study, along with the 
variety of technical innovations produced by the conflict that have advanced 
medical science. 

The perspective of The Medics’ War is an enlightening one, showing that the 
compassionate treatment of both United Nations and enemy wounded pre- 
served human values in the midst of bitter, unforgiving strife. Civilian and 
military readers alike will gain from it a deeper understanding of the processes, 
destructive and reconstructive, that together made up the human experience of 
the Korean War. 

Washington, D.C. 

24 March 1986 


WILLIAM A. STOFFT 
Brigadier General, USA 
Chief of Military History
Subjects: History, Korean War, 1950-1953, Medical care, Medicine, Military, Military Medicine, Military Personnel, United States, United States. Army, Soldiers
Places: Korea, United States
Time periods: 1950-53