Battlefield Angels: Saving Lives Under Enemy Fire From Valley Forge to Afghanistan

by Scott McGaugh

In Battlefield Angels historian Scott McGaugh pays homage to the thousands of medics, hospital corpsmen, and battlefield nurses, doctors, surgeons who have provided succor and healing to the more than 40 million warriors who have served in America's armed forces since the nation's founding.

McGaugh tells the story of Jonathan Letterman, a Union surgeon during the Civil War who is considered the father of American combat medicine. Letterman designed the first battlefield evacuation system after an unprepared medical corps at Bull Run left thousands of soldiers to die in the place where they were wounded. We also learn about Wheeler Lipes, a young navy corpsman and submariner with minimal medical training who on September 11, 1942, conducted the first-ever appendectomy at sea. And, we hear the story of Pfc. Monica Brown, the young army medic who was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing fellow soldiers from a disabled Humvee during an ambush in the Paktika province of Eastern Afghanistan in 2007. Brown is only the second woman in sixty years to receive the prestigious award. Through these stories and many others, McGaugh traces the captivating evolution of battlefield care, from the Revolutionary War to today's battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Battlefield Angels captures "in-the-trenches moments" during which medics and corpsmen fought to save the lives of their comrades. Along the way, readers will learn the fascinating history of battlefield medicine and how it has benefited both military and civilian medical practice throughout American history. McGaugh also looks ahead to the future, where telemedicine and robotic surgery promise to transform the battlefield once again. In the end, Battlefield Angels both chronicles and pays homage to the men and women in arms who fight every day to save the lives of their fellow soldiers, sailors, and marines.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Military History, Medical, War

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

I'm proud to be a New York Times bestselling author of nonfiction military thrillers. My upcoming book, The Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin (March 2, 2023), is the untold combat aviation story of World War II volunteer glider pilots. A Civil War biography, Surgeon in Blue, was a bestseller. Honor Before Glory takes readers on a riveting rescue mission by Japanese American soldiers and is in film development. And I'm always looking for ideas for my next book...

Reviews

[A.L. Sowards]

Parts of this book were better than others. Many of the early chapters were summaries that didn’t offer enough details to be very interesting. The chapters on WWII and Vietnam were more interesting (at least for me) because they focused on a few men and their stories, rather than trying to cover an entire war in one chapter (or in a few paragraphs, which is all the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American war received).

This is probably a good starter book for a high school or junior high students. It includes some interesting information and stories of incredible bravery. Medics have come a long way from bleeding patients and assuming puss was part of a wound’s healing process to the care troops have now. McGaugh shows a pattern: when war starts, medical teams have usually been understaffed and unprepared. But war forces changes that have improved care for troops and sparked advances that help civilians too.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott McGaugh wrote a decent book about the military medicine corps and how they changed the battlefield throughout America's history. McGaugh is not a historian, which is clear from his choices to profile and how he structured the book; he is a communications director for a museum and so his writing reflects a public relations-type of delivering information.

The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War I each get one chapter that was very much an overview of the wars and where military medicine stood. Each of these chapters felt very similar, as the military was never really mindful of the medics, equipment, or processes that were advancing in the civilian world...until fighting broke out and men were dying. There was a lot of improvisation and development came from the Army branch. The highlight of this section was the mobile ambulance trains; I got to see and explore one on my trip to York's National Railway Museum.

This was followed by six chapters on World War II, five of which were devoted to the Marines fighting in the Pacific Ocean. And this is where the book fails a little for me - the one chapter on Europe dealt with the Army's advancement in medicine, but it was a total love fest between the author and the Marines. There was one chapter devoted to medical corpsmen who were POWs under the Japanese which was the most interesting chapter World War II section had.


And the Marine love-in continued in the one chapter on the Korean Conflict, even though the highlight of this era's medical advancement was the concept and execution of M.A.S.H. - Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Vietnam got two chapters, both dealing with Marines yet again. Ditto for the one chapter on Iraq (combination of Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, which was another fail for me as each operation was very different other than location), although for the first time a female medic was profiled. The lone POC profiled came in the chapter on Afghanistan, but you also get another group of Marines as well.

Did I mention that my branch of service, the USAF, received 0, nada, nothing, Not. One. Damn. Word. about our medical corps? Yeah, this still annoys me a week after reading the book.

At the end of each chapter, there was a paragraph or two that just spewed stats about the number of troops involved in that battle/war, the number dying, the number injured - but no real analysis. It was interesting to read, but really only recommend this to military history buffs or medical history readers.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject is so interesting that I kept reading despite the fact that the book is formulaic and poorly-organized -- or maybe the "vivid scene-setting -> anecdote -> statistics -> thematic wrap-up" formula just didn't work for me. The stories are, of course, amazing.

[Sarah Sundin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fascinating anecdotes, but not much substance for research.

[Kathleen Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was all new information for me told in a mix of narrative non-fiction, and gleanings from historical records. It’s emotional and fascinating, and shows the dedication and courage of these wartime medics and others who administered medical care especially in the midst of battles.

[Jerry D. Vanvactor, DHA · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not often write reviews about books I have read, but this one deserves some attention. I would give this book two stars, at best, and I believe I am being generous. This book is an interesting introduction to military healthcare for anyone who may not be intimately familiar with the inner-workings of active duty or the assignment of actual medics and corpsmen. I found this book to be an incredibly poorly structured book of facts and statistics riddled with a few human interest and sensationally-amplified stories for flavor. I was considering it fairly well developed until I reached the post-Vietnam era of war when the book went to hell in a hand basket due to perceptible inaccuracies (based on my experience in leadership roles within medical organizations) that can only come from a "career journalist" who has, likely, never tasted the heat of combat as a Soldier by any design. Much of the author's descriptions of Iraq and Afghanistan were horribly inaccurate and I found them to be seemed overt lies in many instances. Much of the final two chapters I skimmed through because they were so incorrect - I will not debate his use of congressional reports and other academic studies to which the author attributed much of his assertions concerning healthcare that had nothing to do with medical personnel on a battlefield. As an example, the author embarks on a continual, almost sociologic-postulated, politically-driven, banter about females not being assigned to combat units or being permitted in combat organizations. I am not sure who the author thinks the 10th Mountain Division, 82nd Airborne, 101st Airborne, 25th Infantry Division, Special Operations Command, among an array of other highly acclaimed and significantly historied organizations are, but all of them have nested within their ranks forward support elements, forward support medical companies, and a variety of other forward medical teams (including dental, veterinary, environmental services, and so forth); each of these esteemed organizations have female medics, doctors, nurses, and other medical specialties assigned. Many of these females are exceptionally competent, wonderful human beings who accompany their brothers and sisters into harm's way with every mission. This is not, as the author inaccurately writes, a violation of some standing order from the 90s; those Soldiers are assigned to their roles and are being used as part of the organization's ongoing missions while in the theater of operation. Additionally, I was curious, and overtly suspicious, of the authors incredible infatuation with the Marine Corps - the Marine Corps, incidentally, does not have its own medical staff or hospitals; those organizations are ALL elements of the Navy's medical team assigned to Marine Corps billets. While the Marines are a wonderful branch of our nation's military, there is little mention of the preponderance of healthcare coming from within the US Army led organizations; MOST of the healthcare throughout Iraq and Afghanistan was Army-led. There is also no mention whatsoever of the US Air Force's involvement through theater assigned ECAT teams, para-rescue jumpers, and other medical facilities or assistance teams. This just scrapes the surface of other inaccuracies I felt were documented throughout this book. Personally, I think this author would do everyone a service by not attempting to write another war anthology and leave that to more qualified historians. I would not recommend this book, as a medical professional who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and an array of other healthcare assignments, to anyone desiring an accurate account of military healthcare. This author leaves a void that can only be filled by people who have actually "been there and done that" within the military health system. This book is amateurish at best.

[John Tintera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Battlefield Angels is one of those rare books that opens your eyes to whole new vistas. It is foremost an homage to the thousands of very brave men and women who have put their lives at risk so that front-line soldiers can "go over the top" with the certainty that if they're wounded there will be a medic or corpsman there to patch them up and get them home. It is also the story of how the reality of the battlefield has helped speed the progress of such medical innovations as x-rays and penicillin. Each chapter contains a battlefield biography of a prominent medic who either stands as a good example of a particular time period or stands out as particularly brave or heroic. My favorite story is that of Wheeler Lipes, the WWII Navy Corpsman and submariner who performed the first appendectomy at sea during WWII. Lipes was minimally trained and had never performed surgery, but he kept his cool and used his head and the patient survived. Unfortunately, the Navy didn't look kindly on Lipes' heroism--they feared that Lipes' initiative might be copied by lesser individuals and lead to all-out chaos.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, sometimes moving history of combat medics and corpsmen and the warriors whose lives they have saved in American wars from our founding to the present. Scott McGaugh does a nice job of intertwining the advances in medical technology and techniques with the stories of the men, mostly very young, who defied the terrifying danger of combat to go under enemy fire and provide first aid to the wounded comrades. This book will give you a newfound appreciation for what our medics (Army and Air Force) and corpsmen (Marine Corps and Navy) do in terribly dangerous situations.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read for those in the emergency medicine field to learn about our profession's roots, the heroism displayed by our colleagues past and present, and how emergency care has evolved over the years.

[BT Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This book serves as a means to honor the sacrifices of so many. As a former Corpsman, I fully appreciated the historical look at the military medical advances. I recommend this to any fan of history and/or medicine.

[Ayelet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't learn too much new information but the presentation and organization into time periods was well done.

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great Christmas classic was great to read again. Like all great classics, what I learn reflects my stage of life so I always learn something I didn't know the last time I read it.

[Velvetink]

ebook

[Kathleen LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and thoroughly informative.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not about real Angels but is about medics and corps people who care for the injured on the battlefield. It takes a lot of guts to do this for a living.

[Scott McGaugh]

So much of the healthcare we enjoy today was pioneered or validated on the battlefield.

[Jerry Teipen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bland writing. Basically a general overview that could have been delivered in 20-25 pages stretched to almost 250. "Battlefield Angels" does not accurately describe the content. Maybe 20% of the book discussed the heroics of various medical personnel dating from the American Revolution to the current conflicts in the Middle East. Proud of myself for being able to finish this one. The struggle was real!