Kindle Price: $2.99

Save $9.51 (76%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Gus Kappler MD
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally: A Vietnam Trauma Surgeon's Memoir Kindle Edition

by Gus Kappler MD (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 77 ratings
See all formats and editions
Gus Kappler MD served as an Army trauma surgeon at the 85th Evacuation Hospital, Phu Bai, Vietnam. The 85th routinely witnessed the devastation of war on body, mind, and soul. Every known and out-of-the-box technique was employed to salvage life and limb. At the 85th a wounded soldier had a 95% chance of survival. It was that 5% that still haunt the surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists today.

"Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally" is the medical memoir of a surgeon in the most intense environment possible. It is a gripping, honest, real-life, disturbing wartime memoir.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    292 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    February 14, 2022
  5. File size
    14315 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
Next page
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Welcome Home is a riveting and biting memoir by one of the corps of unsung heroes of the unpopular Vietnam War: the medical professionals who struggled to save the lives of America's gravely wounded young soldiers. Dr. Kappler's gripping account of the daily life or death challenges facing Army medical teams working in remote and difficult conditions makes for compelling reading. His commentary about the inadequacies of PTSD treatment are still very timely now that America is involved in even more conflicts around the globe."- CAPTAIN CHARLES CONNOR, USN (RET)"Excerpt From: Gus Kappler, MD. "Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally." Apple Books.

"Gus Kappler's book is a remarkable work....It has many lessons essential for Americans in today's world - - personal courage in adversity, how to understand and function in foreign cultures, the need to cultivate social responsibility for those who serve their country and more....Dr.Kappler's own story is inspiring and his insights on the larger context in which it unfolds have a vital message for all those concerned about America at home and abroad."- RALPH BUULTJENSNew York University and Cambridge University (UK)Excerpt From: Gus Kappler, MD. "Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally." Apple Books.

"One of the best books I have read about Viet Nam. I was a Navy combat Corpsman (8404) with the 1st Marine Division in VN. I am a 2-time Purple Heart recipient. I got to see both sides of the story as a first responder and as a patient. The parallels between Dr.Kappler's experience and that of mine and other Army medics and Navy Corpsmen are similar but different in the stages at which we became involved with patients. My job was to keep them alive long enough to evac them to Dr.'s like Gus so he could get them stabilized and on to more definitive care."- DAVE DEVRIES - USMC CORPSMAN (HM2) '65 - '72 Excerpt From: Gus Kappler, MD. "Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally." Apple Books.

From the Author

"Usually authors write about their life experiences within a few years of the occurrence. Facts are still fresh in one's mind, new projects have not become more primary, and the inertia of procrastination has not gained a foothold. Why did I wait over forty-five years?I guess the most dominant reason I did not commit to telling my story was that I would not prioritize writing above other aspects of my existence. Those factors included building and maintaining a solo surgical practice, preserving quality time to be an acceptable husband and father, enjoying my personal time to recharge, planning for retirement, and facilitating first-year medical students in a problem-based learning curriculum at Weill Cornell Medical College after retiring.In 2015, the facilitating responsibility became history. The 2014-2015 winter in New York City did not welcome one to venture outside. I had also completed my computer projects. At age seventy-five, I thought I better get started with my storytelling before my gray matter became too scarred with amyloid plaques.I have been lecturing about my Vietnam experience since 1972. The discussion of "Battlefield Trauma: Vietnam to Afghanistan" has been annually sponsored by the Stimson Surgical[...]"Excerpt From: Gus Kappler, MD. "Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally." Apple Books. 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09SJ5F2GM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ BookBaby; 1st edition (February 14, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 14, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 14315 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 77 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Gus Kappler MD

Gus Kappler MD

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

ONE DEGREE, an historical real-life medical mystery suspense thriller.

“… complex and highly enjoyable medical thriller…” “… engrossing and fascinating medical mystery work… plenty of thrills and spills as the pages continue to turn.” “…a realistic mystery…” “… highly recommend One Degree to fans of medical mystery thrillers.”

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

“… a lot to enjoy in this novel…” “… pulled in by the vividness with which the author captures the plight of veterans…” “The writing is highly descriptive and the plot strong. It is fast-paced and it features characters that I cared about.” “… a psychological thriller…

strong plot points and characters that win the sympathy of readers.”

Reviewed By Gobi Jane for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

Gus Kappler, MD was born in 1940, grew up in Lake Ronkonkoma, LI, NY, and attended Port Jefferson High School. He earned his BA in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1961 and his MD from Cornell University Medical College in 1965. Gus completed his surgical training at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond in July 1970. Having been drafted as an intern, that September he left his wife, Robin, and two children to serve as an Army trauma surgeon at the 85th Evacuation Hospital, Phu Bai, Vietnam. He retired in 2000, following his surgical career in Amsterdam, NY, about 30 miles west of Albany in the beautiful Mohawk River Valley. As a Lecturer in Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, Gus taught first-year medical students for fifteen years and was awarded two Excellence in Teaching Awards. He is an expert in military PTSD, substance abuse, and suicide and has lectured extensively on that subject. Gus has been a veteran advocate for almost fifty years and is sickened by the rising incidence of active duty and veteran suicides. He was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Navy's first 21st Century Battlefield Medical Care Symposium in February 2018 in Quantico, Virginia.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
77 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Doc
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have read about Viet Nam
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2016
Verified Purchase
One of the best books I have read about Viet Nam. I was a Navy combat Corpsman (8404) with the 1st Marine Division in VN. I am a 2 time Purple Heart recipient. I got to see both sides of the story as a first responder and as a patient. The parallels between Dr. Kappler's experience and that of mine and other Army medics and Navy Corpsman are similar but different in the stages at which we became involved with patients. My job was to keep them alive long enough to evac them to Dr.'s like Gus so he could get them stabilized and on to more definitive care. In the field we made the same difficult decisions involved with triage and hoped that we made the right one. More often than not under very trying circumstances. I was an OR technician when I was stationed in the states and worked with many surgeons who had worked the trauma OR's in Naval hospitals in VN and they were some of the best. This is a real in your face account of what went on in the Hospitals throughout VN during the war. Well written and hard to put down. I am honored to know Gus. We shoot clay targets together as well as sharing this common experience in our lives. I would recommend that anyone who served in VN and especially those that didn't read this book. This is a perspective that is not the norm in books written about the VN war. Well Done Dr. Kappler!! Welcome home!
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ron from Pittsburgh
5.0 out of 5 stars Kappler gives us a stark portrayal of what it was like to serve as a Vietnam War surgeon
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016
Verified Purchase
Welcome Home From Vietnam Finally by Gus Kappler is a first-hand narrative by a skilled surgeon of his service with the 85th Evacuation Hospital during the Vietnam War. The book is a quick read, 167 pages in total.

The author received his medical degree from Cornell Medical College, and he then completed a rigorous surgical residency at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He was drafted into the army and served in Vietnam in 1970-1971. Following his Vietnam service, Dr. Kappler had a successful surgical career. Now retired from medical practice, he teaches at Weill Cornell Medical College.

This book educates. We learn of Vietnam's demographics, its climate and social dynamics during the war. The author interestingly explores such subjects as anesthesia, battlefield weapons, ballistics and their relevance to the Vietnam War operating room.

Kappler paints a varied picture of the South Vietnamese: from the many who were displaced by their government from rural villages to urban areas, to some corrupt government and ARVN (South Vietnamese army) leaders. Kappler describes that when the U.S. Army turned the author's former hospital over to the South Vietnamese, ARVN officers demanded it be renovated before the transfer, knowing they would personally profit from the additional expenditures. He tells of the covert Vietcong agent who worked in the author's hospital as translator till he was found out and quickly dealt with. He also tells of the 10 year old boy who attempted to gun down an American soldier, not because of any allegiance to the Vietcong or the North Vietnamese, but to steal the soldier's camera.

This book can be appreciated on multiple levels. Those interested in the healing arts will be interested to learn of Dr. Kappler's skillful surgical techniques in treating horrifically wounded soldiers. Many will be interested to learn of the friction which developed upon superimposing a large U.S. military organization upon an essentially rural society. All will likely find interesting Dr. Kappler's experiences in Vietnam and their impact on him, his family and colleagues. Warning: This book includes graphic photos which help drive home Dr. Kappler's narrative. It is not for the squeamish.

Dr. Kappler voices disdain for political leaders who recklessly placed American soldiers in harm's way in Vietnam. Make no mistake: the author's first allegiance was to the bleeding American soldiers who were wheeled on gurneys into his operating room.

In its stark and candid portrayal, this book is reminiscent of another first-hand chronicle: Eugene Sledge's "With The Old Breed". Just as Sledge vividly described his marine combat experience in the Pacific during WWII, Kappler gives us a stark portrayal of what it was like to serve as a Vietnam War surgeon. This is an important addition to books which explain and inform us of the tragedy which was the Vietnam War.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Scrap
4.0 out of 5 stars Real war book.
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
I served in one of the hospitals mentioned. Very good book.
Helpful
 Report
Erik ONeill
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. For those of us who have never ...
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
Excellent book. For those of us who have never been to war, let alone having to face war time trauma on a daily basis like Gus has, this book was a real eye opener. His harrowing stories are both touching and disturbing. War changes the lives of its participants forever. Gus shows us that it possible to survive and ultimate thrive if soldiers get the help they need.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Zorba 80
5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Gus Kappler, Skilled Trauma Surgeon/Author/Compassionate Human Being;
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
Extraordinary first-hand account; A unique contribution to our History in Vietnam; His book is a close as
one can sit next to those who served and yet retained a larger perspective.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Russ T.
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest Account of What Happened in Vietnam
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
This is a first hand account of a physician and his experiences, life and death, in Vietnam. It is important to learn as much as possible about what happened in Vietnam, from and about those who served, and also the decisions politicians made which contributed to the turmoil, chaos and ultimately, death! The author served his country, with honor and dignity, returned home and moved forward with his life, but never forgetting those who paid the ultimate price.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
eshill
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
I met Gus recently and was moved to read the book. Very well done - love the open and honest approach. Quick read!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Douglas S. Shearer
2.0 out of 5 stars An officer's view
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2021
Verified Purchase
Since I was stationed for a view months in the same hospital as the author, I must say that the viewpoints of enlisted men was starkly different than those of the surgeons. The author never did mention by name any of the black corpsmen who worked at the 85th Evac. Hospital. He certainly did not mention Al Akins, a black corpsman, who was under house arrest for voicing his anti-war sentiments to Col. Sugiyama. This same 'camp commandant' was very much against drug treatment for affected soldiers. There was a distinct 'race undertone' to the entire compound. Black soldiers stuck together, as did white soldiers. If a 'black brother' interacted with whites, he was looked down on as a "Tom." Granted the surgeons mentioned in the book - did their best to save lives. The soldier who lost both lower limbs to a booby trap and who received over 100 units of blood - was known as "Smitty." Furthermore, I crossmatched all of that blood as a lab technician. I did not relish having to pull "KP duty" or having to set the tables in the Officers' Mess or being yelled at for not setting the silverware properly! Yes....the book was written by an officer, whose viewpoint on the hospital doings and the war were drastically different from those of a 'lowly' enlisted man.
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report