Innovations during the Korean War such as MASH units and helicopter ambulance service, along with improved medical techniques, reduced the rate of death from injuries by 50% compared to World War II. Nurses played a vital part in treating the wounded in Korea, like these shown at the newly-opened 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in 1950.
Some MASH units received up to 1,000 casualties a day, and although the surgery was crude at times, 95 percent of the casualties admitted to the hospitals left alive. Dr. Dexter Ball, who served in two different MASH units between 1950 and 1951, says that his unit was constantly moving with the frontline – amounting to 12 location changes in a single year. MASH units (at least in the beginning) only accepted patients who needed emergency surgery.
Read more about nursing during the Korean War with a list of pictures. Link -via the Presurfer