Cayetano E. Barrera's Vietnam War Photograph Collection
The photographs in this collection were taken in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from 1966-1967. Cayetano E. Barrera, M.D. was drafted into the U.S. Army as a captain in the Medical Corp as a General Medical Officer. He was sent to Vietnam to serve in the 12th Evacuation Hospital in September 1966. The 12th Evacuation Hospital was not ready in Cu-chi, South Vietnam, so he was temporarily sent to serve with the 1st Infantry Division at Di-An. The photographs in this collection begin in Di-An. Later, he was sent to establish a small Emergency Hospital at Quan-Loi near the Cambodian border.
The base at Quan-Loi was placed on an old French rubber plantation, with the hospital on the 9th fairway of the golf course. The Emergency Hospital was to take care of casualties that could occur while the 1st Infantry opened up a highway from Saigon to the Cambodian border.
After three weeks at Quan-Loi, Captain Barrera was sent back to the 12th Evacuation Hospital at Cu-chi, the headquarters of the 25th Infantry Division. Cu-Chi was approximately 30 miles north of Saigon. Already there was the 7th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), so the 12th Evacuation Hospital helped the MASH until the 12th Evacuation Hospital was fully functional. Captain Barrera was at the 12th Evacuation Hospital from October 1966 until April 1967.
Captain Barrera was sent back to the States and from April 1967 until January 1968, he served as the Post Surgeon at the Umatilla Army Depot in Hermiston, Oregon. In 1968 he was discharged from the Army and started his medical practice in McAllen, Texas on February 2, 1968.
