Original Items: Only One Kit Available. Ever since humankind has learned to batter the body through warfare, we've striven to mend it with medical care. In fact, the battlefield has served as a laboratory in which new medical techniques and advances have been formed throughout the ages. Chief among these is the concept of first aid -- medical assistance rendered to a wounded person as close to the time of damage as possible.

While medical advances continued throughout the years, it was a transportation advance that helped reduce the number of wounded soldiers who died in the Korean War by 48 percent: the helicopter. For the first time, men could be whisked off the field -- two at a time -- and transported by air to a hospital at a safe location.

The Korean War also gave birth to another major advancement in care on the battlefield: the MASH unit, which stands for "mobile Army surgical hospital." These portable medical centers were able to travel with the fight, ensuring that frontline soldiers were never far from care -- whether they needed life-saving surgery or the simple setting of a broken bone.

However, approximately a decade after the end of the conflict in Korea, the United States would join another war -- one without a front line. Because so much of the Vietnam War was fought in jungles without any real front line, MASH units were not as practical as they had been in Korea. Instead, the Army relied more heavily than ever on air transport, employing a fleet of UH-1 "Huey" helicopters that could each transport up to nine men at a time to any of the 28 hospitals the Army had set up throughout the country. A medical crew could load a Huey and get the wounded passengers to safety in an average of 35 minutes -- with care beginning in flight. The system resulted in an impressive 98 percent survival rate of airlifted men.

While this kit is for a Lifeboat or PT boat, similar ones would have been found aboard the Hueys as well. This kit is designated as the 6545-921-4825 FIRST AID KIT, LIFEBOAT & PATROL BOAT. It is complete with all of the original contents except for the morphine. Some of the contents include various types of bandages and gauze both plane and camouflage, ointments, compress/skullcap head dressings and a surgical instrument set for minor surgery. This is an unissued kit with all of the contents dating 1958 and up, which was a common date to be found on items in the early days of the American involvement in the Vietnam War.  The kit measures approximately 13" x 8" x 7". 

This is a great example of medical equipment used by the US Navy during the conflict in Vietnam. Comes ready for display!

Idiot Clause - the contents of this kit are pre-1970 manufacture and are NOT suitable for use. They are being sold as novelty collector pieces only.