APA Honors Psychiatrists Who Served in Vietnam

APA honored psychiatrists who served in the Vietnam War with a special ceremony last month at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

A wreath was laid at the foot of the granite panel where the name of U.S. Army Capt. Peter Livingston, M.D., is etched. He is the only known psychiatrist to have died in the war.

Laying the wreath were Livingston’s widow, Cynthia; APA President Altha Stewart, M.D.; APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.; and APA Assembly Speaker Bob Batterson, M.D. Mrs. Livingston attended the event along with some 150 other guests, including 17 veterans of the war and family members, as well as retired and active duty service members.

In comments to Psychiatric News, Cynthia Livingston reflected on a period in this country’s history that many Americans have wanted to put behind them. “There’s a lot that needs to be remembered, recognized, and reflected upon about that time,” she said. “APA has done the right thing by recognizing the fraught experience that everyone had.”

She called the memorial and wreath laying “extremely moving” and especially thanked Norman Camp, M.D., and Adam Kaul, M.D., the authors of an Assembly action paper approved by the Board of Trustees that called for APA to formally recognize the men and women psychiatrists who served in Vietnam. Kaul is a representative from the Psychiatric Society of Virginia; Camp is an APA member and retired U.S. Army colonel who served in Vietnam.

Mrs. Livingston continues to reside in Cambridge, Mass., where she was living when her husband was killed. At the time of his death, their son, Oliver, was 4 years old. Today Oliver Livingston Bacon, M.D., M.P.H., is an infectious disease physician and an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Participants in the event, which took place on a beautiful, sunny autumn afternoon, agreed it was both solemn and consoling. Sgt. Maj. Christal Rheams of the U.S. Army Band sang the national anthem, followed by remarks from APA leaders. Mrs. Livingston, Levin, Stewart, and Batterson then quietly walked a wreath of flowers to the wall.

“We are here to honor men and women who made great sacrifices in service to their country in wartime,” said Stewart at the ceremony. “[I]t is an honor to stand before you to say thank you for your service then, and to the active service members, thank you for your service today.”

Stewart, who has made diversity and inclusion a prominent theme of her presidency, reminded attendees that racial strife among the military members in the war, and among Americans at home, was a feature of the time.

She cited the experience of her friend and fellow APA member, psychiatrist Billy E. Jones, M.D., who served in Vietnam as director of the mental health clinic at the Long Bien Stockade (a military prison) in 1969-1970. (Jones attended the ceremony.)

“When Dr. Jones took on his assignment at the mental health clinic, the stockade population was more than 50 percent black,” Stewart said. “For context, only about 15 percent of the personnel serving in Vietnam at the time identified as black. Dr. Jones’s interactions with these men made it clear that most of them felt discriminated against for their race and that they received punishment more frequently for minor infractions and often received stiffer punishment than white servicemen.”

Stewart recounted how a group of black soldiers in the stockade staged a sit-in to protest their treatment. “The commander of the installation feared that this would escalate into a riot, something that had happened there in the recent past, and sought out Dr. Jones’s advice. He volunteered to go in and talk with the soldiers. The result was a peaceful resolution made possible by someone taking their complaints seriously.

“As we are gathered here today to reflect on the experiences of Dr. Jones and others who served in Vietnam, it strikes me that we as a people are still working through many of the same issues as we were during the 1960s and 70s,” she continued. “Certainly, we have made some progress over these years, but there are many things we still have to accomplish in order for us to have the kind of open, free society that all of us aspire to.”

Batterson, who was a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps, said the nature of combat in Vietnam was unlike any the U.S. military had encountered in prior conflicts. He noted that psychiatrists treated traumatic stress reactions in soldiers through a combination of traditional approaches augmented with first-generation psychotropic medications. “The nature of the conflict necessitated a great deal of improvisation with these medications under war-time conditions,” he said.

Speaking directly to Cynthia Livingston, Levin said, “To give one’s life in pursuit of the ideals of freedom and equality is a noble thing, but dying for a worthy cause is small consolation to those at home who must live with the profound grief and personal loss that come with the death of a loved one.

“Each name on the memorial wall [represents] someone who sacrificed life so that the ones they left behind could live in a free society,” Levin continued. “We owe it to them to live our lives to the fullest potential and never stop our pursuit of freedom and equality for all people.” ■

Additional photos from the wreath laying can be viewed here.