Writes of his experiences in Vietnam
'Baptism under fire' for local doctor 
By Rich Luongo
He honed his healing and surgical skills literally under baptism of fire when in 1968 at the age of 29, he was thrown into one of the worst battles of Vietnam while treating more than 2,500 casualties in a three-month period.
Dr. James Finnegan, now 71 and a surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden, was the commanding officer of a surgical team during the siege of Khe Sanh, one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
“People often compared us to a MASH unit (Mobile Army Surgical Unit),” said Finnegan, “but we were more permanent and didn’t work entirely in tents. We were also in bunkers and we were under almost constant bombardment and shelling.”
He commanded four Navy doctors and 26 Navy corpsmen until he was wounded by shrapnel which earned him the Purple Heart and also a Bronze Star with a Combat V for valor.
He later was assigned to Dong Ha 3rd Marine Division Headquarters where he said he encountered more casualties only, this time, with less enemy fire.
Finnegan tells about his time in Vietnam in a book, In the Company of Marines: A Surgeon Remembers Vietnam. He wrote the book because of his admiration and respect for the Marines and, he noted in the book’s introduction, that if he is ever again surrounded by enemy forces “let it be in the company of Marines.”
“I started the book five years ago,” he explained, “but did the majority of the writing in the last 18 months” on a laptop computer that was a “daunting task” to master.
As a young surgeon he said he really didn’t know why America was fighting over there nor did he really know where Vietnam was located but there were men younger than he who were dying and he wanted to save as many as he could.
“My father was an old warrior,” said Finnegan. “He had been a steel worker during World War II and told me I should do something.” So Finnegan enlisted.
His book — illustrated with black and white photos — details incidents during his stay in Vietnam, some serious, some humorous, some heartbreaking but all designed to paint a personal picture of what it was like for one young American combat surgeon to care for the wounded and dying during one of this country’s most controversial wars.
Finnegan’s book is available in Lourdes’ gift shop or online at http://.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/in-the-company-of-marins-a-surgeon-remembers-vietnam/6895204.
