Thomas Anthony Dooley III

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For other people and things with the same name, see Tom Dooley (disambiguation).
Thomas Anthony Dooley III
Black and white photograph of Tom Dooley. A white adult man holding two children of Asian descent in his arms.
Thomas A. Dooley, M.D.
Born St. Louis, Missouri
Died January 18, 1961 (aged 34)
Nationality American
Occupation Physician
Known for Humanitarianism

Thomas Anthony Dooley III (January 17, 1927 – January 18, 1961) was an American Catholic who, while serving as a physician in the United States Navy, became increasingly famous for his humanitarian activities in South East Asia during the late 1950s until his early death from cancer. He authored three popular, inspirational books that described his humanitarian activities in Viet Nam and Laos: Deliver Us From Evil, The Edge of Tomorrow, and The Night They Burned the Mountain. Some have also described these books as anti-communist, though in the years preceding the Vietnam War they could hardly have been otherwise.

Dooley's legacy continues through the work of the Dooley Foundation-Intermed International, which has carried on the work of Dr. Dooley for the past 50 years. Its headquarters are based in New York City and headed by Dr. Verne Chaney, President and Founder. Dooley-Intermed is a non-profit, non-governmental, non-sectarian, non-political, private voluntary organization receiving its financial support entirely from private contributions. It neither seeks nor receives government grants or contracts. The purpose of the foundation is to provide medical assistance to refugees, children, and villagers in the less privileged parts of the world with emphasis on self-help projects in the areas of preventive medicine, public health, family planning and health worker training. Dooley-Intermed presently supports medical aid projects in four countries: Laos, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Thailand.

Contents

[edit] Life and work

Thomas Anthony Dooley III was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in a Catholic Irish-American household. He attended St. Louis University High School, where he was a classmate (class of 1944) of Michael Harrington. He then went to college at the University of Notre Dame in 1944 and enlisted in the United States Navy's corpsman program, serving in a naval hospital in New York. In 1946 he returned to Notre Dame however left without receiving a degree. In 1948 Dooley entered the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. When he graduated in 1953, after repeating his final year of medical school, he reenlisted in the navy. He completed his residency at Camp Pendleton, California and then at Yokosuka, Japan. In 1954 he was assigned to the USS Montague which was traveling to Vietnam to evacuate refugees.

While Dooley was working in refugee camps in Haiphong, some have alleged that he came to the attention of Lieutenant Colonel Edward G. Lansdale, head of the CIA detail in Saigon. According to these allegations, Dooley was chosen as a symbol of Vietnamese-American cooperation, and was encouraged to write about his experiences in the refugee camps. Some other unsubstantiated reports indicate that he collected intelligence for the CIA. In 1956 his book Deliver Us from Evil was released, establishing Dooley as a strong humanitarian. While on a promotional tour for the book, Dooley was investigated for participating in homosexual activities and was forced to resign from the Navy in March 1956.[1]

After leaving the Navy, Dooley went to Laos to establish medical clinics and hospitals under the sponsorship of the International Rescue Committee. Dooley founded the Medical International Cooperation Organization (MEDICO) under the auspices of which he built hospitals at Nam Tha, Muong Sing, and Ban Houei Sa. During this same time period he wrote two books, The Edge of Tomorrow and The Night They Burned the Mountain about his experience in Laos.

In 1959 Dooley returned to the United States for cancer treatment; he died in 1961 from malignant melanoma. Following his death John F. Kennedy cited Dooley's example when he launched the Peace Corps. He was also awarded a Congressional Gold Medal posthumously. There have been efforts following his death to have him canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

Although he died in 1961, H.A.L.O. was founded by Betty Tisdale, who met Dooley and was inspired by his work. Just prior to the fall of Vietnam, she orchestrated the evacuation and adoption of 219 Vietnamese orphans to homes in the US. Today, Betty Tisdale and H.A.L.O. continue Dooley's work around the world, with people of all religions, to help orphans and at-risk children not only in Vietnam, but also in Mexico, Colombia, Indonesia and Afghanistan.

[edit] Decorations

[edit] Publications

United States Department of the Navy Seal.svg United States Navy portal

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Shilts, pp. 25—26

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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