vietnam war

Among frontline troops serving in Southeast Asia fifty years ago, peace was a distant thought. They were too busy fighting while diplomats assembled in Paris. U.S. forces were pushing hard against the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army in provinces along the A Shau Valley, into Cambodia and Laos. The number killed in action reached beyond 6,000 in 1970. War haunts this generation of aging veterans.

A tune John Fogarty wrote in 1971 echoes among veterans who spent time in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Lyrics reference a calm before a storm that’s “been comin’ for some time.” For many the turbulence continued long after departing Southeast Asia. Public sentiment roiled in a backlash of anti-war marches and protests when they returned. “Welcome Home” was rare and delivered in hushed tone—mostly from those with personal insight of where they had been.

Science can do more than improve people’s lives; sometimes it can save them.

Consider the contributions of the late Allene Rosalind Jeanes, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist at what is now the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. Her efforts are particularly worth celebrating this Veteran’s Day.

Jeanes studied polymers (large molecules composed of many repeated subunits) found in corn, wheat and wood. She spent long hours investigating how bacteria could produce polymers in huge fermentation vats. Eventually, she found a way to mass produce dextran, a type of polymer, so that it could be used as a blood volume “expander” to sustain accident and trauma victims who have lost massive amounts of blood and need to get to a hospital for a transfusion.