Beebe Healthcare's Dr. Mayer Katz featured in Newseum exhibit

In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the Tet Offensive and the 1968 Battle of Huê, the bloodiest single battle of the Vietnam War, the Newseum in Washington, D.C. will feature an exhibit of photography by John Olson. The exhibit, named The Marines and Tet: The Battle That Changed the Vietnam War, will be on display through Sunday, July 8.

Dr. Mayer Katz, a vascular surgeon with Beebe Vascular, is featured in one of the photographs taken by Olson. In addition, Katz shared his story with Olson to help fill in some of the firsthand accounts which accompany the photographs.

One of the most famous photographs in the exhibit is titled, "Marine on the Tank." This photograph shows a young man, injured, eyes closed, lying on a wooden door on a tank with other injured soldiers. The young Marine was A.B. Grantham, an 18-year-old who was with his deployment in a house that was attacked. Grantham was shot by a North Vietnamese soldier. His team helped get him to a tank that was headed to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

When Grantham arrived to the MASH, it was Katz who saved his life. To watch the video and hear Grantham's account, go to www.newseum.org/exhibits/upcoming/the-marines-and-tet/.

From July 1967 to August 1968, Katz worked in a MASH. During his time in Vietnam, he performed over 400 operations. He knows this because he logged each patient name, operation and outcome. He still has the logs today, and they are part of the exhibit.

Katz earned his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University and earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. He did his surgical internship at the University of California Hospital in San Francisco and completed a residency in surgery at Boston City Hospital. He served as a captain and surgeon in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital program in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968. Katz later joined Beloit Memorial Hospital in Beloit, Wis., where he established its vascular program. In 1990, he established a vascular program at Beebe Healthcare, which today is part of Beebe's comprehensive Cardiac and Vascular Services.

Katz has made a tremendous contribution to the Cape community by introducing important surgical and endovascular procedures to this area and improving the quality of life for thousands of patients.

The Newseum exhibit features 20 large-format photographs and 10 tactile versions of those photographs with touch-activated sensors that provide audio interviews, allowing blind and low-vision visitors to experience the images through touch and sound. Olson's photographs were featured in Life magazine, and he won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his work. His image of a tank carrying wounded Marines at the Battle of Huê became one of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War.

For more information, go to www.newseum.org.

See a related story and video at https://www.capegazette.com/article/video-mash-surgeon-patient-connect-after-49-years/143648.