12, 20, & 5 Audiobook By John A. Parrish cover art

12, 20, & 5

A Doctor’s Year in Vietnam

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

12, 20, & 5

By: John A. Parrish
Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The candid memoir of a young doctor who reluctantly accepts a military commission and spends a year behind the front lines of the Vietnam War. Assigned to the marine camp at Phu Bai, Dr. John A. Parrish confronted all manner of medical trauma, quickly shedding the navet of a new medical intern.

With this memoir, he crafts a haunting, humane portrait of one man’s agonizing confrontation with war. With a wife and two children awaiting his return home, the young physician lives through the most turbulent and formative year of his life - and finds himself molded into a true doctor by the raw tragedy of the battlefield. His endless work is punctuated only by the arrival of the next helicopter bearing more casualties, and the stark announcements: “12 litter-borne wounded, 20 ambulatory wounded, and 5 dead.”

©1972 John Parrish (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Medical Vietnam War Military War
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about 12, 20, & 5

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    24
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Quite a read...

It was a wonderfully touching and personal story. It really brought the horrors of war to a personal level.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

the experience

very personal and emotional. brought the listener into the horrible scene of combat triage and the horror of battle field trama.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good memoir

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, it covered a part of history with which I was unfamiliar.

What was one of the most memorable moments of 12, 20, & 5?

The narrator's arrival in country.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Pronounced Hue as Hugh. Unforgivable.

Was 12, 20, & 5 worth the listening time?

Yes

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Stretcher-Ambulatory-Dead

John Parrish, at the time he received his draft notice, was in a residency program at a Michigan hospital. He had three choices. First, John could accept a military commission and spend a year behind the front lines of the Vietnam War, second, he could be a conscientious objector but too much time has already passed or three, he could leave the country that he loved and move to Canada with his wife and two children.

John served one year in Phu Bai, Vietnam. He lived in what was referred to as a hooch, with three other men. One was a surgeon, another was a psychiatrist, the other was a jeep transporter and then there was John, a young doctor who was unsure of his skills as a physician, to care for the injured soldiers fighting in Vietnam.

John learned how to be an excellent trauma doctor with baptism by fire. He learned fast and hard. John's first day in Vietnam was spent taking care of American trauma patient's. The surgeon, Bill, taught him by showing him and having him perform procedures under his tutelage. When John returned home, after having served one year in a Vietnam trauma center, he knew more than he had learned in the six years he had spent at home as an intern and a resident.

I would have given the book four stars but the ending was a bit murky. The memoir of John Parrish was worth the listen. His time spent in Vietnam as a trauma doctor was interesting and was a learning experience for me. The narrator was able to provide the different character's with distinct voices. The character development of John was well done. The other character's who lived with John were good.



Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Accurate

Was a Marine myself there in 1967-68 in Dong Ha and brought back memories just glad (lucky) I never had the pleasure of meeting Dr Parrish

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Surgery

Details of surgery and triage
I was stationed at 3rd Med as surgical technician at same time. Enjoyed the book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Might be Bogus

There were so many mispronounced Vietnamese cities that I began to wonder if the reader knew what he was talikng about. (Hue is NOT pronouced "hugh". It is "way" )This was a major military location. It could not be mistaken.

It is a mediocre book at best but you have to wonder if it was all made up.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful