JACK BROWN: Thomas Anthony Dooley III‭, ‬M.D‭. (‬1927-1961‭)‬

Dr. Tom Dooley was a genuine humanitarian who demonstrated his love for people who are hurting during the years 1954-1961. Initially, as a young U.S. Navy doctor, he helped in the evacuation of 600,000 refugees from North to South Vietnam as they fled the communist invasion from the north. Seven years later in 1961, as this Roman Catholic physician lay dying of cancer, the priest who last visited him and administered last rites described Tom Dooley as “dedication personified” (“Before I Sleep, the Last Days of Dr. Tom Dooley, New York: Farrar Straus and Co. 1961, p.236). 

Soon after the Southeast Asia (Into-China) evacuation named “Passage to Freedom,” assisted the U.S. Navy, Tom Dooley resigned his commission and returned to Laos to a “people who ain’t got it so good,” said his friend. In 1958, he founded Medical International Cooperation Organization (MEDICO), that later became a service of Care, Inc.

This skilled doctor, whose heart was “as big as the ocean,” literally wore himself out as a medical missionary doctor to people who were hurting in the countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He helped in founding village clinics, hospitals and orphanages, and he traveled and spoke extensively to promote these causes and to elicit help for the work. He once said, “The only way a man can achieve happiness is to strive for the happiness of others.” 

He wrote three deeply touching books describing his work, and they are: “Deliver Us From Evil,” 1956; “The Edge of Tomorrow,” 1958; and “The Night They Burned the Mountain,” 1960. Further, the Dr. Thomas A. Dooley Center has been established in his memory at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Ill. It has been this chaplain’s distinct honor to visit there on three occasions, 1996, 2001 and 2002, to attend his denominational chaplain’s conferences. 

The Scriptures teach much about compassion for others and commitment to worthy endeavors. We are encouraged to love God with our whole being and to love others as we love ourselves. And, by doing this others will know that we belong to God. May God help us all to have a similar dedication in life as we refocus and readjust our priorities.

Peace!