Scope and Contents

The collection consists of Dr. John Delcambre's memoir First Asylum: ICRC American Team 4 Thai-Cambodian Border Relief Mission 1980. The memoir documents Dr. Delcambre's leadership of the 1980 humanitarian mission to provide medical aid to people in the Thai-Cambodian border region following the reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge and subsequent invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam. Also included is an oral history interview conducted with Dr. Delcambre.

Biographical / Historical

In 1966, at age 17, Dr. John Delcambre enlisted in the Marine Corps. He served in Vietnam as an infantryman in the 3rd Marine Division. He completed his active duty enlistment at Camp Pendleton as a team leader in the 5th Force Reconnaissance Company, 5th Marine Division.

Dr. Delcambre received his Bachelors degree from University of California San Diego in 1974. He earned his medical degree from Texas Tech University School of Medicine in 1977 and completed a 5 year General Surgery residency at Baylor/Scott & White Hospital in 1982. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1983 and was admitted as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1992. Dr. Delcambre practiced surgery in Texas while serving concurrently as a medical officer in the Navy Reserve. From 2004-2014, while an Associate Professor of Surgery at Texas Tech Odessa, Dr. Delcambre was recalled to active duty 3 times for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 1980, during the 3rd year of his surgical residency, Dr. Delcambre took a 3 month leave of absence to lead an American team on a medical mission to the Thai-Cambodian border as part of the international relief effort in response to the humanitarian disaster which resulted from the 5 year reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge and subsequent invasion of Cambodia by forces from neighboring Vietnam.

Since retirement from Texas Tech and the Navy, Dr. Delcambre has worked as a locum tenens surgeon in Texas and Oklahoma. He has volunteered for medical/surgical relief missions in Pakistan, Dominican Republic, and the Philippines. In 2017 and 2018, he and his wife Christine (an RN) joined with Surgeons for Cambodia for missions to multiple hospitals across Cambodia.