Hell Looks Different Now, One Corpsman's Journey Back to Vietnam

John ‘Doc’ McNiff was raised in Acton, Massachusetts. After high school he enlisted in the Navy. Upon graduation from Hospital Corps School he was assigned successively to Chelsea Naval Hospital, Boston; Field Medical School, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Vietnam in May of 1966 with the Third Battalion Fourth Marines at Phu Bai where he saw combat in several operations including Hastings and Prairie; the Triage at A Medical Company, Phu Bai; a small detachment under Dr. T. D. Gross (with whom he stayed when the good doctor later became Regimental Surgeon of the Fourth Marines); and finally, the 26th Marines at Co Bi Tan Than, near Hue. McNiff rotated back to the states in June 1967 and was discharged at Long Beach, California July of 1968. He joined the Acton, Massachusetts Police Department where today he holds the rank of Lieutenant. He graduated from Northeastern University and the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He is currently working on historical fiction dealing with the Irish Brigade in the American Civil War. He lives with his wife Christine and they have two grown children, Lisa and Sean Patrick.