NOVEMBER 5 • 2020 | 19

Blau’
s history, the other doctor 
I was able to interview from the 
1990 JN article, there are two 
other Jewish Detroit physicians 
who served in Vietnam I came 
to learn played significant roles 
in Dr. Paul Gold’
s life.
 

FAMILIAR FACES 
IN VIETNAM
Gold was also the recipient of 
a Purple Heart. In March 1968 
he was a victim of a rocket 
attack which left his abdomen 
splintered with shrapnel. He 
was helicoptered to the 93rd 
Evacuation Hospital in Long 
Binh. 

Upon being wheeled into the 
operating room, he discovered, 
to his astonishment, that while 
lying nearly 9,000 miles away 
from home, the surgeon about 
to operate on him was Dr. 
Arnold “
Arnie” Leshman, Gold’
s 
childhood neighbor he grew up 
with on Buena Vista in Detroit 
and a Bronze Star recipient in 
his own right.
Vietnam didn’
t take the life 
of Leshman, but cancer did. 

He passed away at the age of 
75 in 2010 after a distinguished 
career as a general surgeon in 
Detroit, which included being 
selected Outstanding Intern at 
Sinai Hospital and his being 
appointed chief of surgery at 
St. John Macomb-Oakland 
Hospital between 1994-2000.
Of his service to his country, 
Leshman’
s widow, Sandra, told 
me that her husband never tried 
to get out of serving; instead, 
he only asked for a delay of one 
month so he could be home for 
the birth of their third child. 
His request accepted, Leshman 
eventually left for Vietnam, 

leaving his wife and three chil-
dren under the age 5 behind. 
It became abundantly clear 
during my conversation with 
Sandra that her husband never 
sought recognition for his ser-
vice, a sentiment her children 
shared as well. “He was just 
one of many. He did nothing 
more than thousands of other 
men and women,
” Sandra said, 
reflecting also on the many who 
lost their lives in service to their 

country.
Vietnam veteran Dr. Joel 
Leib, 79, and Dr. Paul Gold, 80, 
have been friends since their 
teens. They did everything 
together. They attended Durfee 
Middle School, Mumford High 
School, Wayne State University 
and Des Moines University’
s 
College of Osteopathic 
Medicine, got drafted togeth-
er, and even flew on the same 
plane to Vietnam where their 
assignments finally separated 
the two. 
Gold served on the frontlines, 
while Leib became the com-
mander of the 332nd Medical 
Dispensary on the Long Binh 
Post, which didn’
t always keep 
him out of harm’
s way. Leib 
described a harrowing event 
that occurred within 24 hours 
of his arrival: “The first night 
I was in Vietnam, I was laying 
on a cot. Incoming mortars 
came in and went ba-boom! I 
was 6 miles from the perimeter 
of the fighting and, honestly, it 
knocked me out of bed.
”
Leib enjoyed one memora-
ble respite from the ravages of 
war when he was assigned to 
be the on-call doctor during 
one of Bob Hope’
s legendary 
Christmas Tour stops at his 
base. He didn’
t get to meet the 
comedian, who entertained 
troops around the world from 
1941- 1972, but he did get close 
enough to photograph the 
star-studded cast, which includ-
ed actress Raquel Welch and 
singer/actress Barbara McNair.
Based on their history, it 
should come as no surprise that 
Leib and Gold returned on the 
same flight home from Vietnam 
in September 1968. Their life-
long bond would remain intact 
through their professional lives, 
when they partnered in a family 
medicine practice in July 1970, 
a relationship that lasted 50 
years. Today, their friendship 
remains as strong as ever. 

LARRY BLAU’S 

TURBULENT TOUR
Twenty-eight-year old Dr. Larry 
Blau had every reason to believe 
he would be spared a tour of 
duty in Vietnam when he suf-
fered a ruptured disc while sta-
tioned in Hawaii in 1967. 
At the time of the injury, 
Blau was receiving training by 
the Army in radiology. “I had 
to have back surgery, and I 
figured they’
ll never send me 
to Vietnam. The day I was well 
enough to return to my desk in 
my radiology office was the day 
I received my orders.
” A shock 
to this married man with three 
kids under the age of 6.
While serving as a radiologist 
in the 3rd Field Hospital in 
Saigon, Blau had another rea-
son to believe his tour of duty 
would be cut short when the 
Red Cross sent him home on 
compassionate leave to visit his 
hospitalized mother who was 
believed to be terminally ill.
His trip home was, to say the 
least, eventful. “I was visiting 
with my mother in the hospital 
when my father came in,
” said 
Blau. “He was white as a sheet.
” 
The father said he was having 
indigestion, but his son the doc-
tor recognized other symptoms. 
“Dad,
” he said, “you’
re having 
a heart attack,
” sending him 
immediately to the emergency 
room.
Three days later Dr. Blau 
made it a medical trifecta of 
sorts when he developed a 
kidney stone. “My father was 
in cardiac intensive care and 
my mother in surgical intensive 
care at the same hospital while I 
was hospitalized elsewhere.
”
Even this was not enough to 
convince the Army to curtail 
Blau’
s tour of duty. After pass-
ing the stone he was sent back 
to Vietnam. Fortunately, his 
parents would recover. 
Blau was discharged exactly 
two years to the day of when 
his service had begun, Sept. 6, 
1969. Just six days later, Blau’
s 

WE TREATED PEOPLE WITH ALL 
KINDS OF DISEASES AND GAVE 

VACCINATIONS.

— DR. PAUL GOLD

continued on page 20

Dr. Paul Gold treating 

Montagnard Vietnamese 

tribesman in the 

mountains, Republic 

of South Vietnam

COURTESY OF DR. PAUL GOLD