VIETNAM DOCTOR: The Story of Project Concern

Jim Turpin wanted to be a doctor from childhood and was converted to Methodism at twelve. An undergraduate flunk in organic chemistry sent him to summer school where he met his future wife Martha (Mollie) Williamson, a beautiful blonde tennis champion from Atlanta. Discouraged by his failure, he turned to the ministry, but couldn't settle into it, and with encouragement from Mollie returned to medicine. For a while a career as medical missionary seemed to square preferences and conscience, but after a brief six-month sojourn in a backward (spiritually and economically) Georgia town, the ""Upper Utopia"" of Coronado, California lured the Turpins into a golden life in the sun. But ""an embarrassment of riches"" did not sit well with Jim; even work in the Tijuana hills with the poor only stirred him to the possibilities of service to people who were not being reached and cared for over the globe. So it was off to Hong Kong and the Walled City, floating clinics--and more socializing that cut into his work--so when Project Concern, his own organization, could do without him there, he went to South Vietnam, where the Viet Cong were ""always a threat"" and the mysterious ""Soldiers in White"" protected him. Today Project Concern needs $17,000 a month to operate; Jim Turpin, dynamic and dedicated, has some of the charisma of Tom Dooley. This book will inspire readers to contribute to his cause.