Dr. David Charles Green - Obituary

*** Updated Service Information **** A graveside service will be held on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 at 1:00 pm at Arlington national Cemetery. Those that wish to attend should arrive at 12:15 pm at the Administration Building. Dr. David Charles Green, whose path led from a Depression-era childhood in a small farming community in upstate New York to a distinguished military career as Army surgeon, commander of a combat hospital in Vietnam and chief of thoracic surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, died Feb. 22 at his home in Annapolis after a long struggle with cardio-pulmonary disease. He was 87. Born in Honeoye, NY, 32 miles south of Rochester, to Pierpont Lewis Green and Anna Motyca, Dr. Green’s father, owner of a hardware store, died when he was two; his mother taught at the local school. He milked cows and baled hay as a youth, graduating high school in a class with all of four students. He attended St. Lawrence University and obtained his medical degree from Upstate Medical College in Syracuse. After enlisting in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1955, he served 22 years, beginning with a general surgery residency at West Point and a thoracic cardiovascular residency at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Thereafter, he was posted to an Army hospital in Pusan, Korea, before taking command of the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Plei Ku Vietnam, where he came under repeated enemy bombardment during the height of conflict there. Dr. Green next moved to Washington, DC, where he headed the thoracic surgery unit at Walter Reed from 1971-77. He retired with a rank of colonel to a professorship at University of Maryland University Hospital in Baltimore and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda. Later he pursued private practice in Annapolis, his home for the last 36 years. Dave was an avid sailor on his family’s Tartan 34, spending weekends and summer vacations cruising the Chesapeake with a gaggle of children and dogs--a familiar face and engaging raconteur at the Annapolis Yacht and Fleet Reserve clubs. As a point of particular pride, he refused to purchase a lawnmower, instead rescuing old heaps discarded by neighbors and breathing new life into them with meticulous mechanical skill. He loved raising azaleas and teaching his grandchildren to fish. Dr. Green is survived by his wife of 59 years, Susan, as well as four daughters--Lane Green (Ed Bruske) of Cambridge, NY; Rebecca Edland (Barry) of Frederick, MD; Suzan Dallam (John) of Fallston, MD; and Caroline Green of Annapolis--six grandchildren--Andrew, Samuel, Isabelle, Jack, Matthew and Leila--and a sister, Mary Bennett. A second sister, Caroline Legg, preceded him in death. A son, Pierpont Lewis Green II, died in 1985 at age 18 of muscular dystrophy. Interment is planned at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. A memorial service will be held Friday, March 17 at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 1505 Crownsville Rd in Crownsville, Maryland. Donations may be made to the AAMC Foundation or the Hospice of the Chesapeake. An online guestbook is available at www.kalasfuneralhomes.com