Born in St. Louis, Missouri. Attended Notre Dame in 1944. He enlisted in the Navy and served for two years with the medical corps. Graduated from St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1953. He continued to practice medicine in the Naval Reserve.

In 1954 he volunteered to serve aboard a ship carrying Vietnamese refugees. He worked in refugee camps in Haiphong. He wrote of his experiences in Deliver Us From Evil published in 1956. He resigned from the Navy and used his book profits to organize a medical mission to Laos. He continued to build hospitals in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. He was hospitalized for treatment of cancer and died in New York City.

Congress honored Dooley with a gold medal by resolution May 27, 1961, "In Recognition of the Public Service to Alleviate Suffering Among People of the World." The mint medal (USM 655) had dies by Frank Gasparro.

bio: Failor; WAB; WWWA-4