Navy Corpsman From LtCol North (Ret) GYRENE DOC Let us not forget that there was in fact a Corpsman with the Marines as they raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi. Hospital Corpsman John Bradley was there and was one of the three survivors from the raising to leave Iwo Jima. John Bradley died January 11, 1994 at the age of 70. I feel compelled to pay respect to those who serve with and treat those Marines in their time of suffering. For those of you that dont understand the love hate relationship with the Navy, I can only say that at no time and in no place will you need to worry about the medical care received by Marines. There are only three kinds of doctors -- corpsmen, Corpsman, and CORPSMAN. One might ask for a definition of a Corpsman and while I was setting this page up I ran across a mighty fine site called what else Navy Corpsmen, where I found what can only be described as the best definition of a Corpsman anywhere. It reads as follows: CORPSMAN - Usually a young, long haired, bearded, Marine-hatin Sailor with certain medical skills, who will go through the very gates of Hell to get to a wounded Marine. It may surprise some but the Navy Corpsman has a long proud tradition of serving with the United States Marine Corps. They have fought with us, fought along side of us, and sadly have made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Their Medal of Honor citations read like they were Marines... and by God I will honor them like the Marines they so proudly served! Corpsman In August of 1942, the first major USMC assault landings against the Japanese Empire occurred in the Solomon Islands, Pacific. The island chosen for the invasion was Guadalcanal. As they moved inland, four Marines were walking point into the jungle. Advancing into an open area without cover, they came under heavy fire from the entrenched Japanese. All four Marines were wounded but managed to crawl into a shell crater, about fifty yards from where they had emerged from the jungle. A Hospital Corpsman ran from cover into the crater with the wounded Marines, and ran back to cover, under fire. Having dressed the wounds of the Marine, he sprinted back for another, only this time he was hit. Not stopping to dress his own wounds, he carried the second Marine to cover receiving a second wound. After giving aid to the Marine, the Corpsman was hit for a third time going into the crater. Staggering toward the treeline with the third Marine, he was again struck by enemy fire. When the third Marines wounds were dressed, the Corpsman started after the last Marine in the crater. The Corpsman still had not stopped to care for his own wounds. In a final valiant effort, he stumbled toward the crater, where he was brought down by concentrated enemy machine gun fire. He lunged forward into the crater falling across the fourth Marine, finally giving up his life. Reaching up to his own bleeding wounds, the Marine wrote on the back of the Corpsmans bullet riddled shirt, WHERE ANGELS AND MARINES FEAR TO TREAD, THERE YOULL FIND A CORPSMAN DEAD. This was that dying Marines final tribute to his shipmates supreme sacrifice in fulfilling his oath, TO AID THE WOUNDED, IN THEIR MOMENT OF NEED.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 03:02:28 +0000
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