Wherever you find Hospital
Corpsman, especially in time of war, the expression
"Above and Beyond the Call of Duty" is commonly
heard. What is the basis for this? Why have so many
members of the Hospital Corps have been sited for
performance of duty and for gallantry giving their lives
in an attempt to save life? For a complete
understanding of the of the Hospital Corps, it is
necessary to review the past upon which this corps has
been built and the traditions, which it has established.
From the very beginning of the Navy, it
was found necessary to make provisions for the care of
the sick and injured. An act of Congress in 1799
provided:
"A
convenient place shall be set apart for the sick and hurt
men, to which they are to be removed, and some of the
crew shall be appointed to attend them"
That portion of the ship
assigned for the care of the sick was designated at the
cockpit. It was usually located in the forward part of
the vessel, below the water line, as a protection from
shot and shell. The cockpit was also referred to as the
"sick berth." In later years, it became known
as the "sickbay" because the rounded shape of
the recess, or bay, was located in the forward part of
the ship between decks.
During the Revolutionary War,
there were apparently no enlisted men trained in the care
of the sick and injured. A number of the least necessary
members of the crew were assigned this duty. Most of the
ships of this period, depending on size, carried a
surgeon and a surgeon's mate.
In 1814, Navy Regulations
referred to the "Loblolly Boy" who was to serve
the surgeon and surgeon's mate. It was, among many
others, the duty of the Loblolly Boy to go fore and aft
the gun and berth decks ringing a small bell to give
notice to "those slightly indisposed and with
ulcers" to attend the surgeon at the mainmast. Both
from old Navy Regulations and from authentic accounts of
shipboard life of that day, the Loblolly Boy, before
battle, was to provide the cockpit with water, containers
for amputated limbs, and braziers of charcoal for heating
tar with which to stop hemorrhage. He was also to provide
buckets of sand to catch the blood from amputations and
wounds and to pour over the blood on the decks so that
the surgeon might not slip while working. Gruesome and
crude? Yes. But the methods in use today may sound the
same way to persons nearly 300 years from now. It must be
remembered that the customary treatment for compound
fractures of limbs at that time was usually amputation.
Boarding of vessels, hand-to-hand combat with cutlasses,
gun butts, and clubs, and the use of cannons with round
balls that did not explode, but were heated red hot
before being fired, evidently resulted in many fractures
that were eventually amputated.
The Bureau of Medicine and
Surgery was established in 1842. An extract from a letter
in this bureau dated May 5, 1843 reads as follows:
"A
circular is now under consideration to allow a Surgeon's
Steward to all hospitals and vessels, without necessity
to sign articles, but to be appointed."
So far as can be determined, the
Surgeon's Steward replaced the Loblolly Boy. The pay of
the Surgeon's Steward is first listed as being $18.00 per
month and one ration.
"A
Surgeon's Steward is allowed at all hospitals and Navy
yards and on board every vessel having a Medical Officer.
As it is important that a respectable class of persons
should be employed in this capacity, surgeons will
endeavor to select such as have some knowledge of
pharmacy and ordinary accounts and are of industrious and
temperate habits."
Instructions
for Medical Officers, U. S. Navy, 1857.
This was the beginning of the
selection of specially qualified personnel. In 1863, an
order of the Navy Department allowed male nurses on
receiving ships in numbers proportionate to the
necessities of the case.
"Surgeon's
Stewards to rank next after Master-at-Arms [who was the
Leading Petty Officer of the Vessel], and Surgeon's
Stewards are never to be discharged without the consent
of the officer appointing them or their successor, except
by sentence of a court-martial.
U. S. Navy
Regulations, 1865.
An order of the Navy Department
dated December 8, 1866 reads in part:
"The
designation of persons serving as Surgeon's Stewards is
changed to that of Apothecary, and they will be appointed
for duty in the Medical Department of the Navy, ashore
and afloat, in the same manner as Surgeon's Stewards have
theretofore been appointed. A candidate for examination
and first enlistment as apothecary must be a graduate of
some recognized college of pharmacy and must be between
21 and 28 years of age.
U. S. Navy
Regulations, 1896.
About the year 1873, the title
of male nurse was changed to that of bayman.
"The
Surgeon's division shall consist of all junior Medical
Officers of the ship, the apothecary, and the bayman.
Bayman shall be given a course of instruction on board
the receiving ship or at a Naval Hospital before drafted
for service on a sea going ship. Bayman (formally called
nurses) are personal attendants on the sick.
U. S. Navy
Regulations, 1893.
THE CORPS' ESTABLISHMENT
IN 1898
The Hospital Corps came into
existent as an organized unit of the Medical Department
under the provisions of an act of Congress approved June
17, 1898. This act provided for appointment to the
warrant rank of pharmacist and established the following
ratings:
- Hospital Steward (Chief
Petty Officer)
- Hospital Apprentice First
Class (Third Class Petty Officer)
- Hospital Apprentice
Under this act, the Secretary of
the Navy appointed 25 senior apothecaries as pharmacists.
These original 25 are rightfully referred to as the
charter members of the Hospital Corps. The dean of these
was Cornelius O' Leary, who was credited at date of
appointed with almost 38 years of service as an
apothecary.
In 1900, during the Boxer
uprising in China, the first member of the Hospital Corps
was awarded the Medal of Honor. The citation reads in
part:
"Stanley,
Robert, Hospital Apprentice, USN in action with the
relief expedition of the Allied Forces in China during
the battles of 13, 20, 21, and 22 June 1900. Throughout
this period and in the presence of the enemy, Stanley
distinguished himself by meritorious conduct."
Stanley retired from the Navy on
February 1, 1939 with the rank of Chief Pharmacist and
died on June 15, 1942. A total of four Medal of Honor
were awarded to Hospital Corpsman prior to World War I.
An act of Congress approved on
August 22, 1912, provided that pharmacist, after 6 years
from date of warrant and after satisfactorily passing
prescribed examinations, should be commissioned Chief
Pharmacists.
The Hospital Corps was
reorganized by an act of Congress approved on August 29,
1916. This act is considered of sufficient importance to
quote in part:
"Hereafter
the authorized strength of the Hospital Corps of the Navy
shall equal three and one-half per centum of the
authorized enlisted strength of the Navy and Marine
Corps, and shall be in addition, thereto, and as soon as
the necessary transfers or appointments may be effected,
the Hospital Corps of the United States Navy shall
consist of the following rates:
Chief
Pharmacist, Pharmacists and enlisted men classified as
Chief Pharmacist's Mates; Pharmacist's Mates, First
Class; Pharmacist's Mates Second Class; Pharmacist's
Mates, Third Class; Hospital Apprentice, First Class,
Hospital Apprentice, Second Class; such classifications
in enlisted ratings to correspond respectively to the
enlisted rating, Seaman branch.
Provided,
that enlisted men in other ratings in the Navy and Marine
Corps and men of that Corps shall be eligible for
transfer to the Hospital Corps and men of that Corps to
other rating in the Navy and Marine Corps. The Secretary
of the Navy is hereby empowered to limit and fix the
numbers in the various ratings, and emoluents of enlisted
men of the Hospital Corps shall be the same as are now,
or may hereafter, be allowed for respective corresponding
ratings. Hospital and ambulance service, with such
commands and at such places as may be prescribed by the
Secretary of the Navy, shall be performed by members of
said Corps, and the Corps shall be a constituent part of
the Medical Department of the Navy."
WORLD
WAR I AND THE YEARS FOLLOWING
During World War I, 10 of the 13
Chief Pharmacists were promoted to Lieutenant in the
Medical Corps of the Navy. During the war, there were 94
temporary commissioned and warrant officers and 16,000
enlisted men in the Hospital Corps.
During World War I, the
reputation of the Hospital Corps for performance of duty,
especially in the field with the Marine Corps, was
greatly enhanced. Both the United States and France cited
many of the members for valor and performance of duty
under fire. Fifteen corpsman were killed in action, 2
died of wounds, and 146 were wounded or gassed. There
were 460 major awards and citations, including 2
Congressional Medals of Honor, 55 navy Crosses, 31
Distinguished Service Medals, 2 U. S. Army Distinguished
Service Medals, and 27 Letters of Commendation.
In July 1922, all members of the
corps holding temporary commissions of warrants were
reverted to their respective permanent ranks or ratings.
From the period of World War I
to World War II, the Hospital Corps became on of the
outstanding corps of the military services. More schools
were provided, qualifications for advancement in ratings
were raised, and all members of the corps demonstrated a
high degree of technical skill and knowledge.
COMMENDATION
BY SECRETARY FORRESTAL
The Honorable James Forrestal,
Secretary of the Navy during World War II, and later the
first Secretary of Defense, paid honor to the Hospital
Corps of the United States Navy for its singular
attainments during that conflict.
Because his words ring so true
today and tell so well the role of the corpsman not only
in that conflict and the conflicts that have followed,
but also in times of peace, his Commendation is repeated
from the 1953 edition of the Handbook of the Hospital
Corps. Insofar as can be determined, this is the first
time in military history that a single corps has been
commended by the Secretary of the Navy.
"Out
of every 100 men of the United States Navy and Marine
Corps who were wounded in World War II, 97 recovered.
That is a record not equaled anywhere, anytime.
Every
individual, who was thus saved from death, owes an
everlasting debt to the Navy's Hospital Corps. The Navy
is indebted to the corps. The entire nation is its debtor
for thousands of citizens are living normal,
constructive, happy and productive lives who, but for the
skill and toil of the Hospital Corps, might be dead or
disheartened by crippling invalidism. So, to the 200,000
men and women of the Hospital Corps, I say on behalf of
the United States Navy:
WELL
DONE. WELL DONE, INDEED!
Without
your service, the Navy's Medical Corps could not have
achieved the life-saving record and the mind-saving
record its Physicians and Surgeons and Psychiatrists
achieved. That others might live, your fellow corpsman
have given their lives; 889 of them were killed or
mortally wounded. Others died as heroically form diseases
they were trying to combat. In all, the Corps' casualty
list contains 1,724 names, and honor roll of special
distinction because none among them bore arms.
The
hospital corpsman saved lives on all the beaches that the
Marines stormed. Corpsman were at the forefront of every
invasion, in all the actions at sea, on all carrier
decks. You were on your own in submarines and the smaller
ships of the fleet, performing emergency surgery at times
when you had to take the fearsome responsibility of
trying to save a life by heroic means or see the patient
die. Your presence at every post of danger gave
immeasurable confidence to your comrades under arms.
Their bravery was fortified by the knowledge that the
corpsman, the Sailors of solace, were literally at their
sides with the skill and means to staunch wounds, ally
pain and to carry them back, if need be, to safe shelter
and the ministrations of the finest medical talent in the
world.
You
corpsman performed fox-hole surgery while shell fragments
clipped your clothing, shattered the plasma bottles from
which you poured new life into the wounded, and sniper's
bullets were aimed at the brassards on your arms. On Iwo
Jima, for example, the percentage of casualties among
your corps was greater the proportion of losses among the
Marines. Two of your colleagues who gave their lives in
that historic battle were posthumously cited for the
Medal of Honor. One of the citations reads: "By his
great personal valor in saving others at the sacrifice of
his own life (he) inspired his companions, although
terrifically outnumbered, to launch a fiercely determined
attack and repulse the enemy force." All that he had
in his hands were the tools of mercy, yet he won a
memorable victory at the cost of his life.
No wonder
men and women are proud to wear the emblem of the
Hospital Corps! It is a badge of mercy and valor, a token
of unselfish service in the highest calling - the saving
of life in the service of your country.
Your corps'
men and women toiled, often as dangerously, never less
vitally, in areas remote from battle: In hospitals, on
hospital ships, in airplanes, in laboratories and
pharmacies and dispensaries. They helped, and are helping
(for the task is far from over) in the salvage of men's
broken bodies and minds that is the grim product and
perennial aftermath of war. Some of you contributed
skills in Dental Technology, unfamiliar diseases, other
taught natives of distant islands the benefits of modern
hygiene even to midwifery and everyday sanitation.
Scores of
corpsman, made prisoners of war, used their skill and
strength to retain life and hope in their fellow captives
through long years of imprisonment and deprivation.
Whatever
their duty, whenever they were, the men and women of the
Hospital Corps served the Navy and served humanity, with
exemplary courage, sagacity and effort. The performance
of their duties has been "in keeping with the
highest traditions of the United States Naval
Service." That, to any man or woman, is the highest
of praise. The corps has earned it and continues to earn
it.
For, as I
said, the task is not yet completed. Thousands of war's
casualties will long need the ministrations of
physicians, nurses, and the Hospital Corps before they
can return to normal, peacetime pursuits. Hundreds may
have to be cared for as long as they live; that these
unfortunates are so few is in large measure due to the
prompt, skillful aid accorded our wounded and stricken,
by your corps.
Illness and
accident will add to these numbers, of course. There will
always be the sick and injured, and there will the need
for trained personnel to help restore them. The Navy's
best laboratories are forever engaging in research to
combat disease, to speed the healing of torn flesh and
broken bones, to devise new aids for the maimed to lead a
normal life. And so I am impelled to address this
message, not only to the men and women of the corps who
have completed their service to the Navy, but those who
are presently in the Corps, and, also, to those who are
joining - or rejoining - in that inspiring career.
It is no
easy profession, even in peacetime. There is danger in
the test tubes and culture racks as menacing as in the
guns of an unvanquished enemy. The Hospital Corps is
never at peace. It is forever on the firing line in the
ceaseless war against disease and premature death. That
is why the corps' emblem is truly "the red badge of
courage," a designation to all the world that the
person who wears it has been self-dedicated to the
service of humanity.
Customarily
the "WELL DONE" signal is reserved for the
closing phrase of a message of congratulations, but I
placed it in the forefront where, in this instance, it
most fittingly belongs. I repeat it, here, with the
postscript that in earning its "WELL DONE" the
Hospital Corps is assured no other unit in the Navy did
better in the degree of essential duty
inspiringly performed."
WORLD
WAR II AND THE YEARS FOLLOWING
During World War II, a total of
15 Navy enlisted men were awarded the Congressional Medal
of Honor; of this number, several were Hospital Corpsman.
Members of the Hospital Corps received 820 major awards
and citations (an honor of unique distinction since none
of them bore arms). Other personal medals - the Navy
Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star - were awarded to
Hospital Corpsman by the tens and hundreds, almost too
numerous to count. On February 22, 1945, on the summit of
Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, along with six marines,
Pharmacist Mate John Bradley proudly participated in the
raising of our flag; a scene reproduced thousands of
times. The Marine Corps memorial symbolizes this event
Women were first brought into
the Hospital Corps during World War II. On January 12,
1944, the first Hospital Corps School for Women Accepted
for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) was commissioned
at the U. S. Naval Hospital, National Naval Medical
Center, Bethesda, Maryland. The first class consisted of
230 enlisted women.
Public Law 625 of the Eightieth
Congress, approved on June 12, 1948, made the WAVES an
integral part of the Regular Navy.
On April 2, 1948, the
nomenclature of the Hospital Corps ratings were changed
to read:
- Hospital Recruit/E1
- Hospital Apprentice/E2
- Hospitalman/E3
- Hospital Corpsman Third
Class/E4
- Hospital Corpsman Second
Class/E5
- Hospital Corpsman First
Class/E6
- Chief Hospital Corpsman/E7
- Warrant Officer and
Commissioned Warrant Officer, Hospital Corps.
In June 1956, the Warrant and
Commissioned Warrant Officer, Hospital Corps were
redesignated as Medical Service Warrant and Chief Medical
Service Warrant.
Also in 1948, those Hospital
Corpsman classified as Dental Technicians were change to
that rating. The rating structure outlines the dental
rating as follows:
- Dental Recruit/E1
- Dental Apprentice/E2
- Dentalman/E3
- Dental Technician Third
Class/E4
- Dental Technician Second
Class/E5
- Dental Technician First
Class/E6
- Chief Dental Technician/E7
Medical Service Warrant, Chief
Medical Service Warrant and Medical Service Corps
officers, so qualified and assigned. Performed
administrative and technical duties in Dental activities.
At the same time, the rating insignia of the Hospital
Corps was changed from the Red Cross so long familiar, to
the caduceus. Dental Technicians have the "D"
superimposed over the caduceus.
KOREA
AND THE YEARS FOLLOWING
With the advent of the Korean
conflict, the Hospital Corps once again responded to the
call of duty. Members of the corps, individually and
collectively, added a brilliant chapter to the history of
the corps. During the Inchon-Seoul operation, for
example, medical units attached to the 1st
Marine Division cared for 2,844 casualties during the
period of September 15 to October 7, 1950. Hospital
Corpsman were at the forefront of all the fighting,
saving lives on the beaches as the Marines stormed in.
They performed on-the-spot emergency and first aid
treatment, as Secretary Forrestal described it, "while
shell fragments ripped clothing from their bodies and
shattered plasma bottles in their hands."
Indeed the percentage of casualties among Medical
Department personnel in Korea, as in World War II, was
greater than that of the Marines they supported.
These highly trained technicians
played a vital and demanding role in the care and
treatment of those evacuated to the hospital ships of the
U. S. Navy serving in Korean waters. These ships handled
some 20,000 battle causalities, 30,000 non-battle
causalities, and around 80,000 outpatients. To narrate
the individual exploits of the many whom were cited for
valor, resourcefulness, and courage would require a
separate volume.
It is a great tribute to the
corps that of the seven Congressional Medal of Honor
conferred upon Navy personnel during the Korean conflict,
five were bestowed upon Hospital Corpsman.
The years that have followed
Korea have also proved to be eventful. For example, in
1954, approximately 190,000 Vietnam refugees were
transported from North Vietnam to South Vietnam on U. S.
Navy ships. The corpsman assigned to this operation had
ample opportunity to demonstrate the ability and
initiative that has always characterized them. In 1957,
Hospital Corpsman served in Mexico during the hurricane
and floods in Tampico. In 1961, in Texas and Louisiana,
they aided victims of Hurricane Carla.
Lest the impression be left that
corpsman distinguish themselves only in times of war and
disaster, it should be added that their role in
"quite" times is equally as illustrious. They
serve around the world in Navy hospitals, aboard ships
and submarines, and with the Marine Corps units of all
Fleet Marine Forces. Often on duty independent of a
Medical Officer, they bear the full responsibility for
medical care of their shipmates, maintaining the health
of the Navy, rendering first aid, and caring for the sick
with a competence that has earned them the respect of
all. Their methods of medical management are constantly
reviewed and revised to reflect the latest technologies
in treatment. In addition, since 1958, they have received
special and intensive instruction in the management of
the mass casualties that might follow in the wake of a
chemical, biological, or radiological (CBR) warfare
attack. Also, Hospital Corpsman often have had the
opportunities to serve in the latest scientific projects.
For example, Thomas R. Thorne, HM3, participated in
Project Mercy. For his role in the biomedical support of
the free world's first manned space flight, he received
in June, 1961, a Letter of Appreciation from the Director
of Bioastronautics.
VIETNAM
AND THE YEARS FOLLOWING
With the escalation of the
Vietnam conflict between 1963 and 1975, Hospital Corpsman
were called to serve in Southeast Asia. They served in
Marine Corps and Navy Air/Ground Forces, Naval Support
Activity Hospitals (Saigon and Da Nang), Hospital Ships
(USS Repose and USS Sanctuary), Riverine Warfare
("Brown Water Navy"), and Navy Ships on the
"Gun Line" off the coast of South Vietnam and
"Yankee Station" off the coast of North
Vietnam. They served in Cambodia and supported troops
from places like the Marine Corps Air Station ("Rose
Garden") in Thailand. Like their predecessors, they
performed emergency treatment in all kinds of combat
conditions. They were assigned to small medical terms
that provided care and health advice to Vietnamese
civilians. Some were assigned as medical advisors to
Vietnamese military units, which required that they live
in small, poorly defended villages. Hospital Corpsman
truly felt the brunt of the Vietnam conflict. 620 were
killed or mortally wounded and another 3,353 were wounded
in action. Awards for gallantry and intrepidity in action
included 3 Congressional Medals of Honor, 29 Navy
Crosses, 127 Silver Stars, 2 Legions of Merit, 290 Bronze
Stars, and 4,563 Purple Hearts.
HOSPITAL
CORPSMAN TODAY
Since the fall of Saigon in
April 1975, Hospital Corpsman continue to serve in the
many "hot spots" around the world. Fifteen
Hospital Corpsman were killed in the line of duty when
the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, was bombed and
destroyed by terrorists. Hospital Corpsman were present
at sea and ashore when the United States took military
action in Grenada.
Today's Hospital Corpsman
perform as assistants in the prevention and treatment of
disease and injury. They assist with physical
examinations, provide patient care, and administer
medicinals. They perform general laboratory, pharmacy,
and other patient support services. They assist in the
administrative, supply, and accounting procedures within
medical departments ashore, afloat, and with the Marine
Corps. They instruct medical and non-medical personnel in
first aid, self-aid, personal hygiene, and medical
records maintenance. They assist in the maintenance of
environmental health standards, and they are prepared to
assist in the prevention and treatment of CBR casualties
and in the transportation of the sick and injured. Senior
Hospital Corpsman perform technical planning and
management functions in support of medical readiness and
quality health care delivery. In addition to their
general assignments, Hospital Corpsman trained as
technicians perform specialized functions within the
operational forces, clinical specialties, and
administrative department, and they may be assigned
duties independent of a Medical Officer.
These complex duties require
that each Hospital Corpsman have broad-based training and
a versatility neither demanded nor expected of other
enlisted rating in the Navy.
Whenever you find the Navy,
wherever you find the Marine Corps, there you will find
the Navy Hospital Corpsman. In times of peace, he or she
toils unceasingly, day and night, providing quality care
to numerous beneficiaries. In times of war, he is on the
beaches with the Marines, employed in amphibious
operations, in transportation of wounded by air, on the
battlefield, and on all types of ships, submarines,
aircraft carriers, and landing craft. In short, wherever
medical services may be required, the Hospital Corpsman
is there, not only willing but also prepared to serve his
or her country and his fellow man above and beyond the
call of duty.
NAVEDTRA
10669 - C (1989)
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