Corpsmen UP!
Corpsmen on Iwo Jima February-March 1945.
Each of the three divisions engaged in the struggle for Iwo Jima included roughly 100 Navy surgeons and nearly 1,000 corpsmen in its ranks. Most of those emergency medical specialists deployed forward with the maneuver elements or worked in improvised aid stations just behind the front lines. The nature of their work required continuous risk-taking. They retrieved wounded Marines, performed initial life-saving measures, and evacuated severe casualties back to the beach--always under fire. Navy medical crews paid an exorbitant price in the savage fighting at Iwo Jima. Twenty-three doctors and 827 corpsmen were killed or wounded in action.
Four Navy corpsmen received the Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery on Iwo Jima: Pharmacist's Mates (1st Class) Francis J. Pierce, (2nd Class) George Wahlen, (3rd Class) Jack Williams, and (1st Class) John H. Willis. The last two were posthumous awards. Small wonder that most Marine infantrymen traditionally regard their accompanying corpsmen with special respect and affection.
The Navy Hospital Corps paid a high price for its work. 1,170 Corpsmen were killed in action during World War II and several thousand were wounded. Among the awards for heroism presented to Corpsmen were seven Medals of Honor, 66 Navy Crosses, 465 Silver Stars, and 982 Bronze Stars.
“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 don't 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, Corpsmen, and CORPSMEN.” LtCol North (Ret)
. So was “Combat” - a TV series I haven’t ever seen in reruns. Anyway... the stories of heroism on Iwo are legendary.
