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By Patrick Hayes
One thorny issue between some in the Marine Corps and the Navy that caused an
uncharacteristic friction between the two services in recent years concerns
whether or not Navy Corpsmen, trained by and attached to Marine grunt units,
should be given the privilege of wearing a Marine dress green uniform, or even
the new Marine-only digital utilities (combat uniform) with the Eagle, Globe and
Anchor emblem sewn on.
For any Marine who has ever been in combat with these brave and selfless Navy
men, this is a no-brainer! Throughout the history of the Navy Hospital Corps’
assignment to Marine infantry units, many Marines survived their combat wounds
because of the bravery under fire and skill of their Navy Corpsmen.
Since 1775, Marines have served on board U.S. Navy ships. And since 1798, the
Navy has provided for the medical care of wounded sailors and Marines. The first
enlisted man to serve in the capacity of a surgeon’s assistant (or “loblolly
boy”, a term used in the British Navy at the time) was John Wall aboard the
frigate USS Constellation.
On June 18, 1898, an act of Congress established the Navy Hospital Corps. Almost
immediately, Navy Corpsmen were assigned to the Marine Expeditionary Battalion
that landed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War.
Around the turn of the century, combat communications was a little complicated,
not to mention dangerous. On July 19, 1901, Hospital Apprentice (Corpsman)
Robert Stanley was the first member of the new Hospital Corps to win the Medal
of Honor for volunteering to be a desperately needed message-runner between
Marine units defending the International Legation in Peking, China, during the
Boxer Rebellion. In part, the citation read, “For distinguished conduct in the
presence of the enemy in volunteering and carrying messages under fire at
Peking, China, 12 July, 1900.”
To meet the new demand for medically trained personnel, a new Hospital Corps
Training School was opened in August 1902 at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth,
Va. Graduates of this school subsequently came under fire with the Marines in
Haiti the same year.
During World War I, the Navy Hospital Corps was the most highly decorated branch
of the U.S. Navy. Hospital Corps veterans of the war in France who had served
with the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments were also the only Navy personnel who won
the honor of wearing the French Fourragere. The Fourragere is a braided red and
green cord, worn over the left shoulder, that signifies that the unit so
honored, as were the Marines and their Navy Corpsmen, had won the Croix de
Guerre with palms and gilt star not just once, but twice.
During World War I, Hospital Corpsmen also won two Medals of Honor, 55 Navy
Crosses, 31 Distinguished Service Medals, and 460 other awards and citations. In
all, 16 Navy Corpsmen were killed in action in France serving with Marines.
Corpsmen also served with the Marines between the two world wars in many places,
primarily during the Banana Wars.
During World War II, Navy Corpsmen served with Marines in every action from Wake
Island and Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On Iwo Jima, the casualty rates
for Corpsmen were proportionately higher than those of the Marines, and for the
Marines, Iwo was one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war. During the war,
seven Corpsmen won the Medal of Honor, four of which were given to Corpsmen for
their heroic and selfless acts on Iwo Jima. Another 67 Corpsmen won the Navy
Cross, 464 won the Silver Star, and another 820 Corpsmen won other awards for
combat action. In all, 889 Corpsmen died doing their job. And their job was to
save the lives of Marines.
Because of the valor displayed by Navy Corpsmen attached to the Marines, in 1945
Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, commended those men when he said, “The
Hospital Corpsmen saved lives on all the beaches Marines stormed. … You Corpsmen
performed foxhole 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 (red cross) brassards on your arms.”
By 1950, Field Medical Schools had been established at Camp Pendleton, Cal., and
Camp Lejeune, N.C., where Marines trained their Corpsmen for combat duty.
When the Marines went to Korea, Navy Corpsmen were right there with them at the
landing at Inchon, and later at the frozen Chosin Reservoir. During that war,
Navy Corpsmen won five Medals of Honor and 107 died in combat. Marine Corps
icon, Lt. General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, not a man for idle praise, said of
his Corpsmen, “You guys are the Marines’ doctors; there’s no better in the
business than Navy Corpsmen.”
And I doubt that Chesty Puller would begrudge the wearing of Marine greens to
any combat Corpsman – then or now.
During the Vietnam War, 628 Corpsmen were killed in action and another 3,353
were wounded. Corpsmen won three Medals of Honor, 29 Navy Crosses, 127 Silver
Stars, two Legions of Merit, 290 Bronze Stars, and 4,563 Purple Hearts. The
numbers speak for themselves.
When the Marine Barracks in Beirut was attacked and blown up by suicidal Shi’ite
Muslims in 1983, 15 Corpsmen were killed with the Marines. Corpsmen have also
landed with Marines and Navy SEALs in action in Grenada, Panama, Operation
Desert Storm and in Afghanistan.
But some people just don’t get the message. A series of pro and con articles
published last year in The Navy Times, The Marine Corps Times and Leatherneck
magazine included comments from some Marines who opposed the idea of Corpsmen
wearing Marine uniforms.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kevin McCullough, who said he had served as an instructor at
a Field Medical School for Navy Corpsmen, wrote in a letter to the editor of the
Marine Corps Times that from what he had seen at the school (fitness levels,
etc.), he would not want to be patched up on the battlefield by a Navy Corpsman.
McCullough even had the gall to term Corpsmen “noncombatants.” Quite obviously,
this individual had never been in combat and deserved the rebuke of all Marines
for making such inflammatory remarks.
As the Leatherneck magazine editor correctly rejoined, “It is doubtful that even
a few Marines who’ve ever been in combat would agree with the gunny. … I doubt
the corpsmen who earned the Medal of Honor in every war since World War I (off
by 17 years) would see themselves as ‘noncombatants’ … ”
Protection and care is not only something Corpsmen do for Marines. The feelings
of protection and comradeship for their Navy Corpsman run deep for any Marine
who has served in combat. In a letter to the editor of Leatherneck magazine,
also dealing with the uniform issue, former Marine Sgt. Fred L. Shear wrote
about Corpsman Larry “Doc” Frederickson, whose service to Marines covered three
wars and resulted in nine rows of combat ribbons on his chest, including two
Purple Hearts.
Sgt. Shear helped Doc Frederickson assemble a set of Marine Corps “greens”
because “Doc” Frederickson’s last request was to be buried in his Marine
uniform. He died in January 2000.
As Sgt. Shear wrote, “Anyone who says Doc and most other corpsmen do not deserve
the right to wear the Marine green probably did not earn the right under fire
themselves. If they had, they would have seen those incredibly brave men right
up there answering a wounded Marine’s call for help.”
What should end the discussion about uniforms, even for the likes of the
misguided gunny, is that Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James L. Jones closed the
debate this year when he formally confirmed that Navy personnel assigned to the
Marine Corps – Corpsmen and chaplains – are authorized to wear Marine dress
green uniforms. Period.
Maybe Navy Corpsmen didn’t go through Marine Boot Camp. However, once they have
gone through the Field Med training and have joined a Marine infantry unit,
they’ve become part of the team and have earned the right.
Patrick Hayes is a contributing editor to DefenseWatch. He can be reached at
gyrene@sftt.org. |
