THIS PAGE DEDICATED TO MEN AND WOMEN
                   OF THE USN FMF HOSPITAL CORPS
     WHO SERVED WITH THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORP
IN  A FAR AWAY PLACE
CALLED  "VIETNAM"
You guys are the Marine's doctors; There's no better in the business than a Navy Corpsman...."  Lieutenant General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, U.S.M.C
Hospital Corpsman John Bradley was with the Marines as they raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi. He was one of the three survivors from the flag raising to leave Iwo Jima. John Bradley died January 11, 1994 at the age of 70.

Throughout the History of the United States Marine Corp ,Navy Hospital Corpsman have served side by side with Marines to answer their cry of
"CORPSMAN UP"
    Yes there were Navy Corpsman who served with the USMC in Vietnam. Many of us walked where the Marines walked, ate what they ate, slept where they slept, got wet when they got wet, shot at when they were shot at, cried when they cried, laughed when they laughed and in general lead the same life as a "grunt in the bush".
    It's been over  thirty years since I served with the Marines in Vietnam I have been surprised at the number of people who had no idea that Navy Corpsman served in “the bush” with the USMC. And they had no knowledge of the fact that many Corpsman were killed while serving with Marine combat units. Would I do it again? - You Bet....
- Doc Lerp -
    It's our understanding that the first Corpsman to be killed in Vietnam was HM2 Gerald O. Norton, age 23.  He was killed on Oct. 6, 1962 while supporting HMM-163 on a combat mission. Along with Doc Norton 7 out of 8 on board were killed.
    David R. Ray was one of the first corpsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery beyond the call of duty in Nam. He was Killed In Action in March 1969. There is now a ship named after him.

The following was written on the back of a C-Rat box in Dec. of 1969. . 

He waits, silent 
clutching his Unit One 
Wondering about this time 
A flash as a 'copter 
drops a flare 
And midnight turns to noon 
And hell reaches them all 
racing forward, past sanity 
Insanity calls pushing him forward 
Regardless of death 
to a fallen friend 
Bullets falling 
that scream Die 
falling inches away 
Working his best 
Moving up, 
blood racing in his veins 
and dropping in a wound 
Made hours ago 
He thinks of himself 
His sergeant says stop 
but he remembers a Creed 
Taken years ago 
And again moves forward 
into hell 		 blood and gun grease 
the sound of death 
The words of life 
his morphine spent 
And his plasma used 
Nothing left 
but a Creed sounds 
in his ears 
above 'copters and total hell 
Up to a fallen friend 
Who looks up to a face of Christ 
and smiles 
Bullets shatter the night 
Somewhere a mother 
perhaps a wife 
Thank God for a life 
She says a prayer for 
an unknown person 
who saved his life. 
Yes somewhere, some person
a lone person
Looks upon a lifeless body
Running faster to a calling
Remembering a Creed
Taken years ago
He halts to gaze upon
A corpsman lying still.
Published in the Baltimore, (Maryland) Evening Sun, December 15, 1970 COPYRIGHTED 1970 
Please Contact Doc Lerp if you'd like to borrow it for noncommercial use only! 
 
 
Visit Our Hootch
 
 
We Will List Any and All Sites Having To Do With Vietnam Related Medical Sites. Just Contact Doc Lerp - Include Page Title & URL

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