[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 10, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4476-H4477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S. NAVY HOSPITAL CORPS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stump) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues the 100th anniversary this week of the United States Navy 
Hospital Corps, and to thank all of those who have served in the Corps.
  As a fellow Naval Hospital Corpsman from World War II, I had the 
distinct pleasure this morning to join our own House Attending 
Physician, Admiral John Eisold, to participate in a ceremony marking 
the 100th anniversary of the Navy Hospital Corps. It was not only a 
moving ceremony, but served as a worthwhile reminder of the care,

[[Page H4477]]

the compassion and the dedication of a group of men and women who serve 
and have served in a unique but often overlooked role in our military.
  Force Master Chief Mark T. Hacala has written an eloquent history of 
the Navy Hospital Corps, which I commend to you as not only an 
important part of naval history, but also a well-earned public 
recognition for all of those who have been proud to call themselves a 
U.S. Naval Corpsman.

       Tradition. Valor. Sacrifice. For 100 years, these ideals 
     have marked the history of the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps. 
     Since 1898, hospital corpsmen have cared for wounded and sick 
     of the Navy and Marine Corps. Their continuous dedication to 
     saving the lives of their patients, frequently at the risk of 
     their own, has earned them accolades at sea and on land.
       Prior to the establishment of the Hospital Corps, there was 
     a role for enlisted personnel to care for the sick. Junior 
     and senior medical department Sailors changed rating names 
     through the 18th and 19th centuries, using colorful titles at 
     each phase. The nickname ``loblolly boy,'' one who carried 
     loblolly or porridge to the sick, was used until the Civil 
     War when it was replaced by ``nurse.'' In the 1870s nurse was 
     retitled ``bayman,'' the Sailor who worked in sick bay. 
     Senior personnel were known as surgeon's stewards and later 
     as apothecaries.
       By the late 1800s, the Surgeon General of the Navy 
     advocated a new system of employing medical department 
     Sailors. Rather than assigning one of the crew out of 
     necessity and teaching him on the job, a trained group of 
     volunteers was advocated. Based on the model of the Army's 
     Hospital Corps, the Navy would seek recruits, pay them 
     better, and train them uniformly. This plan was adopted in 
     the midst of the Spanish American War when President William 
     McKinley signed the law which established the Navy Hospital 
     Corps on 17 June 1898.
       Early history of the corps set a pace of conspicuous 
     service that would continue to the present. During the Boxer 
     Rebellion in Peking in 1900, Hospital Apprentice Robert 
     Stanley volunteered for the dangerous mission of running 
     message dispatches under fire. For his bravery, Stanley 
     became the first in a long line of hospital corpsmen to 
     receive the Medal of Honor. Five years later, when the U.S.S. 
     Bennington's boiler exploded in San Diego harbor on July 21, 
     1905, Hospital Steward William Shacklette burned along with 
     almost half the crew. Although seriously hurt, he rescued and 
     treated many of his shipmates. He, too, was given the Medal 
     of Honor.
       Within a few short years, the Hospital Corps would face the 
     rigors of combat with the Marines in World War I. Through 
     machine gun fire and mustard gas, hospital corpsmen treated 
     over 13,000 casualties in France. This group of 300 Sailors 
     would earn 2 Medals of Honor, 55 Navy Crosses, 31 Army 
     Distinguished Service Crosses, and 237 Silver Stars. Their 
     684 personal awards would make them the most decorated 
     American unit in World War I. A Marine regimental commander 
     noted of their performance at Belleau Wood, ``there were many 
     heroes who wore the insignia of the Navy Hospital Corps.''
       Hospital corpsmen set an exceptional record of valor in 
     World War II. From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa, they worked in 
     hospitals and hospital ships, set up beach aid stations in 
     Italy and Normandy, bandaged kamikaze survivors at sea, and 
     dodged bullets and shells during the bloody island campaigns 
     in the Pacific. Their initiative and skill was noteworthy. 
     Pharmacist's Mates First Class Wheeler Lipes, Harry Roby, and 
     Thomas Moore each performed a successful appendectomy, 
     without the aid of a physician, while submerged in submarines 
     in enemy waters.
       Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley's heroism 
     with the 28th Marines on Iwo Jima is typical of acts repeated 
     by hospital corpsmen throughout the war. Bradley rushed 
     through a mortar barrage and heavy machine gun fire to aid a 
     wounded Marine. Although other men from his unit were willing 
     to help, Bradley motioned them to stay back. Shielding the 
     Marine from fire with his own body, the hospital corpsman 
     administered a unit of plasma and bandaged his wounds. He 
     then pulled the casualty through the gunfire 30 yards to 
     safety.
       PhM2c Bradley was awarded the Navy Cross for his valor, but 
     he is not usually remembered for this act. Days later, he and 
     five Marines were captured in Joe Rosenthal's photograph of 
     the second flag raising on Iwo Jima's Mt. Suribachi. The 
     image was reproduced more than perhaps any photo in history. 
     It was the theme for the Marine Corps War Memorial in 
     Arlington, VA and made Bradley the first U.S. Navy Sailor to 
     appear on a postage stamp. But Bradley's heroism was not an 
     isolated act. In World War II, the Hospital Corps would earn 
     7 Medals of Honor, 66 Navy Crosses, 465 Silver Star Medals, 
     and 982 Bronze Star Medals, as well as countless other 
     commendations and debts of gratitude.
       Although the U.S. commitment to the Korean War was limited, 
     a staggering number of Marines and Sailors, 30,064, were 
     killed or wounded. Here, as in its previous conflicts, 
     hospital corpsmen distinguished themselves. All five enlisted 
     Navy Medals of Honor for Korea were awarded to members of the 
     Hospital Corps. One of those awardees, retired Master Chief 
     Hospital Corpsman (SS) William Charette, reflected years 
     later on his pride in being a hospital corpsman in Korea. 
     ``It's amazing that somewhere there are some people walking 
     around that wouldn't be here unless we had been there.''
       In Vietnam, hospital corpsmen played a critical role in 
     aiding the 70,000 Navy and Marine Corps casualties. At 
     station hospitals in Saigon and Da Nang, aboard hospital 
     ships offshore, with medical battalions, and in the field 
     with Marines, they ensured the best possible care for the 
     wounded, often at the risk of their own lives. When an enemy 
     grenade landed near HM3 Donald Ballard and several 
     casualties, he covered the grenade with his body to save his 
     Marines' lives, earning him the Medal of Honor. ``My job was 
     needed,'' Ballard said recently. ``I felt good about it.'' 
     Bravery earned hospital corpsmen 450 combat decorations in 
     Vietnam, but the war cost them 638 lives.
       Hospital corpsmen continued to serve in peace, in war, and 
     in situations which straddled that line during the 1980s. 
     They treated gunshot and shrapnel wounds once again in Beirut 
     in 1983, as a peacekeeping presence escalated into a shooting 
     war. Of the 18 hospital corpsmen in the Marine Battalion 
     Landing Team Headquarters building on 23 October, only 3 
     survived the truck bombing which killed a total of 241 
     Americans. Days later, other hospital corpsmen would 
     participate in the invasion of Grenada. In the Persian Gulf, 
     independent duty hospital corpsmen would care for casualties 
     aboard the U.S.S. Stark in 1987 and the U.S.S. Samuel B. 
     Roberts 1988, and in Panama in 1989.
       Iraq's 1990-91 invasion of Kuwait once again provided 
     challenges for the Hospital Corps. Hospital corpsmen around 
     the globe reacted, as their ships, stations, and Marines 
     deployed or prepared to receive casualties. Their numbers 
     were augmented by Naval Reserve hospital corpsmen, 6,739 of 
     whom were recalled to active duty. The first Purple Heart 
     awarded to a Sailor in the Persian Gulf War was given to a 
     hospital corpsman.
       While technology and equipment have changed through the 
     years, hospital corpsmen's dedication to duty and devotion to 
     their patients have remained their greatest asset.

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