"THERE IS NO GREATER BOND AMONGST MEN , THAN 'DOC' AND HIS MARINES."

MARINE DOWN....MARINE DOWN......CORPSMAN UP!!

"Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Corpsman have a long and proud tradition of serving in the United States Marine Corps. They have fought along side the Marines, and sadly have made the ultimate sacrifice, along side the Marines they served.  Their Medal of Honor citations read like  Marines... and by God we will honor them like Marines. "!

In August of 1942, the first major USMC assault landings against the Japanese Empire occurred in the Solomon Islands, Pacific. The island chosen for the invasion was Guadalcanal. As they moved inland, four Marines were walking point into the jungle. Advancing into an open area without cover, they came under heavy fire from the entrenched Japanese. All four Marines were wounded but managed to crawl into a shell crater, about fifty yards from where they had emerged from the jungle. A Hospital Corpsman ran from cover into the crater with the wounded Marines, and ran back to cover, under fire. Having dressed the wounds of the Marine, he sprinted back for another, only this time he was hit. Not stopping to dress his own wounds, he carried the second Marine to cover receiving a second wound. After giving aid to the Marine, the Corpsman was hit for a third time going into the crater. Staggering toward the tree line with the third Marine, he was again struck by enemy fire. When the third Marine's wounds were dressed, the Corpsman started after the last Marine in the crater. The Corpsman still had not stopped to care for his own wounds. In a final valiant effort, he stumbled toward the crater, where he was brought down by concentrated enemy machine gun fire. He lunged forward into the crater falling across the fourth Marine, finally giving up his life. Reaching up to his own bleeding wounds, the forth Marine wrote on the back of the Corpsman's bullet riddled shirt:

"WHERE ANGELS AND MARINES FEAR TO TREAD, THERE YOU'LL FIND A CORPSMAN DEAD."

This was the dying Marine's final tribute to his shipmate's supreme sacrifice in fulfilling his oath, "TO AID THE WOUNDED IN THEIR MOMENT OF NEED."

Ever since the birth of the Hospital Corps in 1798, only 23 years after the birth of the Marines Corps,  Marines and Navy Corpsmen, also known as "Doc"" have served side by side in both war and peace.  During World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, FMF Corpsmen have performed emergency medical treatment on wounded Marines while under heavy enemy fire. Corpsmen throughout history have proved they are vital to the healthcare of Marines during combat. Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, said of his Corpsmen during the Korean War, "You guys are the Marines doctors. There are no better in the business than Navy (FMF) Corpsmen."

Marine "Grunts"  (Marines who have seen ground combat) universally agree with Chesty Puller. "They keep us alive in combat, they are our Angels...."If you get scared or hurt, all you have to say is 'Corpsman up' and there's your Angel." 

In Vietnam, approximately 16 percent of casualties on the front lines were critically injured and it was up to the Corpsman to save the lives of those Marines, according to Navy Lt. Michael B. Humble, 30, the BLT 2/1 surgeon, who is a native of Russellville, Ky. Because medical doctors don't fight on the front line with the Marine units, Corpsman are challenged by making-on-the-spot life-threatening decisions. They are the Marine Docs. It is a known fact that Marines fight better when they know that they have a Corpsman there. It's a comforting feeling knowing that there is a medically trained professional on the battlefield in the event casualties are sustained. 

Weather it was on the beaches of Tarawa, the frozen hills of Korea, the jungle of Vietnam or the desert of Iraq, FMF Marine "Docs" have been and will continue to be there with the Marines. It is more then a job. It is a commitment. 

National Association of Medics and Corpsmen