HOspital Corps

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U.S. Navy
HOspital Corps
Est 17 June 1898107 years of Valor, Sacrifice
and Selflessness
I solemnly pledge myself before God and these
witnesses to practice faithfully all of my duties
as a member of the Hospital Corps. I hold the
care of the sick and injured to be a privilege
and sacred trust and will assist the Medical
Officer with loyalty and honesty. I will not
knowingly permit harm to come to any patient. I
will hold all personal matters pertaining to the
private lives of patients in strict confidence. I
dedicate my heart, mind, and strength to the work
before me. I shall do all within my power to
show in myself an example of all that is
honorable and good throughout my naval career
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Corpsman 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, under fire, ran back to cover with a
wounded Marine. 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 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 that dying
Marine's final tribute to his shipmate's supreme
sacrifice in fulfilling his oath, "TO AID THE
WOUNDED, IN THEIR MOMENT OF NEED."
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