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Posted on 01/07/2005 10:32:01 PM PST by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 Navy Corpsmen World War II Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima--as subsequently memorialized in sculptor Felix deWeldon's bronze statue in Arlington National Cemetery--is probably the most famous military image in the world.  It is appropriate that one of the six men straining to lift the flagpole was a Navy corpsman, Pharmacist's Mate 2nd Class John H. Bradley. Like his Marine buddies, Bradley was a member of the 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division.  Each of the three divisions engaged in the struggle for Iwo Jima included roughly 100 Navy surgeons and nearly 1,000 corpsmen in its ranks. Most of those emergency medical specialists deployed forward with the maneuver elements or worked in improvised aid stations just behind the front lines. The nature of their work required continuous risk-taking. They retrieved wounded Marines, performed initial life-saving measures, evacuated severe casualties back to the beach--always under fire. Navy medical crews paid an exorbitant price in the savage fighting at Iwo Jima. Twenty-three doctors and 827 corpsmen were killed or wounded in action, a casualty rate twice as high as bloody Saipan. One of the wounded was John Bradley, a casualty of heavy fighting in the northern part of the island 17 days after the historic flag raising.  Typical of the Navy corpsmen who served at Iwo Jima was Pharmacist's Mate 2nd Class William B. Jett of Batesville, Ark. Jett came ashore with a replacement draft and joined the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, veterans of Suribachi, a unit that had already lost a disproportionate share of corpsmen. Jett was a company aid man assigned to a rifle platoon operating along the northwest corner, an area dubbed "the jungle of stone." In the next three weeks of fighting, Jett survived four platoon commanders--a lieutenant, a platoon sergeant, a sergeant and finally a corporal. But Jett, in his turn, was not immune to the heavy fire; shrapnel hit him in the left arm and wrist as he leaped out of a shell hole. He stayed in the lines. "Coming out alive on Iwo," he said, "was like going through a rainstorm without getting wet."  Four Navy corpsmen received the Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery on Iwo Jima: Pharmacist's Mates (1st Class) Francis J. Pierce, (2nd Class) George Wahlen, (3rd Class) Jack Williams, and (1st Class) John H. Willis. The last two were posthumous awards. Small wonder that most Marine infantrymen traditionally regard their accompanying corpsmen with special respect and affection.   John Bradley b. July 10, 1923 Antigo, WI. d. January 11, 1994 Antigo, WI. "Doc" Bradley was a Navy Corpsman who "just jumped in to lend a hand." He won the Navy Cross for heroism and was wounded in both legs. Bradley, a quiet, private man, gave just one interview in his life. In it he said . . . "People refer to us as heroes--I personally don't look at it that way. I just think that I happened to be at a certain place at a certain time and anybody on that island could have been in there--and we certainly weren't heroes--and I speak for the rest of them as well. That's the way they thought of themselves also."  "Of the surviving Flag Raisers, only Bradley was successful in putting his life back together after the war." ---From the best-selling "Immortal Images" by Tedd Thomey John Bradley returned to his home town in the Midwest after the war, prospered as the owner of a family business, and gave generously of his time and money to local causes. He was married for 47 years and had eight children. While Bradley had a public image as a war hero, he was a very private person. He avoided discussion of his war record saying only that the real heros were the men who gave their lives for their country. The Global Media reported the death of a World War II icon on January 11, 1994 at the age of 70. But his hometown newspaper best captured the essence of Bradley's life after the war: "John Bradley will be forever memorialized for a few moments action at the top of a remote Pacific mountain. We prefer to remember him for his life. If the famous flag-raising at Iwo Jima symbolized American patriotism and valor, Bradley's quiet, modest nature and philanthropic efforts shine as an example of the best of small town American values." ---Editorial, "The Antigo Daily Journal" Navy Cross awarded to John H. Bradley February 21, 1945, D-Day plus 2: "For extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy at Iwo Jima on Feb. 21, 1945 as a hospital corpsman attached to a Marine Rifle platoon. During a furious assault by his company upon a strongly defended enemy zone at the base of Mt. Suribachi, Bradley observed a Marine infantryman fall wounded in an open area under a pounding barrage by mortars, interlaced with a merciless crossfire from Machine guns. With complete disregard for his own safety, he ran through the intense fire to the side of the fallen Marine, examined his wounds and ascertained that an immediate administration of plasma was necessary to save the man's life. Unwilling to subject any of his comrades to the danger to which he had so valiantly exposed himself, he signaled would-be assistants to remain where they were. Placing himself in a position to shield the wounded man, he tied a plasma unit to a rifle planted upright in the sand and continued his life saving mission. The Marine's wounds bandaged and the condition of shock relieved by plasma, Bradley pulled the man thirty yards through intense enemy fire to a position of safety. His indomitable spirit, dauntless initiative, and heroic devotion to duty were an inspiration to those with who he served and were in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service." (Bradley served until wounded in both legs on March 12 by an enemy mortar shell, but refused evacuation until rendering aid to two other wounded Marines.)      |
Hi sw!!
free dixie, bf
Hugs to sw and duckie!
fyi, duckie is STILL out shoe/purse shopping since 10AM, with the GRRRLS!
she's looking for several pairs of "dressy flats" in different colors & matching purses.
OUCH!
i can smell the credit cards SMOKING from here.
free dixie,sw
OUCH! LOL!
free dixie,sw
btw, the TEST of a TRUE SB is whether or not they have (at LEAST) TWO (2) deviled egg plates.
duckie used 4 for Christmas season-all different.
and my dear friend & "cousin of the heart", japaneseghost, who was NOT lucky enough to be BORN in dixie NOW qualifies, as she has THREE! rotfl!
free dixie,sw
No perhaps about it.
Harry Turtledove (a master of arternative history) has wrtten a book about this called "In the Presence Of Mine Enemy". it takes place in modern times only the Nazis won the war. It's about a small secret group of Jews living in Germany.
Don't jump threads - If you get involved in an argument in one thread, it's considered poor manners to restart the previous argument in the middle of an unrelated thread.
Wow, do you alternate time, and/or a day off here and there?
True. Very true.
No alternating time. It's our place so it doesn't really seem like work and we enjoy it. On slow days we can take turns working on Foxhole threads and if we need to run errands we can do that too.
10 months of being with Sam everyday (in person) and I'm not tired of him yet!
Evening PE.
Had a real busy day at the store today. :-)
Word is getting out.
Thanks for the ping Jet Jaguar.
Evening alpha6.
Although corpsmen go back to the very beginning of the Navy, it was over 100 years ago, in June 1898 that the Hospital Corps was officially established.In 1814, Navy Regulations mention a "loblolly boy" who was to serve the surgeon and the surgeon's mate. The loblolly boy prepared for battle by filling containers with water to hold amputated limbs. In addition, his duties called for maintaining the braziers of charcoal to heat the tar which was used to stop the hemorrhaging from the amputations. Keeping the deck safe for the surgeon around the operating area was a duty during battle. The deck, slippery with blood, was to be treated with buckets of sand. Sounds gruesome, but cannon balls and cutlasses were not tidy weapons and amputation was the standard treatment for compound fractures.
The "surgeon's steward" replaced the loblolly boy. Recognizing the need for additional trained help, surgeons selected promising young men for training in elementary medicine. More than a clean up person, this specialist is probably the true forerunner of today's corpsman. When Congress established the Hospital Corps, the Secretary of the Navy appointed 25 senior "apothecaries" as Pharmacists. These 25 are the charter members of the Hospital Corps.
Twenty-two Navy Corpsman have been awarded the Medal of Honor, America's Highest Decoration, for extreme heroism. Many were awarded posthumously.
NAVY CORPSMEN
The Navy's Hospital Corpsmen provide medical services for Navy and Marine Corps units throughout the world. Corpsmen were with the Marines at Belleau Wood in World War I. Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi is probably the most famous military image in the world - and Corpsman PM2c John H. Bradley, later wounded in the battle, was one of the six 28th Marines straining to lift the flagpole. In World War II, Navy Corpsmen earned seven Medals of Honor, 61 Navy Crosses, 465 Silver Stars, and 982 Bronze Stars. Corpsmen added luster to their shining performance when they went ashore with the Marines in Korea.
Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller said it best:
"You guys are the Marine's doctors - There's none better in the business than a Navy Corpsman ..."
Corpsmen were in Vietnam too, and 690 died there, most while serving with the Fleet Marine Forces and Naval units ashore.
Using the two atomic bombs on Japan was one thing Truman did right.
Today they are our allies while Germany armed Saddam Hussein through our entry into Iraq, and its leaders continue to work against our interests. [See Bill Gertz, Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies, Crown, 2004.]
After innauguration I will urge the president to replace Norman Mineta with Michelle Malkin.
And offer my modest proposal for the appropriate response to a reprise of the September 11 attacks:
1912 José Ferrer Santurce PR, actor/director (Cyrano de Bergerac, Blood Tide, Dune, Big Bus)
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Evening w_over_w.
Ordinary men doing extraordinary things.
How'd the hunt go?
Crunchy Nuggets? Is that like Critter Crunch?
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