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Synopsis of Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards - CMB) The Combat Medical Badge was conceived March 1, 1945 by the War Department. The Combat Medical Badge (CMB) could specifically be awarded to Officers and Enlisted personnel of the Medical Department who were assigned to or attached to a medical detachment of the infantry. The CMB was to recognize medical aidmen who shared the same hazards and hardships of ground combat on a daily basis with the infantry soldier. The CMB was never intended to be awarded to all medical personnel. Due to the uniqueness of ground combat in the infantry it was intended to be awarded only to those Medics who served under direct fire with the infantry. To be awarded the Combat Medical Badge, the infantry unit to which the medical personnel were assigned or attached must have engaged the enemy in active ground combat. Medical personnel must have been personally present and under fire in order to be eligible for this award. During the Vietnam War, the requirements were so stringent that recommending officials were required to document the place (in six digit co-ordinates), the time, the type of engagement, and also the intensity of fire to which the medical personnel were exposed. The Combat Medical Badge could also be awarded to U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force medical personnel as long as they met all the requirements of Army medical personnel.

Hi Tonkin, thank you so much.((( hug )))

Let us not forget that there was in fact a Corpsman with the Marines as they raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi.

Hospital Corpsman John Bradley was there and was one of the three survivors from the raising to leave Iwo Jima. John Bradley died January 11, 1994 at the age of 70.

Not all women wore love beads in the '60's

Actually, those dog tag chains were the real love beads - not the phony junk the campus leftists wore.

Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.
-- the words of Jesus in the book of St. John

One of the mental images I still carry with me from Vietnam was from a day I had to do some things (I don't even remember what, now) at the hospital in Saigon. I saw about 8 dead Americans lieing on those tables, I am not sure what they are called, gurneys? and they were covered in mud, it had dried, it turned a light tan, like coffee with milk in it, and they all had bullet holes in them. I could see the entry wounds, they had been shot in thier chests. There was nothing I could do for them, except hang my head and bite my lip, and say a mental prayer for them. I was very saddened to see them like that, and felt very bad for them. The medics are the guys that all soldiers depend on, and they deserve the highest respect and praise. I didn't even know those poor guys at the hospital, the medics lost friends, brothers in arms. I know how I felt that day, I can only imagine what they felt every day.

I was born in 1968, so I only have the words of my parents and grandparents to know "what really happened". My mother said not everyone was a peacenik. Not everyone disrespected Vietnam vets. It really irks me when there is a TV show or a movie about the 60's. They paint our culture and that time period with a broad brush as if EVERYONE hated that war, or everyone spat on Vets when they came home, or Vets killed babies, etc. It seems our children only see the point of view of San Francisco and liberal college campuses concerning this time period. This really bugs me.

Also, we have Vietnamese in our family. My husbands 1st cousin was a helicopter pilot. He married a Vietnamese woman and they have 3 children. They live down the street from us, and Thein (his wife) is the SAINT of our family. She is absolutely the hardest working, most generous, loving, sweeeeetest woman you could know. We LOVE her so much. She finally got her mother over here a few years ago, after many, many years of trying. Ba (her mother) is in her 80's and LOVES America. Isn’t it great to be in your 80’s and finally see freedom and see America? My children will know what Thein and Ba lived and saw in Vietnam and what we were fighting for. Bless those poor people. Bless anyone living under evil, butchering regimes. We are trying to learn a few Vietnamese words so Ba won’t feel so alone at family dinners. She doesn’t speak English and sits there quietly with a big grin on her face. She is just the sweetest thing.

Sorry for my tangent. Your “love beads” post made me think of members of our family.

Good morning, all! Great graphics, Bunny. Thank you.

CRY CORPSMAN

Red Beach, Tarawa

As the U.S. Marines continued their advance toward Japan, these battles required no explanation for they were the worst, most brutal and costly in human life to both friend and foe in all the campaigns of the Pacific from 1943 to 1944. The heroism and bravery demonstrated by the Navy hospital corpsmen was without exception during these and other campaigns in World War II, from Tarawa to the battle for Guam.

This cry for a corpsman rang out in every Marine operation in the Pacific in World War II. When a wounded or dying Marine uttered these words it was an immediate call to action by every corpsmen within earshot. The total number of men killed in action or wounded during all the Pacific campaigns was an appalling number 82 Naval doctors, 17 dental officers, 2 hospital corps officers, and 1,046 Hospital Corpsmen were officially listed as "killed in action"

-- Dr. WILL LAING