U’S Marine medics

[harryb]

Quick question…did the Marine medics in the early Pacific theatre’s identify themselves with red crosses on a white background?

I know the usual helmet and arm bands were used in Europe but I vaguely remember reading they didn’t use these in the Pacific…?

Did the corpsemen just treat their colleagues…was the lack of ID perhaps due to snipers?

HELP please….

[harryb]

Was it only the Navy guys…that were attached to the marines land in forces… that had the white circle on the shoulder boards ….and a white circle on the back of their helmet?

[harryb]

Was it only the Navy guys…that were attached to the marines landing forces… that had the white circle on the shoulder boards ….and was it a white circle on the back of their helmet?

[Jacob Carter]

There is no such thing as a Marine that is a medic.  Medics in the Pacific were all Navy personnel that were called Corpsman.  (This does not include the ones in the Army that were in the Pacific)

The Japanese ignored the Geneva Convention rules against targeting medics so wearing the Red Cross made a Corpsman a high value target.   In response many of them tended to not wear identifying marks and would have all the equipment that Marines’ used so they could blend in with whatever unit they were attached to.

[harryb]

Thanks jacob. Perfect.

Harry

[Author]

Posts