HI, im brand new to this forum and have signed in as ive exhausted all other methods. im a mum of 4 boys,2 of which are fascinated and full of respect for veterans( the other 2 being babies) and even they cant answer my burning question!im anti war on the basis that too many people-especially soldiers-have suffered too much,but im fascinated by the life/work of medics on the field,brought about from my old high school being used as a hospital for US wounded,and partly down to eugene roe's beautifully told story in band of brothers. what i really want to know is why or how medics were chosen in ww2?and on what basis?who decided?what if they refused?did any choose?what safety aspects were really put in place and what happened to them after?ive heard them called "angels of the peace". theyre the quiet ones that got away when it came to their story being told i fear.
Hello there, Assuming you're primarily interested in the US Army, have you visited these sites? : Office of Medical History Military Medical History Lots of good stuff on there. Good luck, Adam.
Welcome to the forum. Here are a few threads from this site to get you started. http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/35096-unsung-brave-combat-medics-ww2.html http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/29947-heroic-medics-doctors-ww2.html http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-books-publications/28579-medics-ww2.html You might also want to Google Medics WW2 training ans see if anything comes up. Good luck.
The Office of Medical History is a fantastic web site for information, they have all of the technical service books online available to read, which if youre interested in the facilities, and the advancement of medical technology during the war, the edition i have unfortunately does not cover pre war aspects such as training, and how the men/women were chosen
Maam. Medics in WW2 were normally volunteers. These men were not allowed to have a weapon during combat. So being volunteers each brought their own reason with them for wanting to become a Medic. There was no special consideration for the Medic's saftey with the exception of the geneva Convention. Supposedly Combat Medics were not supposed to be interfered with in the performance of their duty. However, both the german and Japanese military turned a blind eye to the killing of Medics. They usually were a high value target. The 3 people you want to render combat ineffective,( kill) first are the Officers, the radiomen and the Medics and not necessarily in that order. It is very demoralizing to the troops to see the person who can assist them when wounded or sick, dead on the ground. Nobody who has been in combat really wants to talk about it. Medics who see things that defy description, hear the cries of pain, the begging to make the pain go away, grown men cryingy for their mother, the ugly disfigurement associated with the burns, penetrating wounds and other forms of trauma and deathbed confessions with or without the priest really don't want to talk about their experiences. After the war the medics went back to running sick calls and manning hospitals in and out of the theater of operation. Their story is often told, not by the Medic but by the people whose lives they touch.
