Figure APP-I-3.-Women entered the Hospital Corps in World War II as WAVES.

component of the U.S. Naval Reserve, but the new legislation permitted women to enlist in the Regular Navy.

Effective April 1, 1948, the Navy changed the names and insignia of the Hospital Corps. The new rating titles were hospital recruit, hospital apprentice, hospitalman, hospital corpsmen third, second, and first class, and chief hospital corpsman. The red Geneva cross (fig. APP-I-4), which had marked corpsmen for 50 years, was replaced in the rating badge with the original symbol of the winged caduceus. The rates of senior chief and master chief hospital corpsman were added in 1958.

HOSPITAL CORPSMEN IN KOREA
As part of a United Nations force, Marines were committed to the Korean peninsula when South Korea was invaded by its northern neighbor in the summer of 1950. Within the first year, Hospital Corpsmen had participated in the dramatic landing at Inchon and the frigid retreat from the Chosin Reservoir. Although only one Marine division was involved in the war between 1950 and 1953, the Hospital Corps lost 108 killed in action. Disproportionate to their numbers was their heroism. In Korea, Hospital Corpsmen earned 281 Bronze Star Medals, 113 Silver Star Medals, and 23 Navy Crosses. All five enlisted Navy Medals of Honor were awarded to Navy Hospital Corpsmen serving with the Marines.

HOSPITAL CORPSMEN IN VIETNAM
American military commitment in Southeast Asia grew in the decades following World War II. As early as 1959, a few Hospital Corpsmen provided medical support for U.S. military personnel as part of the American Dispensary at the U.S. Embassy. Four years later, in 1963, Navy Station Hospital, Saigon, was created. Ninety Hospital Corpsmen staffed the facility, and provided care for U.S. and allied (Australian, New Zealand, Filipino, and South Korean) military, as well as South Vietnamese civilians. These medical personnel conducted routine medical care and treated the victims of combat and terrorist actions until the hospital was transferred to the Army in 1966.

Hospital Corpsmen were assigned aboard ships of various kinds, providing offshore medical support to U.S. forces. The largest commitment here was on the hospital ships USS Repose and USS Sanctuary. Some 200 Hospital Corpsmen, representing the gamut of technical specialties, worked on each ship. Teams of 20 Hospital Corpsmen served on LPH-class amphibious ships. Others supported the riverine force on APB-class base ships.

U.S. State Department initiatives and the Medical Civic Action Program (MEDCAP) provided medical support for Vietnamese civilians. Beyond routine aid and treatment, the Hospital Corpsmen working through these programs provided guidance in sanitation and preventive medicine throughout South Vietnam.

By far the Hospital Corps' largest contribution in Vietnam was with Marine Corps units. Starting with the 50 who landed with the Marines at Da Nang in 1965, the enlisted medical component would grow to 2,700 Hospital Corpsmen assigned to 1st and 3d Marine Divisions, 1st Marine Air Wing, and other combat support units. Two medical battalions and two hospital companies operated field hospitals, collecting and clearing units, and dispensaries that treated the flow of combat casualties from the field. Closer support was provided at the battalion aid station (BAS) level, where casualties could be stabilized before evacuation to more definitive care. The BASwas often bypassed because of the exceptional medical evacuation capabilities of helicopter medical evacuation (MEDEVAC).

The most dangerous role of the Hospital Corpsman in Vietnam was in the field. Special units (such as Navy SEAL teams and Marine reconnaissance units) took medical Sailors with them, as did the artillery, air, and infantry elements of the Marine Corps. Most of the 53 Hospital Corpsmen assigned to an infantry battalion served with rifle companies, one or two men per platoon of about 40. These Sailors patrolled with their Marines, risked the same dangers, and rendered the aid that saved the lives of thousands.