It was really hard to be a medic & corpsmen in ww2 (and just in general)
Calling everyone medic for simplicity since corpsmen are the same thing just different branches!
1. Non combat troops
Being a medic meant being a noncombatent soldier which alot of people was the reason they became one sure BUT it also meant you physically weren't able to protect yourself self defense wise like other technical roles (such as comms and such) infact in certain areas they ended up arming their medics with sidearms for protection, not to mention the fact your literally running around A BATTLEFIELD running though mortars shellings and dodging bullets literally so try and save someone in harsh environments wither it's raining, Snowing or a heatwave
More below cut !!
Let me show you
2. Targetting
Similar to how high ranking officers and cos have to hide their rank insignia to avoid targeting from snipers medics also had that problem accept it was much worst
Why is that you ask?
Because the military had the bright idea to make medics have a BIG WHITE circle (or square sometimes) with a BIG RED CROSS on EVERY SIDE OF THE HELMET
Now in theory this may have been a pretty okay idea to make the medics recognizable and easily rotatable to their troops but also this infact make them extremely recognizable to enemies as well!! Dispite the Geneva Conventions rule 'knowingly firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is a war crime' no one really has ever respected the rule no matter what side of any war you where on! Medical personnel where always targeted due to their roles, killing the only people who knew how to take care of your enemies which obviously got rid of more enemies as well as because the insignia was a universal sign and plastered on them wither it was labeled on their helmets, on a arm band, or on their bags among other things
However in Europe it was sill very common with the US army and such other branches out there to still have the red cross on them in some sort of way , it was a common to switch/cover/mess up helmets or to just have a unit helmet issued, arm bands where usually able to be taken off and and bags could be flipped to not show the insignia
(Illustration showing common ww2 medic uniforms)
In the pacific theater it was pretty such expected that corpsmen where to not have any sort of give away they were medical personnel to avoid targetting, they were given normal marine uniforms to keep them as blended in as possible
Some medics were even murdered just so people could to pretend to be them ;
“Germans were dressed in American uniforms over their own and were dropping into areas by parachute. (Once) some came in two ambulances dressed in American uniform and greatly hurt the medical staff of the 101st – they murdered really, the medics and we found out then it was not wise to be known as a medic. The general of the 101st met with our commander and said, he couldn’t order us to carry weapons, but he advised that it was up to us. So, we taped over our steel helmets that had red crosses on them and hid our identification and were given pistols. We didn’t really know how to use them, but … we never put on our red crosses again.”
(Quoted from VA affairs)
3. mental health
Being a medic takes its toll of course, out of everyone they seen the most death and injuries no matter if they were in the front lines or working a aid station some deaths were the inevitable regardless of what you thought you could do yet those deaths and gorey scenes were of course traumatizing and seeing that everyday your at war would mess you up, many medics experience what is now known as shell-shocked and post traumatic stress while in the line of duty, which when a medic froze it was deadly to almost everyone in their battalions
I found you either get used to this life or one of two things happen. You could go into an anxiety state or...you could take an extreme measure and shoot yourself. " The men of the Medical Department saw the infantry at their worst possible moments and were expected to keep calm and perform their task no matter what.
Quoted from Del Toro: Fighting a War Without Rifles
(This point could be made into its own post so I'm not going to write too much about it)
4. Skillset
Unless you were in the medical field before you had minimal training in medicine, you knew basic first aid and anatomy at all basics, most medics knew not a whole lot about drugs or how to keep people alive.
'-Shortly after landing in Sicily, Franklin had to treat a group of freezing men who had been soaked in water from the landing. In order to remedy their state, Franklin poured some ammonia into canteen cups for them. "I thought it might warm them. Hell, for all I knew about medicine, I might have been poisoning them." Franklin's lack of training with medicine could have put these men in danger.'
Quoted from Del Toro: Fighting a War Without Rifles
Most of their knowledge came from word of mouth via other more qualified medics, medical personnel they worked with and most importantly straight from what they immediately learned in battle while treating people
To quote Ted barris about his father ,a medic during ww2 some medics had no idea what frost bite even was before getting to Europe
5. Lack of supplies
It's very established especially in war media like band of brothers that medics had very little supplies especially during the battle of the bulge era in the war, with every little supplies all medics either had to wing it or cpuldnt help people and of course most chose to wing it, they used things that weren't meant to be use like bedsheets, old uniforms, stolen suplies,, scrap fabric, alcohol ,twigs literally ANYTHING they could get their hands on they had to use
In conclusion medics are very important to wars yet its one of the most difficult mentally and physically tech roles to get into and to be throughout ww2 and literally any war that has ever happened
