[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 17, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S6501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOSPITAL CORPS OF THE U.S. NAVY

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, today is the 100th anniversary of the 
Hospital Corps of the United States Navy. On June 17,1898, President 
McKinley established the Hospital Corps which has recorded an 
illustrious history of service to the nation. The men and women who 
serve and have served as corpsmen have honored the nation, the Navy and 
themselves. They have upheld the highest traditions of service to the 
nation.
  As a group, corpsmen have been the most highly decorated men and 
women who have served in our nation's military. Every day they put 
their lives at risk in the course of performing one of our highest 
callings as human beings, the preservation and protection of life.
  Individually, during the course of their 100 year history, 1962 
corpsmen have paid the ultimate price while administering to their 
wounded comrades on the battlefield. Twenty-seven times, their actions 
were so extraordinary that the individual was awarded the Congressional 
Medal of Honor.
  There is a little known fact about a widely hailed piece of American 
history. On February 23, 1945, six young men raised our national colors 
on top of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. A world renowned 
photograph was taken and this photograph became a symbol of the self-
sacrifice and devotion to duty of the United States Marine Corps and 
our nation's military in general. What is little known is that the 
second young man from the base of the flagpole, was a U.S. Navy 
corpsman. Only days before, that young man, Pharmacist Mate Second 
Class John Bradley, during the assault of Iwo Jima, pulled a young 
Marine to safety and bandaged his wounds while braving severe machine 
gun and mortar fire from a determined enemy. For his actions, 
Pharmacist Mate Bradley was awarded the Navy Cross. This extraordinary 
individual as with his other compatriots in that photo is even more 
extraordinary because of his anonymity. They were there for the photo 
by chance, they became the symbol we so readily recognize by a twist of 
fate. But they carried out their duties as thousands of other young 
Americans had done before them and since, in the most terrible of 
circumstances.
  Corpsmen have been the protective blanket our soldiers, sailors, and 
Marines have relied upon in their times of greatest distress. They have 
been there for them to heal their wounds, to fend off the battlefield's 
angels of death, and sometimes to comfort them as life ebbed away. 
Corpsmen are representative of the best of our ideals. It is in that 
spirit I call upon my colleagues and all Americans to remember their 
significant contribution to our nation and celebrate this day in 
recognition of their service.

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