United States Navy   Hospital Corpsman

"Health is necessary in war
and cannot be replaced by
anything else. . . ." Napoleon

 

The primary mission of the Medical Department of the United States Navy, of which the Hospital Corps is a part, is:

To keep as many men at as many guns as many days as possible. . . . . . .

As a member of the Hospital Corps your can contribute directly to the job of keeping our guns firing. There is no better way to serve your country and your fellow man. If you can qualify for admission to the Hospital Corps, the Navy will train you for your duties.

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Prepared for the Occupational Information and Guidance Service, Vocational Division, U.S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION, Federal Security Agency, by the Hospital Corps Section, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, UNITED STATES NAVY . . . December 1, 1943

Introduction

From its very beginning as an established Corps in 1898 the Hospital Corps of the United States Navy has been devoted to humanitarian service. It has administered first aid and nursing care to the sick and injured of the Navy and Marine Corps during three of the Nation's wars, and through the many years of intervening peace.

For more than a century prior to its organization by act of Congress, the pioneers of the Hospital Corps--the Hospital Mates, the Hospital Stewards, the Surgeon's Stewards, the Apothecaries, the Nurses and the Baymen--served faithfully and energetically in the Medical Department of the Navy.

On numerous occasions of the past members of the Hospital Corps have been assigned to civilian areas for first-aid and relief work in times of disaster. In 1908, Hospital Corpsmen of the American Fleet at anchor in Alexandria, Egypt, were speedily dispatched to Messina, Sicily, when word of Mont Aetna's eruption reached the Commander in Chief. In 1918, every naval hospital in the United States loaned Hospital Corpsmen to neighboring areas to help care for the civiilan sick in the great influenza pandemic. In 1923 the Asiatic Fleet landed Hospital Corpsmen at Yokohama to administer relief following the earthquake which wrecked the city. From 1915 to 1934 hundreds of Hospital Corpsmen were assigned to duty in the republics of Haiti and Santo Domingo, to minister to native populations during the Navy's health crusade on the Island of Hispaniola.

Many young people are now debating within themselves regarding a place where they can best serve their country in an hour of need. It is hoped that this brochure of information relative to the work and mission of the Hospital Corps will help to guide them to an avenue of service.

/signed/ Ross I. McIntire
Rear Admiral (MC) Surgeon General, United States Navy

Foreword

The Hospital Corps of the United States Navy offers to young men opportunities to assist in returning men from the destruction lines to the production lines. At the same time these young men as members of the Hospital Corps are obtanining skills in useful peacetime careers, in such fields as dental technologist, first-aid man, food inspector, medical technologist, nurse, physiogtherapist, sanitarian, and X-ray technologist. The fields mentioined are only a few among many related peacetime jobs. Types of Navy specialized training courses open to qualified men are aviation medicine, commissary work, deep-sea diving, laboratory technique, medical field service, and property and accounts. Young men will be able to apply in their Navy courses for promotion or for specialized work information obtained from such school subjects as chemistry, first aid, physiology, hygiene, and bookkeeping.

The young men of this Nation who serve in the Hospital Corps of the U.S. Navy will be preparing for post-war opportunities while performing duties which help their Navy comrades when they need help most.

/signed/ J.W. Studebacker
U.S. COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION

Contents

	Page
Introduction	i
Foreword	ii
Ladder of Advancement	iv
A Spot for You	1
Qualifications for Duty	3
Foundation Courses	4
Hospital Corps Schools	5
Field Hospitals	8
Period of Service	9
Promotions	9
Ratings, Pay, and Allowances	10-11
Opportunities	12
Officers of the Hospital Corps	12
Other Commissions	12
Where Hospital Corpsmen Serve	14
Duties--Officers	17
Duties--Enlisted	18
First Aiders	20
Citations	22
Honor Roll	24
Log of the Hospital Corps	25

The Hospital Corpsman's Ladder of Advancement

A Spot for You

If you are between the ages of 17 and 50, if you meet minimum physical requirements for active naval service, if you have aptitude for care of the sick and injured, or experience in any of the auxiliary fields of medicine, there is a spot in the Hospital Corps for you.

Age 17

If your are 17 and have sufficient education to learn and a particular desire or liking for Hospital Corps duties, you can enlist as a Hospital Apprentice Second Class in Class V-6, U.S. Naval Reserve. With expereince equivalent to a standard Red Cross first-aid course you may enlist as a Hospital Apprentice First Class. Consent of parents or guardian is required for 17-year-old enlistments.

Age 18 to 37

If you are in this age group you can, during induction, request assignment to the Navy quota. If request is approved, you will go to a Naval Training Station, where you may ask for assignment in the Hospital Corps.

Navy inductees who do not have a professional background, but who have the desire and aptitude for such duty may request assignment to a Hospital Corps School. Selected applicants are ordered to a basic course of instruction. Graduates of this course are eligible for further training and for regular advancement in the Hospital Corps.

If qualified professionally by civilian training or experience, you may be eligible for a Petty Officer rating of the Hospital Corps. In this case you must present acceptable evidence of education, training, registration, or experience in one of the related fields of medical science.

Accepted applicants are, on completion of the required period of recruit trianing, advanced to a Hospital Corps rating appropriate to their professional background. Such rated men are assigned to a Naval Hospital for orientation, on completion of which training they may, if in all respects qualified, be further advanced to the rating of Pharmacist's Mate Second Class.

Age 38 to 50

If you are between the ages of 38 and 50, and have the requisite training and experience, you may apply for enlistment as a Petty Officer of the Hospital Corps in Class V-6, U.S. Naval Reserve. Men who have had experience in minor surgery equivalent to advanced Red Cross first-aid courses, experienced orderlies in civilian hospitals, and men recently qualified in Medical Department technical specialties with a short period of practical experience may qualify as Pharmacist's Mates Third Class. Professional men may qualify up to the rating of Pharmacist's Mate Second Class. Men with satisfactory records of prior military or naval service may qualify up to the rating of Chief Pharmacist's Mate (acting appointment).

The Hospital Corpsman performs every conceivable task in connection with the care of the sick and injured. Hospital Corps duties begin with the practical nursing care of the sick, and range through the fields of first aid, clinical laboratory, X-ray, physical therapy, pharmacy, field sanitation, embalming, commissary and messing, dental and surgical assisting and mechanical dentistry, care and accounting of medical property and stores, and all Medical Department clerical work.

Qualifications for Duty in the Hospital Corps

The Hospital Corps needs men with varied backgrounds in the auxiliary fields of medicine. If you have had general training or experience in any of the following fields, your background may be suitable for development for the duties of the Hospital Corps:

Any auxiliary medical field Chiropractic Clinical laboratory technique Dental techniques Embalming First aid Hospital Services (general) Medical technology Nursing, general or special Optometry and optics	Orthopedic appliances Osteopathy Pharmacy Physical therapy Podiatry Practitioner (healing arts) Procurement, dental or medical Sanitation and public health X-Ray

Pharmacist's Mates with their precious cargo of blood plasma.

Foundation Courses

Foundation courses are not required for entrance into the Hospital Corps. The only prerequisites are aptitude and desire for service in connection with the care of the sick and the injured.

However, several helpful courses are available to most high-school and college students seeking a general education. Students planning to gain admission to the Hospital Corps would do well to incorporate some of these with their regular course:

BIOLOGY
CHEMISTRY
COMMERCE
FIRST AID
GENERAL SCIENCE
MATHEMATICS
PHYSICS
PHYSIOLOGY
TYPING

The sciences will be especially helpful by way of introduction to the basic studies of the Hospital Corps in case of Hospital Apprentices who have not had the advantages afforded by a course of instruction in a Hospital Corps School.

Background courses in commerce, mathematics, and typing will help to prepare a student who may desire to specialize in the Hospital Corps in medical clerical work or accounting, commissary, property, and storeroom activities.

First aid is one of the basic professional activities of the Hospital Corps. Standard and advanced courses have been made available in all parts of the United States by the American Red Cross and the Office of Civilian Defense. Many high schools are making "first aid" a part of their curricular or extracurricular activities, with the addition of first-aid courses or the organization of volunteer first-aid detachments.

Hospital Corps Schools

The Medical Department of the Navy places great emphasis on both basic and advanced training for members of the Hospital Corps. All major Medical Department activities within the continental limits of the United States, and many beyond the seas, are engaged in the training of medical technicians.

Hospital Corps Schools for basic training are located in connection with the U.S. Naval Hospitals at Bainbridge, Md.; Farragut, Idaho; Great Lakes, Ill.; Portsmouth, Va.; and San Diego, Calif.

Medical Field Service Schools are maintained at the Fleet Marine Force training centers at Camp Lejeune, New River, N.C., and Camp Elliott, San Diego, Calif. Schools for technicians in aviation medicine are located at Naval Air Centers throughout the country.

Orientation schools for newly enlisted or inducted Hospital Corpsmen of the U.S. Naval Reserve are conducted at all Naval Hospitals within the continental United States.

The National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., which embraces the U.S. Naval Medical School, the U.S. Naval Dental School, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Institute, the Hospital Corps School for Waves, and the Washington Naval Hospital, is the Navy's center for medical research and instruction. The cornerstone was laid by President Roosevelt on Armistice Day, 1940. In less than 2 years the Center was in full operation. Advanced courses of instruction in many professional specialties are given at Bethesda, for both officer and enlisted personnel of the Medical Department.

U.S. Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa. Every naval hospital is a training center for Hospital Corpsmen.

A class in anatomy at a Hospital Corps School.
Practical nursing class, Hospital Corps School, Bainbridge, Md.
Surgical technicians are trained at all naval hospitals.

The United States Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.

President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone on Armistice Day, 1940.

Hospital Corpsmen's lounge, Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.

Field Hospitals

The training which Hospital Corpsmen receive finds apt expression in the field. Besides training men to serve with the Fleet and the shore establishment, the Medical Department selects and trains hundreds of men for field duty with medical battalions, amphibious operations, and with mobile, base, and field hospitals. These groups operate many thousands of miles from the homeland, at isolated island bases, and on the battle fronts in the active theaters of the war.

Trained Hospital Corpsmen administer first aid right at the fighting zone, at dressing stations immediately behind the lines, and at field hospitals and dispensaries adjacent to the battle areas. Here broken bones are splinted, shrapnel wounds are sutured and bandaged, life-saving plasma is administered, and many lives are salvaged by Navy Hospital Corpsmen.

Ward in a regimental hospital in the combat zone on Guadalcanal.

A naval base hospital in a combat area of the South Pacific.

Period of Service

Applicants who are accepted for enlistment in the Regular Navy are required to serve a period of 6 years. This period of service applies also to inducted recruits who elect to join the Regular Navy.

The period of service in Class V-6, U.S. Naval Reserve, is for 2, 3, or 4 years.

In either case, the applicant must execute an agreement to serve for the duration of the war, plus 6 months beyond the period of the national emergency.

Inducted recruits may elect to remain in the status of an inductee instead of entering either the Regular Navy or the Naval Reserve. Under Selective Service regulations, these men will be required to serve a period of 10 years in a reserve status following demobilization.

Promotions

Advancement in the Hospital Corps is regular and rapid for all who desire to work for better ratings. With the current expansion of the Navy, the top ratings are constantly calling to the ranks below for experienced men who can qualify for more responsible duties.

While heretofore it has required a period of many years of effort to attain the rating of Chief Pharmacist's Mate, it is now possible to advance from the lowest enlisted grade, that of Apprentice Seaman, to the highest enlisted level, that of Chief Pharmacist's Mate, in less than 3 years.

This period provides for the fulfillment of all service requirements for advancement and, of course, presupposes good conduct, aptitude, and diligence on the part of the Hospital Corpsman.

Men whose civilian backgrounds justify initial ratings as Petty Officers may be able to attain a Chief Petty Officer rating in less than 2 years.

Ratings, Pay and Allowances, U.S. Navy Hospital Corps

Hospital Apprentice      Second Class      First Class Pharmacist's Mate      Third Class Pharmacist's Mate      Second Class Pharmacist's Mate      First Class Chief Pharmacist's Mate      Acting Appointment      Permanent Appointment Officer of the Hospital Corps

HOSPITAL CORPS: Designation of rating: Navy Rating Similar to Army Grade Monthly Base Pay Dependency Allowance Total With Dependents Chief Pharmacist's Mate Permanent Appointment Acting Appointment Chief Petty Officer Master Sgt. First Sgt.       $138.00   126.00         *$37.50   *37.50         $175.50   163.50   Pharmacist's Mate First Class Second Class Third Class Petty Officer 1st cl. 2d cl. 3d cl.     Tech. Sgt. Staff Sgt. Sergeant     $114.00   96.00   78.00     *$37.50 *37.50 **28.00     $151.50   133.50   106.00 Hospital Apprentice First Class Second Class   Seaman 1st cl. 2d cl. Apprentice    Seaman   Corporal Pvt. 1st cl. Private     $66.00   54.00   50.00       **$28.00   **28.00   **28.00       $94.00   82.00   78.00   Explanatory Notes * Quarters Allowance for Dependents: Optional, for enlisted personnel of the three upper grades. Chief petty officers and petty officers first and second class with bona fide dependents are entitled to dependency or quarters allowance, but not to both. Not payable for the lower grades. ** Dependency Allowance: Applies to all enlisted personnel with bona fide dependents. An allocation from Navy pay of $22 per month must be made to qualify for the dependency allowance. The Government will add thereto the following: For dependent wife, $28; wife and one child, $58; each additional child, $20; parent, $28; 2 parents, $46; additional brother or sister, $11 each. Allowances are also provided for divorced wife, partial dependents, etc. NOTE.--Allowances as of December 1, 1943.

ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES Quarters and Rations All enlisted men are entitled to quarters and rations. When these are not furnished in kind an authorized cash allowance is paid. Original Outfit On first enlisted all men of the Navy and Naval Reserve are entitled to a complete outfit of clothing. On first appointment as a commissioned, warrant, or chief petty officer, an enlisted man is entitled to a cash uniform gratuity. Clothing Maintenance All enlisted personnel are entitled to a quarterly cash allowance for clothing maintenance. Longevity Pay For each 3 years of completed active service, an enlisted man is entitled to an increase of 5 percent of base pay. This is cumulative under continuous service up to 50 percent. Foreign and Sea Duty Pay Enlisted personnel on sea and foreign shore duty draw an additional 20 percent of their base pay. Hazardous Duty Pay Enlisted Men who elect duty with aircraft flights, paratroops, dirigibles, submarines, and deep-sea diving, draw extra pay for hazardous duty.

Opportunities

The Hospital Corpsman has an opportunity to better himself not only by regular and rapid advancement, but also by becoming trained as a specialist or technician. The advanced courses available to Pharmacist's Mates provide technician training in many fields, including Medical Technology, X-ray, Dental (general) and Dental Prosthetic, Physical Therapy, Electrocardiography and Basal Metabolism, Property and Accounting, Operating Room, Pharmacy and Chemistry, and Deep-Sea Diving.

Training and experience in such special fields as those mentioned above have qualified many Hospital Corpsmen to appear before State Boards of Examiners in a number of States, for registration as nurses, X-ray technologists, laboratory technicians, physical therapy technicians, dental assistants and mechanics, and industrial first-aid men.

Officers of the Hospital Corps

Advancement in the Hospital Corps does not stop with the highest enlisted rating. A Chief Pharmacist's Mate or a Pharmacist's Mate first class may advance to the warrant grade of Pharmacist, and thence to the commissioned grade of Chief Pharmacist. These are the permanent grades of officers in the Hospital Corps.

To fill the requirements of naval expansion due to the present war, many hundreds of Pharmacist's Mates have been appointed in the grades of Pharmacist, Chief Pharmacist, and higher commissioned rank in the Hospital Corps.

Opportunity continues to be presented for advancement of this nature for competent Hospital Corpsmen who have filled the service and professional requirements.

Other Commissions

In addition to the foregoing outlet to officer status any naval reservist who can present satisfactory college background may, on completion of 6 months on active duty, apply for a commission.

If recommended by his Commanding Officer for such consideration, he is placed on the eligibility list and may be selected for a commission at any time the Navy requires his specialized service in such capacity.

During a recent 12-month period more than 700 Naval Reserve Hospital Corpsmen were thus selected by the Chief of Naval Personnel for officer candidate training or for direct commissioning in various branches of the naval service.

A Hospital Corpsman sprays a mosquito-infested swamp in a South Pacific battle zone.

Hospital Corps aviation technician on carrier escort duty.

Physical therapy technicians administering special hydrotherapy treatment.

Where Hospital Corpsmen Serve

Hospital Corpsmen serve on the sea and underneath its surface; on shore stations at home and beyond the seas; with Navy and Marine Corps flyers; and with Marines in the field.

with the Fleet

Hospital Corpsmen serve on every class of vessel in the Fleet; Yachts, minecraft, submarines, motor torpedo boats, gunboats, landing craft, destroyers, escorts, transports, cargo vessels, cruisers, battleships, carriers, tenders, repair ships, supply ships, hospital ships.

with the Navy Ashore

Hospital Corpsmen serve at all the Navy's shore activities: Naval hospitals, field, base, and mobile hospitals, training stations, schools, radio stations, dispensaries, navy yards, supply depots, advance bases, and construction battalions.

with the Airmen

Hospital Corpsmen serve with all Navy and Marine Corps air units: Navy air centers where airmen are trained, operating bases were activities are directed, aircraft carriers; air groups, patrol wings, and flight squadrons. They may elect assignment to duty with dirigibles and parachute troops.

with the Marines

Hospital Corpsmen serve with the Marines in all their various components. The Medical Department of the Navy supplies all medical and hospital facilities for the U.S. Marine Corps. Members of the Hospital Corps thus serve with amphibious forces, raider battalions, infantry, artillery, engineering and other field units of the United States Marines.

Hospital Ship Solace. Hundreds of Hospital Corpsmen are on duty on seagoing hospitals such as this.

In the South Pacific, wounded soldiers, sailors, and marines are speedily transferred by ambulance planes from fighting zones to base hospitals.

Hospital Corpsmen serve on all types of landing craft. This is an LCT with supplies at Attu.

Members of the Hospital Corps are at home on all the ships of the Fleet.

The destroyer Nicholas.

The submarine Greenling.

The PC Boats are submarine chasers of the corvette type.

Duties--Officers

The duties of Hospital Corpsmen generally are as varied as the places where they serve. Probably no other branch of the Service covers so many activities which enable a man to be fitted into a sphere of duty where his special talents may be utilized.

The officers of this Corps are selected from the two highest enlisted ratings. They act as personnel, finance, property, accounting, procurement and commissary officers, and serve as executive aides and assistant administrators. They are assigned to duty at Naval Hospitals, Medical Department activities at bases and shore stations, and to some of the larger vessels of the Fleet.

Hospital Corps officer instructs a class in the use of the water sterilizing bag at the Medical Field Service School, Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va.

Duties--Enlisted

The two upper enlisted ratings are those of Chief Pharmacist's Mate and Pharmacist's Mate, first class. Men of these ratings may be called upon to perform any of the varied professional tasks required of the Hospital Corps. They may be assigned to distant or isolated stations or small vessels of the Fleet to which no medical officer is attached, to serve as the sole representative of the Medical Department. They sometimes provide the only medical care available to native populations in far corners of the earth.

Pharmacist's Mates, second and third class, perform numerous specialized medical services, and may be detailed to assist in any of the various activities of the Hospital Corps, from clerical duties in the United States, to field service in foreign lands.

Hospital Apprentices, first and second class, under supervision, may assist at any duty within the scope of the activities of the Hospital Corps.

Pharmacist's Mates perform all sorts of professional duties: They assist the Medical Officer at sick call.

They operate the oxygen tent for pneumonia patients.

They administer treatments in hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, and mechanical therapy.

They are familiar with all types of sterilizing apparatus.

They take and develop X-ray pictures, and administer X-ray therapeutic treatments.

First-Aiders

First-Aid Men Make Good Hospital Corpsmen
Hospital Corpsmen Make Good First-Aid Men

It works both ways? Men who enter the Hospital Corps with training or experience in first aid have an excellent background for a basic professional activity of their Corps. Long experience has demonstrated that men qualified in first aid can quickly qualify in Hospital Corps duties.

First-aid experience gained from a variety of sources have qualified thousands of men who are now serving on active duty in the Hospital Corps. Among these sources may be mentioned:

Boy Scout First Aid and Lifesaving Activity
Bureau of Mines First-Aid Courses
Civilian Defense First-Aid Projects
Industrial First-Aid Work
Life Guard Employment
Police and Fire Department First-Aid Training
Red Cross Standard and Advanced First-Aid Courses
Volunteer Emergency First-Aid Squads

Conversely, men trained in basic and general duties of the Hospital Corps acquire a skill in first aid which makes them available for a variety of industrial employment on separation from the Service. Personnel officers of industrial plants, shipyards, steel mills, airplane factories, Public Health Service, Veterans Administration and other Federal agencies generously acclaim the first-aid training they have seen in action among employees who have entered such service from the Hospital Corps of the United States Navy.

Stretcher-bearers.

The wounded are transported by stretcher from the fighting zone to the field ambulance.

At field dressing stations they are given emergency first aid.

Hospital Corpsmen in a field unit assist the battalion surgeon in an emergency midnight operation.

Navy Cross

Henry Warren Tucker--Pacific War

"For extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession following an attack on the U.S.S. Neosho by enemy aerial forces. With complete disregard for his own life, Tucker swam between various life rafts carrying tannic acid in his hand in order to treat the burns of the injured men. He hazarded the dangers of exposure and exhaustion to continue his task, helping the injured into boats but refusing a place for himself. Tucker was subsequently reported as missing in action and it is believed he lost his life in his loyal and courageous devotion to duty. His valorous actions enhance and sustain the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

Silver Star   

Kenneth William Durant¹--Guadalcanal

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity during action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Soloman Islands. During a Marine offensive in the Matanikau area Durant, with courageous devotion to duty in caring for the wounded, worked his way forward with the assault elements despite tremendous hostile fire. After he had administered first aid to numerous injured personnel, he halted at the command post in utter exhaustion until a Marine fatally wounded about 15 yards to the front called for a corpsman. Unhesitatingly Durant, with utter disregard for his own personal safety, rushed forward in the face of machine gun and sniper fire and was killed before reaching the stricken man. He gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country."

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1 The U.S.S. Durant, a destroyer escort, has been named in honor of this Hospital Corpsman.

Legion of Merit   

Howard Augustus Schram--South Atlantic

"For service of a high degree of merit on January 9, 1943, as pharmacist's mate, when 152 survivors of a torpedoed ship were rescued. As each survivor was brought aboard Schrum examined him and rendered necessary first aid. During these proceedings he removed 2 bone spolinters from a fractured skull and took 11 sutures, set 3 broken legs, set 2 broken arches, and treated 3 third-degree burns. These operations were eminently successful as evidence by the fact that Army medical authorities thereafter reviewing the work pronounced the treatments excellent. This splendid performance of duty above and beyond that which is normally expected of a first-class pharmacist's mate reflects great credit on the Naval Service."

Navy Cross heroes of a raider battalion of the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Admiral Halsey decorates Chief Pharmacist's Mate Fechter.

Sailors admiring each other's decorations.

Capt. W.L. Mann awards Silver Star to PhM-3c Batease at Bethesda, Md.

The Honor Roll of the Navy includes the names of many Hospital Corpsmen who, through devotion to duty and deeds of bravery in action, have brought credit to themselves and glory to their Corps.

For valor and heroism above the call of duty, no single group was more outstanding during World War I than the Hospital Corpsmen who were assigned to overseas duty with the United States Marines.

Many Hospital Corpsmen have received decorations, commendations for valor and heroism above the call of duty, no single group was more outstanding during World War I than the Hospital Corpsmen who were assigned to overseas duty with the United States Marines.

Many Hospital Corpsmen have received decorations, commendations and citations for heroism under fire. The Navy Cross, the Silver Star, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart--all these awards of merit and gallantry have been presented to members of the Hospital Corps for meritorious service in the present war. But the service which wins these awards is a routine matter to a Hospital Apprentice or a Pharmacist's Mate--an item in his day's work. To a Hospital Corpsman the greatest tribute that can be paid is the respect and confidence reposed in him by his shipmates.

The Log of the Hospital Corps

"In All the Nation's Wars"

1775	After Bunker Hill, Washington organized hospitals for the fighting forces, appointing nonmedical men to assist the surgeons. On 2d September he ordered an Army detachment to man the Hannah, first Continental ship, with officers, sailors and marines. November 10th, Congress authorized Washington to organize two battalions of marines.
1798 1803 1812	Our Navy became a formidable force during our wars with France, the Barbary States, and England. In 1798 Congress separated the Navy from the War Department, and in 1799 passed an act regulating the Medical Establishment of the Arny and Navy. Navy Regulations of our first Fleet provided "a faithful attendant" to assist the Surgeon and the Surgeon's Mate.
1846	In the War with Mexico the "faithful attendant" had become a "steward." He was recognized as a trained and valuable assistant to the ship's surgeon.
1861	The tremendous naval expansion of the Civil War added hundreds of efficient and well-trained men to the Medical Department for Men-of-War, Hospital Ships, and Naval Hospitals. . . . In 1866 the surgeon's steward became known as the apothecary. Navy Regulations of 1896 required an applicant for this rating to be a graduate pharmacist.
1898	War with Spain saw the definitive organization of the Hospital Corps by Act of Congress. The ratings of hospital steward, hospital apprentice first class and hospital apprentice were established, and 25 senior aopthecaries were made warrant pharmacists. The law also authorized the establishment of Hospital Corps Schools, under which authority the first School of Instruction was organized in 1902 at Portsmouth, Va.
1917	The Hospital Corps was reorganized with present ratings in 1916. January 1, 1917, there were 1,700 men in the Corps. The War with Germany expanded these to 17,000 by November 1918. Besides assignment to the Fleet, Hospital Corpsmen served actively with Marines and the Army overseas.
1941	World War II precipitated the greatest expansion of the Hospital Corps in history. By the end of 1943 Hospital Corpsmen were serving on all fronts, all combat areas, and all sea frontiers.