Military rumours- true or false?

Question

Hi there. I have a couple of rumours and stories passed down by by grandfather and I'd like to know if they're true or false; I'm a civilian so for all I know they may be complete bull or just ordinary truths.

My grandfather was a field medic in WW2 and stayed on to fight in Kenya and Korea. He told me that, as a medic at the rank of Lance Corporal, he (and other medics) actually outranked everyone in the field when it came to medical matters. For example he says once that the SNCO was wounded and only him, and the CO of the unit, were able to reach him to give help. The CO was a young Officer fresh out of Sandhurst and didn't really know what do whilst my grandfather set about fixing the SNCOs wound; he sat there shocked at the blood, babbling, so my grandfather held up a pair of forceps and said, 'Shut up and hold this-now,'- no 'Sir', no 'Please', because a man's life was in his hands.

Secondly he tells me many medics carried sidearms in order to put the seriously wounded...

...out of their misery if the unit was pinned down and further medical aid or an evacuation was impossible- as part of their official equipment or otherwise.

Does this sound true to you? He was fond of his tall tales!

If so, is either aspect still true in today's military?

Thanks!

*He was conscripted as an Infantryman with the Kings African Rifles and undertook Medic training in a light Infantry role; he wasn't a medic first and foremost*

Answer 1

I believe the part about being in charge of medical decisions, in the Marines we are taught that during vehicle recovery the Marine with the most experience in recovering vehicles is in charge of the recovery...Not the security or any matter not pertaining to recovery.

As far as carrying a side-arm to put badly wounded out of their misery possible and probably happened, but I think you would be hard pressed to find a technical manual or field publication that states that.

Medics and Corpsman may carry weapons in combat. But they are only to be used in self-defense.

Answer 2

I was an Army Combat Medic for 4 years serving in Korea and stateside assignments. Although being a female and never actually been in conflict situations and regarding to rank in the field, I can see where that can happen but not often. Sounds like that green LT was not fit to maintain control over the situation at the time and someone had to step in. Your Grand dad was the only other person. As far as the side arm bit, all I can say is maybe. I carried a M16 rifle to use to guard the wounded under my care if the need arose. Only officers of the company carried actual sidearms and I am not privy to what actions they were authorized to use it for. But it does seem to me a bit of a stretch. As I said I am a female who never saw action but knows anything can happen in a combat situation.

Answer 3

A medic does not outrank everyone in the field. It is the medical Doctor who outranks all medics. The CO would not be fresh out of SAndhurst because he would be a 2nd lieutenant and the lowest rank to be a CO is a Major. Medics never put seriously wounded out of their misery with a bullet. They were left if they had to be for the enemy medics to care for them. This was common Practice between opposing armies. The CO of any regiment is always a man of experience. Tall Tales I am afraid.

Answer 4

you have a good question.. I have my doubts (only an opinion) about "putting out" a seriously wounded soldier. I am thinking, as I was trained as a member of a forward battle dressing station on a aircraft carrier, that they would try to comfort the seriously wounded soldier, give him enough morphine to knock out a horse, assure him that he would be ok, we were also trained that if the wounded person was out of control and losing their minds screaming and hollering to just grab the wound and that would make them pass out and make them become controllable, As far as being in control , yes a medic is in charge because a wounded man , no matter what his rank from private to genral, when a soldier gets wounded the first thing they scream for is a medic, I will do some further reasearch on the rules about putting someone out of "thier Misery" and edit my post,, anyway it comes out your Grandfather is a true hero.

EDIT: I just read a lot of medis stories from ww2. A lot of the serioulsy wounded soldiers were carried off the front lines by non medic personell and taken by strechers to the rear of the lines where the majority of medical care took place, and all the stories I read, they reassured the wounded no matter how wounded that they were going to be ok, even the ones near death, they would apply sulphur packs to people missing stomachs and give them plenty of morphine so even the worst of the injured even though they would die would have some relief from the shock and pain. I read at least 40 personal medic accounts of the battlefield and none of them mentioned putting a wounded or near dead out thier misery. I also read the the Germans in most circumstances respescted the medics and would not fire upon them. The Japanese on the other hand would shoot anything that moved had had no respect for a medic what so ever. I also read that no matter how wounded or near death a soldier was they would treat the wounded, even those who bleed so much that the new plasma they would recieve would leak from them as fast as they would put it in, they would be highly medicated with the morphine and a priest would read them thier last rites. Putting a bullet in a fellow soldier no matter how wounded just doesn't seem right. I watched the 14 part series on PBS called "the war" and saw with my own eyes how hard they tried to save or at least ease the suffering of the near dead. Again I SALUTE your Grandfather. I am not saying that he is embellishing about shooting a wounded soldier, but I saw many cases on the war footage film where the US forces would walk around the Pacific Islands and shoot the wounded and near death Japanese Forces. The germans were always willing to surrender when they saw they had no chance and faced with certain death , but the Japanese would fight till the last man was standing. If you get a chance I think Blockbuster has for rent that 14 part series in the rental store, and after watching that I had a new found respect for every man who took part in WW2, I don't know how on earth they could continue to fight after some of the things the saw, It's just too bad we didn't have about 4 Nuclear bombs during WW2 instead of just the 2 that we had.

EDIT:2 Conranger always had good answers, he;s the only one I have tracked as a contact on here, and I always give him a thumbs up.. I had asked a question about hep c in the military and he had the info I needed although Yahoo pulled my answer as someone reported it as inappropiate.. I appealled it and they said I was not in violation and they reposted my question , yahoo answers also apologized to me

Answer 5

What a load of old codswallow being told about the pistol saga.
When it comes to medical care in the field the Medic on the spot is in charge unless a Dr is present.
Medics in both world wars and in subsequent actions wore a red cross armband and did not carry side arms.
Young Officers are there to be trained and experience is the best teacher. Many young Officers worth their salt let the Medic take charge and as a result became better officers.

Answer 6

Medics do carry weapons these days (I carried an M16 as a platoon medic and a pistol as a flight medic), but not to offer the coup de grace (as it used to be called). It's to defend the medic and his/her patient(s). And while it's true that many of the field medics were noncombatants and did not carry weapons (this was a way that a conscientious objector could still comply with the Draft), it is not true of all.

And yes, I have ordered officers around, if it meant saving a life (sometimes forgetting the "sir").

Answer 7

False. You are legally obligated to follow the laws in the U.S. and the rules in the military. Back in the old days right after they changed the drinking age from 18 to 21, you were allowed to drink at the E-club (Enlisted Club) on base if you were active duty and at least 18 but they did away with that. Of course if you get liberty in a country with a lower drinking age then you can drink but make sure with your unit's SOP.

Answer 8

Its possible he said that to somebody, even an officer suffering from shock, and combat stress, but, normally he would have been very respectful in front of an officer regardless of rank.
An Officer's word carries more weight.

"Secondly he tells me many medics carried sidearms in order to put the seriously wounded..."

Medics carried side-arms for self defence if attacked by enemy combatants, if they were going to top the wounded they would have been able to do it with morphine which they carried in abundance.

Answer 9

sounds true enough to me, I was in the Army for 10 years and even now a junior nco knows more and can command more than a young officer fresh out of sandhurst, if u think about it an officer has only done his training and then put in charge of hundreds of men, (with no actual field exprience) an nco has probabably being in the army years longer and has had much more battlefield experience, I know who I would listen to if I was in a war situation,

A co of a unit tho would not be fresh out of training it would take them 10years plus to reach that goal (perhaps not in ww2 tho as there was plenty of room for promotion I would imagine).

So the answer to your question in my opinion is yes your grandfather was probably telling the truth.

As for the firearms, medics do carry them and even now, and if I was in serious pain and was dying I would appreciat to be put out of my misery.

Answer 10

As far as your question about outranking anybody else goes;
Yes, that is one hundred percent true.
In a medical emergency, the highest ranking officer would be the medic, whatever his rank...