Medics at War: Military Medicine from Colonial Times to the 21st Century

This moving account of the history of the role of medics in our wars down through the decades would be a treasured gift to every serviceman and historian.

Medics at War provides a succinct and impressive overview of US military medicine from the Colonial era to the present. With 214 pages and numerous photographs, the book includes the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War and operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both Army and Navy medical corps are well represented and coverage of Air Force medicine can be read in later chapters. Authors Greenwood and Berry should be commended for inclusion of WWII amphibious medicine during the 6 June 1944 Normandy landings. Few military historians write of the Navy's vital role during combined operations. Previous authors often identified Navy surgeons and corpsmen on Omaha Beach as Army personnel. It is important to clarify the 6th Naval Beach Battalion casualty rate reported in the book. Four officers, all Beachmasters, and 18 enlisted men were killed in action 6 June 1944. Twelve battalion officers and 55 enlisted men were seriously injured. Dr. John F. Kincaid, USNR survived the invasion but was killed in action less than a year later during a kamikaze attack off Okinawa. Dr. J. Russell Davey, USNR was injured on D-Day, continued his humanitarian duties on the beach, but unfortunately died at home in 1948.

the book was well researched. it is a great platform for those who wants to know the role of combat medics in war.

I started reading this book thinking it was a kind of encyclopedia, a reference work of facts and dates explaining the evolution of military medicine. If it were only that, it would still be a useful book for a military writer or health soecialist. But soon into it, I found one surprise after another describing events, discoveries, personalities and even trivia suitable for inclusion in Guinness Book of Records. It's probably a stretch to say this book reads like a thriller, but it does record the genius, exertion and good luck of a lot of smart and brave men and women of all walks of life. It's a splendid gift for someone who likes to read and understand how we got from there to here. And it takes in a lot more than just military medicine, trauma and disease. It captures the whole field, including personality clashes, innovation and invention.