Other decorations to Hospital Corpsmen included 55 Navy Crosses, 31 Army Distinguished Service Crosses, 2 Navy Distinguished Service Medals, and 237 Silver Stars. A heritage of valorous service with the Marines was born, as evidenced by two Hospital Corpsmen receiving the Medal of Honor. Facing artillery, mustard gas, and machine gunfire were new experiences. Sick call and preventive medicine were continuous roles that remained unchanged. It was the change of the Marine Corps role to one of expeditionary forces in a large-scale ground war that changed what Hospital Corpsmen would do. Hospital Corpsmen were serving with Marine occupational forces in Cuba, Haiti, and Santo Domingo at the outbreak of the war, and they had seen other similar service. Assignment to Marine Corps units was not completely new.
But World War I provided the Hospital Corps a role that would afford it some of the most dangerous challenges it would ever face: duty with the Marine Corps. Naval training facilities and shore establishments needed Hospital Corpsmen, as did occupation forces in Haiti and other bases around the world. At sea, the dangers of the new war were ever present. Ships and aircraft squadrons were given medical support. Hospital Corpsmen were assigned to the multitude of duty types and locations needed to support a Navy involved in a world war.
Forerunner of the Independent Duty Hospital Corpsman School.
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