(The
following discussions came from the COMBAT! discussion list)
By Keonin, March 8, 2000:
I'm reading Combat Medic by Isadore Valenti. What a
disappointment! I was expecting stories of his work and experiences, but it reads
more like a travelogue. He tells mostly about the advancement of his unit through
France and a little about each battle. There are several stories about individuals
who earned medals, but not very much about his treatment of the wounded, etc. I
think I get a better idea of a combat medic's experiences by watching Doc on Combat. I'm
forcing myself to finish this book, and then I'm going to read Combat Medic Memoirs by Richard L. Sanner. Does anyone have any
other suggestion of books that would tell more personal experiences of combat
medics? The short chapter on medics, nurses and doctors in Stephen Ambrose's book Citizen Soldiers gave more
interesting information on combat medics than Valenti's entire book did.
By Blue Lindy, March 8, 2000:
Check out Doctor Danger Forward by Allen Towne - this is written by a 1st
Infantry Divison combat medic. It's quite good. Another book about medicine in
WWII is "Combat Surgeon"
- by William McDermott. Haven't had a chance to look at this one yet - but the
reviews thus far look good. I'm always in the market for WWII books on doctors,
nurses and medics.
By Dodger, Wed, 08 Mar 2000
While this book does not deal with individual stories of medics in the field, it does give
a very broad view of the problems encountered by the Medical Corps and how they came to be
resolved. It is a very easy and interesting read. Fighting for
Life: American Military Medicine in World War II, by Albert E. Cowdrey, ISBN
0-02-906835-5.
From El Tee, Wed, 8 Mar 2000 07:39:31
You can also try The Other Side of
Time : A Combat Surgeon in World War II by Brendan Phibbs. This was quite
good - I found Phibbs to be a bit of an activist - he frequently disagreed with the brass
- tended to speak out about things like poor strategic planning which increased the
numbers of casualties coming his way.
