European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 27, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes monday Moy � i m i More than 2,500 purple hearts medics decorated for bravery under fire Washington a the Navy s medical chief says Navy medical corpsmen serving wit the marines in South Vietnam have been awarded More than2,500 purple heart medals for death or wounds in adm. Robert b. Brown Navy surgeon general cite that figure when asked in an interview about reports Nav corpsmen had suffered unusually heavy said it is not possible to relate the number of corps men casualties to the Over All total of Navy medics who have served in Vietnam. But he mentioned the 2,562purple hearts and More than 300 decorations for bravery As awarded Navy corpsmen to indicate the degree to which the medics had been exposed i combat against the North Viet namese and Viet figures show there Are some 4,000 Navy enlisted corps men in the War zone. Many of them see combat with the marines while others Are stationed on two Hospital other sources said the Navy had become so strapped for enlisted medics that consideration was Given recently totalling some Navy Reserve specialists to Active did not comment directly but did say we have never been Given the privilege of calling up naval described staffing in his department As austere and added that the number of trainees in the corpsmen school had been doubled and in some cases Tri , the 16-week Basic school has been shortened to 14 weeks to accelerate the output of needed corpsmen he reported Navy authorities estimated that some 95 per cent of the Sai lors who become medical corps men Volunteer for duty in which they accompany Marine Rifle men into addition to their Basic school corpsmen receive some specialized training and under go 4 weeks 9f Field service school before going out with the marines authorities Sairls get Navy medic signed to each 250-m5n company. In in the Field the Nowmen dress like Marine Wear no identifying m As a red Cross on theror a red Cross Arm fid rear adm. John cow i medical officer of t he civic and Cowan marked Aid men were Picke Cuffy snipers. Kea 0 Cowan said medical corpsmen Stol permitted to Carr pistol As a matter of up lev amps in Saigon pounding the beat has its hazards t few a it a w George Mcarthur Saigon a if it s no Street fighting snipers or hand grenades it s drunks and traffic. It does get monotonous some times says a Young military policeman Riding the darkened streets of Saigon. But then once in a while we run into the Low key appraisal of pos Sibly the world s most hazardous police beat came from smooth cheeked 20-year-old spec. 4 Jim Mie Keech a Volunteer fro Norwalk calif., who has spent 16 months patrolling South Viet Nam s capital. When the War moved int South Vietnam s cities Jan. 31, the army s military policemen moved into the front lines of the War. They have been there eve since. When i got Here about eight months ago there were Guys rotating Home that had never been shot at said Keech s a to Oleate pfc. Thomas Blunt of los Angeles. Not now. It s hard to find an my who has t Bee shot Blunt a 23-year-old former Telephone company lineman who ended up in the maps for reason mysterious to him gives his Job the same professional approaches Keech who Hopes to go into police work after leaving the army. Packing a .45 Caliper pistol andean m16 carbine and wearing flak vests they average about 72hours a week on patrol in Sai gon. When they Aren t on patrol they Are on Alert. It has been this Way for the controlling the flow of refugees is just one of the numerous tasks assigned to the 716th my in in Saigon up Pho of 716th my in since the tet offensive. The battalion has one of the largest my beats in the . Army a sprawling City of per haps 3 million people nobody really knows How streets Are narrow and jumbled with Low overhanging balconies and countless dark hideaways Ideal for Street fight ing. The maps have grown almost casual about Odd sniper this night cruising gingerly along the darkened streets Keech and Blunt expected Noth ing unusual by their Only serious message on the radio had warned them to be on the Lookout for a Gray jeep carrying two men and two women possibly Viet Cong but the jeep was reported in Distant precinct. Like cops everywhere the discussed their jobs How the rest of the gis feel about to Temps. After the tet offensive when the maps fought outstandingly in Saigon and other cities the average i sharply upgraded his opinion of the my. The maps took Sharp casualties and they have been continuing. We still get some Guys who think we Are just out to harass them but there Aren t Many of them now Blunt said. We still get our share of drunks despite the curfew. They just seem to do More drinking in less my concern has dropped sharply the handful of desert ers who used to get a girl and hide out in Saigon. When the Vietcong offensive started the desert ers sought Protection. Rescue unit Emblem approved Saigon special an official Emblem for the 3rd Aero space Rescue and recover group has been approved by the air Force. The unit headquartered at Tan son Nhut air base and commanded by col. Paul , provides search and res Cue support for the 7th air Force and other forces in Southe Astasia. The Emblem shows a Blue Globe which represents the worldwide capability of the group for search Rescue and re covery operations. A red Cross on the Globe symbolizes a require Rescue operation. A White lightning Bolt denotes hostility which must be Over come and a Green Arrow Pierc ing the lightning Bolt signifies the response of the group s forces to All emergencies. Live it up Soldier compliments of the co Dong Tam. Vietnam map i it i Al. ,. Vietnam a it was enough to make a top sergeant weep. Three kid soldiers hardly out of Basic were in the colonel s trailer drinking the colonel Beer propping their feet on the colonel s table and using the colonel s Telephone for Breezy conversations Back to the states. Surely the army was coming apart at the seams. Not so in the opinion of three is. Pfc. Clark Sutton a 20-year-Oie draftee from the Philadel phia suburb of East Greenville said this is the Way it ought to spec. Donald Stringer agaogly Blond 20-year-old infantryman from Tower City n.d., grinned we be got the colonel sleep too just in Case we want to ride another can of Beer 19-year-old sgt. Ronald Perl of Scottsdale Ariz. Shrugged great Man great the colonel agreed. A lanky hard driving Field sol Dier 43-year-old col. Hank Emerson of Milford pa., com mands the 1st brigade of the 9th infantry division operating inthe Mekong Delta. As such he is entitled to a More or Les Plush trailer installed at the division s base in Dong , however spends most of his time in the 40-foot trailer with air conditioning refrigerator Dinette and bunks for three was hardly being used. Emerson spread the word through his battalions that the hottest Soldier each week would get a weekend off with the Colo Nel s trailer at his disposal an the icebox loaded. Each Satur Day morning a helicopter drop sin on the various units picks up the Lucky i and flies him to the base at Dong Tarn. The dirty gis were soon in the trailer enjoying a hot Shower and examining the luxury that would be theirs until late Sun Day afternoon. I had three Guys in there afew weeks ago who knocked off five cases of Beer Emerson beamed Don t ask me How they did that trailer is right nextdoor to the general a Emerson said. I can t have a battalion of Guys in there heaving Beer cans around and Messing up the by those standards Sutton Stringer and Perl were Ideal weekend goofed off until late and drank a lot of Beer said Stringer. But we never got close to five cases. And we cleaned the place up when we left. I called my dad and he did know what to think when i told him i was a guest of the colonel and he yelled you re what 1 gues he thought i had gotten they certainly had gotten inno trouble. Sutton an artillery Man with a 105mm howitzer Battery and Stringer an infantryman Hud won their weekend pass by Plain hard soldiering during a Dusty week. Perl platoon radioman m won not Only a weekend but the Silver Star and a spot promotion As Well killing three Viet Cong with one burst Fioro his m16 and another with a Gre . All three were so tired Nej dropped off for a Quick Nap a soon As they got in the a saturday morning. Fley beaming and rested when the went Back in the line late da�6nly trouble with the wig thing said snoot i a new Stringer was that tie platoon sergeant made me Siukue Mustac Hui off before i cd got to . Now i be
