Chapter 1 Flashcards
HERITAGE OF THE HOSPITAL CORPSMAN
These first Navy physicians were ably assisted
in this task by the forerunners of today’s
Hospital Corpsman, called “Loblolly Boys.” The
curious name relates to one of their less dramatic
responsibilities: serving the daily ration of
porridge or “loblolly” to the ill and injured.
Other pertinent duties included providing the
cockpit with containers to collect amputated
limbs and providing containers of coal to heat
tar, which was used to stop hemorrhaging.
Loblollies served with distinction in the
Quasi-War with France (1797-1800) and in the
First Barbary War (1801-1805). However,
many of their names and individual
accomplishments have been obscured by or lost
in time. The few identifiable names that remain
with us include John Wall (the Navy’s first
Loblolly Boy), John Domyn (the first Loblolly
prisoner of war), and Joseph Anderson (the first
African-American Loblolly)
The Navy regulations first listed “Loblolly
Boy” as an official rate in 1814.
” In the post-war decades that bridged
the naval decline to the rebirth of sea power, the
medical enlisted Sailors were called “(male)
nurses,” “baymen,” and even “apothecaries.”
The term nurse was used for junior enlisted
medical personnel; it was replaced in 1873
On 12 January
1944, the first Hospital Corps School for
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency
Service (WAVES) was commissioned at the
U.S. Naval Hospital, National Naval Medical
Center, Bethesda, Maryland.
On 02 April 1948, the nomenclature of the
Hospital Corps’ ratings was changed to read:
Hospital Recruit; Hospital Apprentice;
Hospitalman; Hospital Corpsman Third Class;
Hospital Corpsman Second Class; Hospital
Corpsman First Class; and Chief Hospital
Corpsman. At this same time, the rating insignia
of the Hospital Corps was changed from the Red
Cross to the caduceus.
On 27 September 2001,
by order of Navy Surgeon General Michael
Cowan, new signal flags, “Charlie Papa:
Steaming to Assist” were flown above all Navy
medical activities. As VADM Cowan
explained, “The men and women of Navy
Medicine were among the first to respond,
providing aid to the injured at the Pentagon
The Korean War marked the first time that
Hospital Corpsmen wearing dental rating badges
served in combat.
On 01 October 2005, the Dental Technician
(DT) rating, a separate enlisted specialty since
12 December 1947, merged with the Hospital
Corps.
Specialized dental training for medical
enlisted Sailors extends back to 03 February
1923 when the first class of Hospital Corpsmen
attended the U.S. Dental School in Washington,
DC.
