''Unlikeliest Hero' buried with 21-gun salute

[MrBern]

Conscientious objector served as World War II medic without a gun
MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12152446/from/RS.5/

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

That's an excellent story, amazing!

 

[Feraud]

“He wanted to serve. He just didn’t want to kill anybody,” said a veteran who attended the service, Fred Headrick, 85. “Most all of them (Medal of Honor recipients) received their medal for killing someone. He received his by saving lives.”

That is some story.
You have to hand it to the medics and chaplains who participate in war. These guys do a difficult job while the bullets are flying.

 

[Mojave Jack]

A hero in the truest sense of the word. Thanks for the heads up, Mr Bern.

 

[Vanessa]

How interesting. I'll have to pick up the book. Was just reading somewhere else the other day about medics (doing some research for an impression) and how most PTO medics carried weapons while ETO medics did not.

 

[Feraud]

Was just reading somewhere else the other day about medics (doing some research for an impression) and how most PTO medics carried weapons while ETO medics did not.

Why is that? Does it have to do with the impression of the enemy the medics might come into contact with?

 

[Vanessa]

From what I gather, it was to defend their patients. . . as Japan was not bound by the Geneva convention to not harm medics/chaplains.

 

[MrBern]

noncombatants & weapons.

Actually I've met an ETO medic who had a pistol, but he was airborne not a conscientious objector.

I've also read of Americans coming across a German medic who had a pistol, so they shot him on the spot.

Same for correspondents & photogs. They were generally told to never carry a weapon, but some did.