Medic!: A WWII Combat Medic Remembers

by Robert L. Smith and Robert L. Smith

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887393160
• ISBN13: 9780887393167
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

A Debt The World Owes To This Generation!

Where did we get such men of valor as Robert Smith depicts in his book? America can be proud of such true contemporaries of our parents. The book is a testament to their honorable legacy of sacrifice, bravery, and accomplishmentsThe author was able to relate and capture the many heroic deeds of men he treated during the heat of battle. The moment you open the book to read you are in trance in the story. Every break just makes you walk away in wonder on how they ever survived such battles.What spirit America was blessed with men akin to Mr. Smith's generation. They struggled through the depression often looking for food and work. They then came calling to duty, honor, and country confronting fascist Germany, Italy, and militarist Japan. It was apparent from the start that no chains were going to sully them. In the end, Hitler's', Togo's, and Mussolini's plans of prejudice, hatred and cruelty could not overcome such courageousness. One seldom ever heard them complain, whine or claim it was too tough. They just did what they were told and helped each other as the book points out.After confronting the depression and World War II they return towards building one of the greatest economic miracles in world history. Each one stood steadfast in the face of communism in wars of containment and never surrender to defeat or the philosophy of slavery that came with Marxian/Stalinists beliefs. And now as many quietly retire in the shade of triumphs they set standards few future generations will seldom have a chance to over shadow.This is a superb book written by an author who himself exhibits the kind of character it took to keep America safe and strong. I highly recommend it!

Medic

The approach to writing a history of battles and war varies greatly between authors. Robert Smith has recorded a very personal account from the perspective of one who finds no glory in war, but knows first-hand the honor and heroism in the individual warriors. He tells his tale with none of the sensationalism or self-interest found in too many of today's autobiographical pieces on war. Within his pages you experience the fundamental transition from civilian to soldier, the surrealism of the first encounters with war, and the necessary adapting and surviving through the horrors and the humors that the soldier must endure to survive in war. He did not go to war for thrill or reward, but like so many young citizen-soldiers as a matter of duty and circumstance. He became a medic. To all who have experienced ground combat, the title "medic" has special, and even revered, meaning. The medic's role is without question at once the most essential and terrifying on the battlefield. Soldiers are comforted and buoyed simply by knowing a medic is near. Without recourse or release through individual offensive action, the medic must brave the same extreme life threatening dangers of the battlefield as the fighting soldier in order to bring immediate aid to those in need. He must triage his ministrations to ensure optimizing the survival odds for those likely to benefit, while as circumstances allow affording compassion and solace for those who will not. It is the medic's actions that set the odds of survival. This is the tale that Robert Smith weaves. It's not about the Great Captains, or grand military campaigns, it is about the individual and the space/actions surrounding him that define his perceptions and responses to war. He then draws us back to the future on a journey across the same battlegrounds to discover for all the terror, the waste, and the heroism that the land heals.