Surgeon on Iwo

[Sarge1998]

I saw this book on Amazon and purchased it used, when it came it looked like a brand new book. Published in 1984 by Presidio it is the story of Dr. James S. Vedder a battlefield Navy surgeon for the 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines. I read the book just days prior to the 67th anniversary of the battle and it was the closest I'd been to a book I couldn't put down in a long time.

The story focused on the aid station where the corpsman and litter bearers brought the wounded. Knowing the ferocity that this battle became between our forces and that of the resigned to die Japanese is often chilling. The litter bearers being an extremely tempting target for the dug in foe as well as the Navy corpsmen tasked with being what we now know as first responders, is not often chronicled in such detail. The doctors assigned to stabilize and treat the casualties are in no way immune from danger, they also had a a life altering experiences being at the front from February 19th until March 23rd, when they finally boarded a transport for calmer waters.

A good read from a often forgotten point of view.

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