Sailors and Marines aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) celebrated the Navy Hospital Corps’ 115th anniversary, June 17.
During a ceremony, the ship’s Medical Department shared the history of the Navy Hospital Corps and honored all past and present hospital corpsmen.
The event commenced with an invocation. Following the prayer, a hospital corpsman led a mass reciting of the Corpsman Pledge.
Cmdr. John Cummings, executive officer of Nimitz and former hospital corpsman, shared his experiences as an enlisted member in the medical field and important events in Navy Hospital Corps history.
“More corpsmen have earned the Medal of Honor than any other rate in the Navy,” said Cummings. “These are our fellow corpsmen out there who give their lives sometimes to defend our nation. I’m honored to say that I was a corpsman; it’s helped me become who I am today.”
Other Sailors shared poetry in commemoration and presented the history of memorable corpsmen.
“These are pretty big shoes to fill, so the expectations for us are real big,” said Hospitalman Jesus Pacheco, optician. “It’s good to celebrate the corpsman because of what it is today.”
During the ceremony, the youngest and oldest members of the Nimitz medical staff cut a cake as part of the formal tradition.
The celebration was for all corpsmen across the globe.
“I came into the Navy wanting to be a part of the medical field,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Isreal Thompsonfilip, medical department supply manager and event coordinator. “So, being a hospital corpsman means a lot to me. The history in itself has great meaning when you put the value of human life behind it.”
Nimitz Strike Group is currently deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom.
[mappress] Press Release, June 19, 2013