increased to , , or even per month.
The bay man, who should be an intelligent,
sober man, and well trained in many things
pertaining to nursing, dieting, ambulance, and
aids to wounded, and have a moderate amount
of education, finds his pay at present among
the lowest in the ship’s company; even the men
caring for storerooms get more per month.
HOSPITAL STEWARDS AND HOSPITAL
APPRENTICES
Arguments for a professional, well-trained group
of individuals to provide medical care for the Navy
finally paid off, although it took the imminent danger
of combat in the Spanish-American War to spur
Congress into action. Within a bill aimed at building
the armed forces was a section to provide for the
Navy’s long-needed Hospital Corps. It was approved
by President William McKinley on June 17, 1898.
From that date to the present, either generically or by
rating title, medical Sailors have been called “Hospital
Corpsmen.”
To ensure that the members of the new Hospital
Corps were adequately trained in the disciplines
pertinent to both medicine and the Navy, a basic school
for corpsmen was established at the U.S. Naval
Hospital Norfolk (Portsmouth), Virginia. Originally
called the School of Instruction, it opened September
2,
1902.
Its curriculum included anatomy and
physiology, bandaging, nursing, first aid, pharmacy,
clerical work, and military drill. The first class of 28
corpsmen was graduated on December 15, 1902. (See
figure APP-I-2.)
The school continued for a brief time and was then
moved to the Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C.,
remaining in existence there until 1911. For the next 3
years, there was no basic school for corpsmen, but the
concept was revived in 1914. The next two Hospital
Corps Training Schools were opened in Newport,
Rhode Island, and on Yerba Buena Island, California.
AI-3
HM3FAI01
Figure APP-I-1.—An apothecary (petty officer first class) treats a shipmate aboard the USS Boston in 1888.
