13 October 2002
This is our Corpsman
Assigned to a tent at Dong Ha
- the tent was blown up
by incoming rockets
- you cared for the wounded
At a trash dump near Cam Lo
- you bathed and bandaged
and laughed and played
with Vietnamese children
You were initiated at the Dunes
into the Marine Corps
- a bucket of scorpions
was poured on to your chest
You drank chocolate milk
to celebrate a Marine’s birthday
and once again to celebrate Ho Chi Minh’s birthday
at Quang Tri Bridge
You marched naked
across Quang Tri Bridge
proclaiming to the laughing Vietnamese
that "The French have returned"
You listened attentively
as your men read letters
from their friends
and families at home
You watched in horror
as your friend Richard Jorgenson
was thrown from a truck
into a speeding tank
(The tank stopped 1 foot away from
Jorgenson - he sustained broken ribs
but survived)
You survived a four hour firefight
tending to heat stoke victims
Lima Company suffered no serious casualties
but as we prepared to leave the battlefield victorious
an explosion took the life of Major Joseph Loughran
Like a skilled surgeon
you delicately removed leeches
from our eyelids
and the insides of our mouths
When Marines were trapped
on a mountaintop - using a machete
you cut your way through
hundreds of yards of thick vegetation
and successfully relieved them
On the way up the mountain
you came across half dead
North Vietnamese soldiers
you gave them water
and blessed them with
the Sign of the Cross
- then moved on
You fed starving Marines
with handfuls of Cadillac dog food
- when the food was gone
you allowed them to continue
sucking the flavor from your hands
You warned us not to drink
water buffalo piss
- then you fought to get
your share of the puddle
You made helmet liners
for your Marines
out of captured
NVA women’s black panties
You participated in our beauty contest
after a great deal of debate
we all came to an agreement
that "Adak of The Mole People"
was the prettiest girl in the world
Each day you passed out
Useless malaria pills
at night you cleared
the mouths and throats
of malaria victims.
You took a needle and thread
and sewed poncho liners into vests
to keep your men warm at night
You used powdered coffee creamer & sugar
and made "Railroader’s Turkish Taffy"
and shared it with other soldiers
and the Vietnamese
When a priest came to celebrate mass
you pressed the Turkish Taffy into wafers
- the wafers and the blood on the ground
were consecrated in the
Sacrament of Holy Communion
You calmed your men
who were trapped
in an eight grenade daisy chain booby trap
- they all survived that day
You played a game with your men
- dispatching pages of
James Mitchner’s book "Hawaii"
to Pvt Strande for instructions
- Strande would receive the page
then send back appropriate quotations
from his Bible
When Tom Strande
was killed you tied him
to a tiger litter and helped
carry him up a steep hill
When a Marine who
had lost the use of his arms
tried to help carry Tom Strande
with his teeth
you understood and helped him
You shared with your squad
LCpl James Leroy Brown’s
bottle of "Maynila Rum"
at our Last Supper
(Less than 24 hours after John Michel’s
death, Brown would die in a mine field)
Your life was saved by our scout dog
- the dog was cut down
you ran through machine gun fire
to retrieve the dog’s body
You were cut down by an M-79 grenade
surrounded by wounded Marines
the Marines all badly cut up and in pain
cried out for their "Corpsman"
a Marine by your side cried out in horror
"This is our Corpsman!"
there was silence
all cries and all physical pain ceased
You were tightly wrapped by a friend
in a rubber poncho - he fanned you
and stayed by your side
"Do you hear them Doc? I can hear them!
They’re coming for you, Doc, it won’t be long"
You heard my voice and you smiled.
A tribute to Corpsman John Michels
by his friend PFC Robert Greer
3rd Platoon, Lima Company,
3rd Battalion, 26th Marines
Vietnam 1968
Kaishinga@prodigy.net
