Navy School for corpsmen in S.D. closes after 69 years And if you ever have to go out there / And your life is on the block, Look at the one right next to you, / I'm the one called "Doc" ---Harry D. Penny Jr. By Patricia Dibsie STAFF WRITER |
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So goes the last stanza
of a 1959 poem about Navy corpsmen. And so a San Diego tradition comes to an end, as the last in a long line of
Navy "Docs" graduated from their basic medical
field training yesterday Retired corpsman, Harry D. Penny Jr., class of '57, sat on a bench in Balboa Park's Organ Pavilion and clutched a printed program where his poem took up an entire page. He sat with fellow graduates, some from as far back as the class of '39, remembering the events that made them heroes. At the end of the ceremony, Pennys 1959 poem was read aloud to the 19 new male and female corpsmen, their families and friends and to dozens of active and retired Navy "Docs", about 300 people in all. The Navy's Basic Hospital Corps School housed at San Diego Naval Medical Center in Balboa Park closed yesterday, ending its 69-year run. As par of consolidation, all basic corpsmen training will be moved to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois. "It took me five minutes to write all 20 lines," Penny said, recalling the remark that prompted him to pen "I'm the one called 'Doc'". A Marine had called him a "squid", a derogatory term for a sailor. Penny said he wanted the young Marine to know and appreciate exactly what corpsmen do. "You don't have to tell the people who've been with us in battle what we do" said William Darton, spring class of '39. Darton remembered the faces and mangled bodies of the men in his care and holding more than a few hands. Then there was his bleakest day, in '42 in the Aleutian Islands, where he lost two of his buddies. After 30 years on ships and shore, Darton retired and went back to college to earn a secondary teaching credential in civics and geography. He taught at several South County schools and served as principal at National City Junior High School from '73 to '76, transferring to Sweetwater High School as principal in 1976. Darton retired in 1979. Lynn Wing signed up for hospital corpsmen training in 1955, fresh out of high school. The Iowa teen had worked in a drug store in Oxford Junction, population 800, for four years and thought the hospital school would suit him. "Can't say that I saved any one person" he said, staring down, "but I saw some go. Hardest part is losing a buddy, and I lost a few of them" in Vietnam. Dennis Stone, class of '61 and Jim Mayer, class of '63, also served in Vietnam. "Back when I served, the life expectancy of a corpsmen wasn't good," Stone said. "The enemy figured if you got rid of us, there wouldn't be anyone to take care of the rest", Mayer added. A Marine Corps band played familiar tunes, the kind of military music that mad the men and women tap their feet. A succession of speakers talked about the past and warned the men and women no to forget but not to look back either. "This is both the beginning and the ending, a day of mixed feelings for a lot of us," Cat. Cynthia E. Perry, the school's commanding officer, told the newest graduates. "May the joy of service be your reward," she said. Although basic training has been pulled, the corps school here will still provide advanced medical training for students from all branches of the military. "Economically, the move won't affect San Diego," said hospital spokesman Doug Sayers, "but a good chunk of history is going." |
