Military Medicine OPERATION: PERIL "Mauling Medic"

If You're a Combat Medic...

...what do you do when a wounded enemy wants you to treat them?

Note: May be NSFW due to racist language common to the time period.

This never-reprinted Korean War tale from ACG's Operation: Peril #15 (1953) by editor/writer Richard Hughes, penciler Dick Beck, and inker Leo Morey shows the American medic does treat the Communist Chinese wounded...by taking them as prisoners back to his HQ, with as much medical supplies as he can steal!
I leave it to you to judge the levels of compassion and self-serving hypocrisy in the story.

Military Medicine BATTLE ACTION "Unarmed"

A soldier is supposed to be brave when in combat...

...but is he as brave as someone who's on the battlefield without any weapon?

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Battle Action #2 (1952) was part of the effort by the comics industry to be as gung-ho about the Korean War as it had been about World War II.

The plot about someone who may have failed earlier in life and being underrated/misunderstood by others, only to succeed in the cauldron of combat...even to the point of sacrificing his life...is a familiar trope, but this retelling of it works well, especially with the narrator's own words showing how wrong he was about the medic!

Note: the fact that prolific writer Hank Chapman scripted this melancholy story has been confirmed by access to his personal files.
But, since Atlas Comics' (now Marvel Comics') records from this period are (to put it politely) incomplete,  the question of who drew it is in doubt as the art matches the style of both George Tuska and Pete Morisi, both of whom were freelancing for Atlas (among other companies) during this period!

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Military Medicine G.I. JOE "Medwick the Medic"

This never-reprinted comedic tale from Ziff-Davis G.I. Joe V2#11 (1952)...

...which isn't related to the action figures or spin-off comics/movies/etc., does contain unrealistic depictions of religion, yoga, and the practice of meditation.
Context is everything!

Keep in mind that this 1952 story, illustrated by George Oleson and probably written by editor Jerry (Superman) Siegel, takes place only a few years after Korea was split in two in 1945, when the North became Communist.

At the time, religion, though disapproved, was not persecuted if it was practiced behind closed doors.

As a result, it's not unreasonable to believe the North Korean troops shown here included numerous Buddhists.
Of course, the portrayal of yoga and meditation is exaggerated and played strictly for laughs.
BTW, though many of the characters in this tale were ongoing featured players, Medwick was a one-shot character.
Other, unnamed, medics were shown in stories before and after him.

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Military Medicine FIGHTIN' ARMY "Medic!"

As the Ukraine invasion began, we realized we hadn't done a story about...

...medical personnel under fire during wartime!

So let's correct that oversight with a Korean War tale...with a twist!

See if you can guess what it is...

Notes: though Comics Code-approved, the story does contain a couple of racist slurs, so may be NSFW and or NSFS!
The cover is a modified version of the story's first page.
This was done a lot at Charlton, as the company was notoriously cheap, and "cut corners" whenever they could...including paying for new art for the cover!

Figure it out?

The words conscientious objector and conchie should have been the tip-off!

Though set during the Korean War, this story from Charlton's Fightin' Army #100, illustrated (and probably written) by Jack Keller, was created and published in 1971...near the end of the Vietnam War!

As war comics' sales in the late 1960s and early 1970s dropped, the younger creatives did what younger creatives in movies and TV were doing, making World War II and Korean War stories without the classic "gung-ho" attitude and more of the contemporary "war is crazy!" and "why are we doing this?" approach, such as M*A*S*H*, Kelly's Heroes and Catch-22!
It's also only one of three war comics I've found with a medic or doctor on the cover!

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