What was it like to be a World War 2 medic?

Answer 1

World War 2 medics carried no weapons. Under the existing conventions of war they were not supposed to be fired upon, but depending on the enemy this convention was not always adhered to. And of course some enemy weapons (bombs, artillery and mortar shells, land mines) were incapable of discrimination. Toward the end of World War 2 the helicopter was used as an airborne ambulance to evacuate the wounded to a field hospital, but mostly the medic was on his own, administering what aid he was able with the limited medical supplies he carried. Some procedures were based on expediency, such as allowing a badly wounded soldier to die in order to concentrate on saving another who had a better chance of survival. And there was probably the "mercy killing" as depicted in the War Movies, that of finishing off a mortally wounded man with an overdose of morphine. All in all, being a medic is World War 2 was not a pleasant job.