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#usnavycorpsman I have a very special neighbor named Frank Nash. He is 89 years of age. When I return from my 5-mile walk each morning, I encounter him starting his walk. We sometimes have lively conversations. Yesterday morning he told me an incredible story about the Vietnam war.     

Each company of US Marines has a US Navy Corpsman assigned. This person has the official title of Pharmacist's Mate. Each man and now woman is trained to the level of a paramedic. When a US Marine gets wounded in combat, the Corpsman does everything that a paramedic would do to stabilize a patient for transportation to a field hospital.    This person wears a big red medical cross. According to the Geneva Convention, these people are not to be fired upon. In reality they suffer terrible fatality rates. Enemy forces want to kill them first. In that way when soldiers get wounded, combatants will have to stop fighting and take care of the wounded.   

 A Chinese-American Corpsman was treating a wounded soldier during a battle in Vietnam. Suddenly the battle field went quiet. The Corpsman looked behind him. His US Marine Company had retreated. He was alone. He looked in front of him and saw a company of North Vietnamese soldiers walking towards him.       

He reached for his pistol. It was gone. He had no way to defend himself and his patient. He calmly stood up and stoically awaited his fate. Most likely, he would have been shot dead. With some luck, he would have been captured. Years of confinement under very unpleasant conditions would follow.         

The North Vietnamese officer in charge approached him. He made no effort to reach for his weapon. He took note of the fact that the man facing him was Asian. He started to speak Vietnamese to the frightened Corpsman. His tone of voice indicated that he was joking and even being social. He then made hand signals telling the Corpsman to get his patient stabilized. He pointed to a certain direction. He was telling the Corpsman where to safely exit the battle field. The North Vietnamese Army unit quietly moved on.   

The Corpsman helped his patient and fled. He later brought other US Marines back to retrieve the wounded man. To this day, the Corpsman swears that being Asian led the North Vietnamese to spare his life.     

There is an important moral to this story. When you are in a hopeless situation and all seems lost; do not despair or give up. God does provide. Miracles do happen!!!!