11/11/2024
Thinking about my friend and long-time neighbor Herman "Doc" Rabeck, a marine medical corpsman who served in and saved lives at Iwo Jima during WWII. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he was quite a character. Doc passed away in 2017, but he agreed to an interview in my studio in 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXfmJiWiDzQ&t=247s
Taken from his online memorial:
Edward Herman Rabeck enlisted in the US Navy in 1942 at age 17. He was a lightweight boxer in Brooklyn, New York and had two contracts pending to become a professional once he turned 18, but instead he talked his mother into signing enlistment papers, so he could do his part in the War. After boot camp, he went through medical training and became a corpsman. Nicknamed "Doc," which is standard slang in the Navy & Marine Corps, he was assigned to the transport USS Leonard Wood.
His first invasion was North Africa with the US Army in November 1942. He then went back to the States and joined the Fleet Marine Force, and was assigned to the new 4th Marine Division. Hospital Apprentice Second Class Rabeck was specifically in its Headquarters Company, Third Battalion, Twenty Third Marines, Fourth Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. That division's first campaign was at Roi-Namur in February 1944. Next was the invasion of Saipan in June 1944, followed by the invasion of Tlnian in July. But none matched the ferocity of D-Day on lwo Jima, on 19 February 1945 and the subsequent fighting on that island. lwo became the bloodiest battle in the history of the Marine Corps, and Doc Rabeck treated many casualties, under extremely hazardous conditions. On one occasion, he had to perform emergency surgery at the bottom of a shell-hole, where he amputated the shattered foot of a Marine.
Then on D+4, Doc himself was wounded and had to be evacuated to a hospital ship. While on the deck of that ship, propped up against the railing as he waited for treatment, he happened to see one of the famous flagraisings on Mount Suribachi. He spent several months recovering from his wounds and then the War ended. He had earned: Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, Navy & Marine Corps Medal, Bronze Star, two Presidential Unit Citations, Navy Unit Commendation, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with battle star, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four battle stars, Combat Action Ribbon, American Campaign Medal and World War Il Victory Medal. His outfit, the 4th Marine Division, holds the unique distinction of being the only division to fight in four major battles within 12 1/2 months, and all of them were amphibious invasions, which are acknowledged as being among the most difficult of all military operations.
