| Medics of the 4th Medical Battalion on Utah Beach near Exit 2 prepare to give blood plasma to a wounded GI. The censor has scratched out the shoulder patches, but these are 4th Infantry Division soldiers. Medical sections of the naval beach battalions were ashore by H+1 Hour on Utah Beach and evacuation of casualties was already being carried out by H+2½ hours. The 2nd Beach Battalion, consisting of 9 Officers and 72 Navy Corpsmen had evacuated approximately 75 casualties before the Companies of the 261st Medical Battalion (1st Engineer Special Brigade), were ashore and in operation under Major Merle E. Smith (July 30, 1904 – April 29, 1994). Collecting Company “C,” 261st Medical Battalion arrived ashore at H+4 hours and established its Clearing Station about 400 yards inland in the rear of Green Beach. Elements of Collecting Company “A”, 261st Medical Battalion, arrived a little later in the day and established their station in the rear of Red Beach. 6 surgical teams with the 3rd Auxiliary Surgical Group landed with the collecting companies of the 261st Medical Battalion (2 teams per company). During the day, the 3 collecting companies of the 4th Medical Battalion (4th Infantry Division) landed with 26 out of their total of 30 ambulances. These ambulances were immediately put into operation and utilized to their maximum capacity in the evacuation of casualties. In spite of day-long sporadic artillery fire, which killed a medical officer and several enlisted men on the beach, wounded the regimental surgeon of the 12th Infantry Regiment, and peppered the 4th Medical Battalion’s ambulances with shrapnel, the division medical elements rapidly moved inland. The Navy corpsmen organized 2 beach aid stations, collected the few casualties of the assault, and loaded on DUKW amphibious trucks and landing craft for movement to Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs) offshore. At about 1000 Hours the 1st engineer special brigade unit, Company C, 261st Medical Battalion, arrived on the beach, followed 2 hours later by Company A. These 2 companies, formed by combining the litter and ambulance elements of a collecting company with a platoon from the battalion’s clearing company, set up stations at a crossroads just behind the flooded area. Their attached surgical teams began performing operations at around 1800 Hours, carrying out their mission of providing emergency surgery for non-transportable patients. These clearing stations evacuated few wounded to the beach during the 1st hours, as casualties from the airborne divisions and the 4th Medical Battalion did not start flowing back in significant numbers until the following day. Between 2100 and 2130 Hours the VII Corps surgeon, Colonel Paul Hayes (July 31, 1904 – September 10, 1983) and the 4th Infantry Division surgeon, Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Barr (January 24, 1902 – May 5, 1953), Medical Corps, landed with members of their staff sections. During the next 3 days, VII Corps medical support expanded, as did the corps and its beachhead. The 4th Division’s clearing company, scheduled to land late on D-day but held back in favor of additional combat units, came ashore on June 7 and went into operation at Hebert, a crossroads village just beyond the inundated area. Later the company followed the 4th northward. By the 9th 2 more infantry divisions the 9th and 90th had disembarked, each with its full medical complement. Clearing stations of these divisions opened in the general vicinity of Saint-Mere-Eglise. The rest of the 261st Medical Battalion, meanwhile, landed on the 7th. The battalion established a medical supply depot. Its surgical teams worked around the clock to handle an increasing flow of casualties, as the divisions attacking northward and westward from UTAH met strong German opposition. Between June 8-12 the VII Corps’ 50th Medical Battalion disembarked. The battalion’s clearing company, besides supporting corps troops, its normal role, took part of the burden of general medical and surgical care from the 261st’s companies, and its collecting and ambulance companies evacuated division clearing stations to the 261st and helped move patients from that unit to the Navy beach stations. On the 9th HMHS Lady Connaught, 1st of what was to be a regular series of hospital carriers, anchored off Utah Beach. She discharged supplies and 6 additional surgical teams for the 261st Medical Battalion, allowing relief to the battalion’s original teams that had worked for 36 hours with little rest. The carrier took on board 400 wounded for the return voyage to England. As the 1st army field and evacuation hospitals opened on June 10-11, the VII Corps medical service was well into the transition from an amphibious to a conventional land organization and system of support. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0408.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.05 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3995 x 2896 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 9, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Utah Beach |
| State or Province | Normandy |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-53227(2111) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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