Michael "DOC" Corliss
November 9, 1945 - April 12, 2023
My Friend
John Michael Corliss passed away on April 12, 2023, his Wife and Family were at his bedside.
The very first time I met Doc Corliss was in February of 1968 in a god forsaken HELL HOLE called Vietnam. Second Platoon of Alpha Co. 1/1 was set up in what could be described as an apartment complex of housing unit. First Squad (which is the squad I was in) was in a bedroom on the second floor overlooking a river and Third squad was in the room directly next to us. It was night and I was on watch and saw movement on the opposite side of the river and went to the wall separating the rooms when a B40 rocket exploded in the 3rd Squad's room. I was walking to the door to see if they had seen the movement across the river when the explosion happened and the wall blew out at meeting and knock flying across the room and on my ass. I immediately got up and started running towards the 3rd squad when another rocket hit and again blew me across the room.
I was dazed from this explosion and wobbly on my feet. I staggered toward the room and this guy ran into the room and start dragging guys back away from the window. I realized he was a Corpsman and I yelled Doc are you insane your gonna get the next rocket up your ass if you don't get outa here. He looked at me and said they need immediate attention and that's what I'm here for and your afraid of a rocket then go hide under the bed in the other room..
Well this really pissed me off and I told him to go flock himself and if he insisted on staying I would provide cover fire to distract the enemy while he worked on the wounded. That was my first encounter with Doc Corliss but not my last. I found out later that after the first rocket hit he was charging up the stairs and one of the Marines from 2nd Squad grabbed him and stopped him. Good thing because he would have taken the full blast of the Rocket and I would never had gotten to this extraordinary man.
This all occurred in February of 1968 in a place called Hue City. Most have the history of the Battle. Alpha Co. 1/1 was asked to go to Hue from our base in Phu Bai to relieve the MACV which was under siege. Alpha Co. was at half strength with the other half stuck in Quang Tri waiting for choppers to fly them to Phu Bai. Alpha was told that they were up against a platoon of NVA would be back by lunchtime. Well 127 Marines from Alpha Co. 1/1 were fighting 10,000 NVA and Viet Cong. We left Hue 35 days after we arrived.
After that first encounter with Doc Corliss we somehow became really good friends and I found out his name was John Michael Corliss but everyone called him Mike, he was always with my squad (1st squad) when the shit hit the fan and patched us up the continue the fight. When we went on patrol one day we got ambushed and a grenade came flying and landed at Mike's feet, he just stood there and looked at it so I ran the short distance and shoved him to the ground, picked it up and threw back but it didn't get far before it exploded. Luckily it was in the air and not on the ground. I got shrapnel in my throwing arm for my efforts and after we got out of the ambush I told Mike that the next time a grenade lands at his feet don't stand there and admire it just get the hell away from it and lay down, he just looked at me laughed which made me respond with "You flockin' A - Hole.
Mike patched me up and I had just received my first Purple Heart.
We left Hue and went to a place called the Rock Pile near our base at Dong Ha. The Rock Pile was just that, a Hill that resembled a pile of rocks.
Not much happened there and we moved on to Hill 861 in a place called Khe Sanh. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta Co's had their own hill. Alpha on 861, Bravo on 589, Charlie was on 881 and Delta was on 689.
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