Noted military historian Ted Barris once asked his father Alex, "What did you do in the War?" What the U.S. Army medic then told his son is the thrust of Barris's latest historic journey - an exploration of his father's wartime experience as a medic leading up to the Battle of the Bulge in 1944-45, together with stories of other medics in combat throughout history. Barris's research revealed that this bloodiest of military battles in American WWII history was shouldered largely by military medics. Like his father Alex, medics in combat evacuated wounded on foot, scrounged medical supplies where there was none, and dodged snipers and booby traps on the most frigid and desolate battlefield of Europe. While retracing his father's war-time experience, the author weaves into his narrative stories about the life-and-death struggles of military medical personnel from a century of service. In this unique front-line recounting of the experiences of stretcher bearers, medical corpsmen, nurses, surgeons, orderlies, dentists and ambulance drivers, Barris explores the evolution of battlefield medicine at such historic engagements as Fredericksburg, Batoche, the Ypres salient, the Somme, Vimy, Singapore, Dieppe, Normandy, Falaise, Bastogne, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan. Barris's sources reveal - like never before - why men and women wearing a Red Cross on their helmets or sleeves didn't flee to safety, but chose instead to rush to assist.