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“Here in Combat Medic we see a bright and talented young physician transformed into a front line battlefield medic in the greatest battle of WWII, the Normandy Invasion. In this personal reflection, his heart and courage are played out with genuine humanity.” —Dianne Feinstein, United States Senator “It is with great pleasure that I learned through the office of the President of the French Republic of your nomination to the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor.” —Guy Wildenstein, President, the American Society of the French Legion of Honor “Dr. Kerner is a physician’s physician...the history of a gifted scholar, teacher, administrator, and most important of all, doctor.” —The Honorable Barbara Boxer, United States Senator “Combat Medic is a page turner... It is a miracle that I have this manuscript to read, that you lived to write it.” —Professor Barth Marshall, USF, Fromm Institute A decorated medical officer’s harrowing and insightful portrait of war on the battlefield from northern France to Germany. More than fifty years after the carnage at Normandy, Dr. John Kerner draws from his wartime journals and letters home to present a candid and insightful portrait of war. Medical units under his charge pushed through western Europe, improving on the treatment and transportation of the wounded during some of the most brutal fighting of the war. Amidst the mud and blood of combat, this decorated medical officer shares a time and place when living beyond each day was in serious question. Kerner’s account includes some of the greatest moments of World War II: the dramatic breakout of the Normandy hedgerow country, the thrilling dash across France in 1944, and the exhilarating seige of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Kerner’s achievement of saving lives, often with improvised methods and shells flying overhead, is a gripping account of man’s noble humanity in the midst of horrifying inhumanity. John A. Kerner, M.D., is a distinguished leader of the San Francisco medical community and former chief of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Mount Zion Medical Center, and a University of California San Francisco clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Kerner was one of seven American WWII veterans awarded the French Legion of Honor by French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the home of the US French ambassador in Washington DC, November 2007. Dr. Kerner lives in San Francisco, CA.