Corpsman Combat Monument Rededicated at Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton

Camp Pedleton, CA – Earlier this month, the newly reconstructed Hospital Corpsman Memorial was rededicated during a ceremony at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton.

The sculpture was originally constructed by Raul Avina, a Marine injured in the Battle of Iwo Jima who received a Purple Heart for his service. He created the monument at the age of 73, which took him two years to complete. It was originally dedicated at Camp Pendleton in 1983.

When the base’s new Naval Hospital was completed last year, attempts to relocate the monument to its new location failed. While moving the sculpture it fractured in a number of places. Clark/McCarthy, the new hospital's joint venture construction team, used photographs, renderings, and pieces from the original structure to rebuild the memorial.

Avina’s original cement figures were re-cast in bronze with a dark patina applied to protect against the weather and sun. The monument, which serves to honor the service and sacrifices of Navy Hospital Corpsmen everywhere, now stands at the end of the hospital’s Medal of Honor Mall.