The United States Army Medical Service Corps
Milestones in the Evolution of the Medical Service Corps
1775-1994
30 April 1775: Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay establishes the Apothecary General.
14 May 1818: Permanent Medical Department established including Apothecary General and two assistants.
22 May 1862: War Department General Orders 55 establishes the U.S. Army Medical Storekeepers; four USAMS officers appointed as medical purveyors.
2 August 1862: Letterman Plan in the Army of the Potomac puts officers detailed to the Ambulance Corps in command of ambulance units.
11 March 1864: Ambulance Corps established by law; implemented in War Department General Orders 106, 16 March 1864. The law expired in 1866.
28 July 1866: Commissioned grades authorized for USAMS officers.
23 June 1917: War Department General Orders 75 establishes the U.S. Army Ambulance Service (USAAS), which federalizes volunteer ambulance units of the American Red Cross, the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Organization, and the American Field Service.
30 June 1917: War Department General Orders 80 establishes the Sanitary Corps (SnC). Both the USAAS and SnC established based on authority for national emergency contained in the Act of 18 May 1917. Both cease to exist in the active Army after the war, but SnC continues in reserve components.
4 June 1920: National Defense Act of 1920 establishes the Medical Administrative Corps in both the Regular Army and the reserve components. Initially authorized 140 officers in the Regular Army, that number drops to 16 in 1935.
12 July 1943: Act of July 12, 1943, establishes the Pharmacy Corps as a Regular Army branch and transfers to that corps officers of the Regular Army Medical Administrative Corps.
17 June 1945: Col. Edward Reynolds, MAC, Chief, Supply Service, Office of the Surgeon General, promoted to brigadier general.
4 August 1947: National Security Act of 1947 replaces the Sanitary Corps, Pharmacy Corps, and Medical Administrative Corps with the Medical Service Corps (MSC), organized in four sections.
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10 November 1966: Act of 24 September 1966 authorizes one MSC brigadier general in the Regular Army. Col. William A. Hamrick, MSC, promoted to brigadier general.
12 December 1980: Defense Officer Personnel Management Act establishes the Army general officer authorization on the basis of 75 per 10,000 Regular Army commissioned officers on the Active Duty List.
25 October 1985: Promotion of Col. Walter F. Johnson III, MSC, to brigadier general results in two Medical Service Corps general officers on active duty, Johnson and Brig. Gen. France F. Jordan.
