When not in training during World War II, the Marines would obtain their liberty passes and head to the nearest town for whatever entertainment they offered. Knowing what the Marines were looking for the division’s hospital corpsmen that were not on liberty were usually required to stand duty at a room specifically set aside in a public building for treatment purposes. Their duty was to run the prophylactic station, nicknamed the “Pro Station,” for all the Marines and Navy personnel that were in town on liberty. This activity was necessary because the Marines would usually hit the town looking for whiskey, beer, and women. If the men had sex with a local girl, they were encouraged to drop by the pro station for what was known as a “prophylactic procedure.” For this procedure the corpsmen would have the men wash their genitals with soap and water before injecting a brown solution called “Eugenol” up their urethral canal. Then they were given a tube of ointment to inject into the same canal and then told to massage it to ensure proper distribution. The penis was then wrapped in a piece of paper to protect their uniforms from the ointment oozing out. The whole procedure was to prevent the men from getting a venereal disease because the military felt a Marine with VD was a Marine taken out of combat.
One night, Pensacola High 1943 grad Cary Carlson Ward was standing his “pro station” duty when a young Marine came in after being out on the town. After he washed himself properly Cary gave him a syringe full of what he thought was Eugenol. When he injected the solution into the urethral canal the young Marine started hollering and yelling at the top of his lungs. Cary quickly looked at his syringe and found he had erroneously given him “Iodine” instead of Eugenol. The result was a severe burning sensation that had the young Marine jumping around all over the place. Cary didn’t have the heart or the courage to tell the young man what he had done so he just acted as if the pain was a normal reaction to the Eugenol medication. It was probably the last time that Marine ever darkened the doors of a pro station during the rest of his military career.
Another duty of the corpsmen was to perform “short arm inspections” for the control of venereal disease. This duty required the men in the unit to fall out in formation, drop their pants and underwear, and expose their penis for inspection for gonorrhea. These were medical maladies could take a Marine in World War II out of combat as easily as enemy bullets therefore the military authorities took it dead serious.
Corpsman Inspections for Venereal Disease US Marines 1942