Legacy of Achievement: The Washington University School of Dental Medicine

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1941, a telephone message alerted, for active military duty with the 21st General Hospital the following members of the faculty of the School of Dentistry, Washington University:

Webb B. Gurley, Major, Dental Corps, Chief of Service
Joseph A. Laffler, Captain, Dental Corps
Lane W. O’Brien, Captain, Dental Corps
Earl E. Shepard, Captain, Dental Corps
Lester H. Jasper, 1st Lt., Dental Corps
Carl W. Lattner, 1st. Lt., Dental Corps
James M. Rose, 1st Lt., Dental Corps

From the dates of January 10, 1942, to February 15, 1942, the above officers reported for duty with the 21st General Hospital training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

The time not spent in training of strictly military nature was occupied in serving in the Dental Clinic of the Station Hospital.

Without fear of contradiction, the personnel served in a superior manner in the difficult assignment of “attached officers.”

During the month of June, 1942, the Tables of Organization for a 1000 bed general hospital such as the 21st, was changed and it became necessary to transfer two of the dental officers to bring the strength of the service to five.  Sad hearts bade farewell to the then 1st Lt. James M. Rose and the then 1st Lt. Carl W. Lattner.  These two officers, together with about 18 medical and medical administrative officers moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and formed the nucleus for the 21st Station Hospital which ultimately departed from the United States in September, 1942, and served well in the Middle East, finally in the latter stages of the war coming to rest in Italy.

A very complete series of immunizations guaranteed to prevent anything save homesickness were tendered each unwilling left arm.

After a veritable epidemic of rumors the 21st General Hospital was alerted for overseas movement on October 12, 1942, and departed from Fort Benning in the wee small hours of October 13, 1942.

After a long troop train sojourn the organization entered the staging area known as Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.  After a few days in the mud and rain of this area, the unit left the New York Port of Embarkation on October 20, 1942, aboard the former luxury liner “Mariposa.”

The North Atlantic was crossed without escort.  Berth accommodations were necessarily at a minimum.  The dental officers were employed en route as Compartment Commanders, serving alternate shifts, during which time they were responsible for all personnel in designated areas of the ship.  Dental emergency treatment was also an incidental function.

With the exception of the usual occurrences of “mal de mer” the crossing was uneventful.

On the morning of October 28, 1942, the shores of Ireland and Scotland were sighted and after a slow tortuous trip around wrecked and sunken shipping down the Mersey River, late at night, the port of Liverpool, England, was reached.

Undoubtedly the most exerted and overly exercised personnel in the army were finally walked, carrying all luggage to trams which deposited a badly worn outfit at Liverpool railway station and then to strictly blacked out railway carriages.

After a trip of several hours in the blackest of nights again the unloading process and another bus ride in the blackout.  Finally a low cost housing estate known as Pheasey Farms, some ten to twelve miles from Birmingham, was reached and billets were assigned.  The first “exposure” to the British “Nuttin but Mutton” occurred at 3:30 A. M. in the form of “muttonbergers” and Brussels sprouts, plus tea.

An eventful month of staging with an occasional stolen sight-seeing trip followed.  Again the deluge of rumor along with British rain and fog.

A disappointed and wary organization was again loaded aboard a ship, this time the “Monarch of Bermuda,” destination unknown, but unofficially guessed at as being North Africa.  After several days aboard in Liverpool Harbor while a shell hole suffered in the North African invasion was repaired, a huge convoy got under way in the early morning of November 28, 1942.

A dental office was established in the sick bay aboard the ship and the dental service functioned almost continuously throughout the eight-day voyage.

Surely, the private feeling of many of the organization was, upon being loaded aboard ship bound (supposedly) for Africa, one of being sent to virtual life imprisonment in a jungle-like atmosphere on the “Dark Continent.”

Therefore, the arrival at Gibraltar the afternoon of December 5, 1942, was a pleasant stimulus to uneasy minds.  The grim warlike atmosphere did not detract from the natural beauty of the scene.

After riding at anchor all night, the part of the convoy bound for the North African Mediterranean port and rumored to be Oran, proceeded under destroyer and corvette escort.  Part of the original convoy having coursed to Casablanca on the Atlantic side.

An all-day coastal voyage on Mussolini’s “Mare Nostrum” terminated in the late afternoon at Mers-el-Kebir, the great water entrance to the ancient city of Oran.  From the deck of the “Monarch” never did a city look more truly beautiful, the wind-having been in a shoreward direction!

After the usual delays and formality, the 21st General Hospital was transported by truck convoy and otherwise, to a staging area next to the famed veterans of the invasion, the 77th Evacuation Hospital.

Followed the usual rumors and contemplations, with the advent of the rainy season and flooding of improperly prepared ward tent living quarters.  Many lessons in field soldiering were indelibly written on the minds of all personnel in the next two weeks.

Finally all personnel came to rest in a small hot springs spa deep in the Atlas mountains some sixty miles south of Oran.  This new home bore the romantic Arabic title of Bou-Hanifia.

All hands were overjoyed at the choice of locations and fell to with a will and prepared to launch its first overseas dental service in four rooms and a dark high ceilinged hallway waiting room.  In fact, this was the first 21st General Hospital Dental Service.  After an unbelievably short time, officers and men working side by side, wall paper was removed, walls were painted, “bidets” removed, benches built, and on December 30, 1942, the service officially opened.

The personnel on duty with the Dental Service as of this date were:

Officers
Webb B. Gurley, Major, DC, Chief of Service
Joseph A. Laffler, Captain, DC, Oral Surgery
Lane W. O’Brien, Captain, DC, Prosthetics
Earl E. Shepard, Captain, DC, Oral Surgery
Lester H. Jasper, 1st Lt., DC, Operative Dentistry
Helen A. Bowen, 2nd Lt. A.N.C., Nurse

Enlisted Men
T/3 Sidney Liroff, Clerk-Typist
T/4 Kenneth C. Lindahl, X-Ray Technician
T/4 John J. Cristiano, Hygienist
T/4 Wilbur H. Ostlund, Prosthetic Technician
T/4 Abraham Fine, Chair Assistant
T/4 Thomas Watson, Chair Assistant
T/4 Frank J. Cerro, Chair Assistant
T/5 Abraham Kalish, Prosthetic Technician
Pfc. Raymond I. Schmidt, Clerk-Typist
Pvt. Alois J. Brunner, Chair Assistant
Pvt. Coluccio, Chair Assistant

Words are inadequate to express the gratitude for the services of the Army Nurse Corps in the Dental Service.  The responsibility for this was borne by 2nd Lt. (later 1st Lt.) Helen A. Bowen, who served almost continuously as surgical assistant and “general balance wheel” in this service.  During her compulsory night duty shift she was relieved excellently by 2nd Lt. (later 1st Lt.) Helen Leet.

With the great expansion of the Dental Service an equally superior member of the A.N.C., 1st Lt. Amy Tabor, spent most of her assignment as a member of the Dental Service.

Many additional duties were carried by the dental officers, including Post Exchange by (the then) 1st Lt. Jasper whose chief stock in trade at that early opening was native oranges.  Administrative and Executive Officer of the Day, as well as Dental Officer of the Day duties helped to pass the “off-duty at the service” hours.

Never was the service at a loss for work.  Outlying units in the surrounding country were surveyed and brought in for treatment.  Casualties arrived in increasing numbers at the hospital, furnishing patients requiring from the so-called maxillo-facial treatment on down to the simplest restoration.

Ingenuity was rampant to supply non-existent supplies and equipment.  The U-boat menace was at its height and shipment of arms, troops, and ammunition was tantamount to success in the campaign.  Foot engine technics were reviewed and revised, and “business” flourished.

As a due regard for his services, on March 1, 1943, Major Webb B. Gurley, Chief of the Service, became Lt. Colonel Webb B. Gurley.

The first officer casualty in the dental service occurred when Captain Joe Laffler, Chief of the Oral Surgery Section, became ill and on April 8, 1943, left for the Zone of the Interior, i.e., the United States.  The service lost an officer impossible to replace.  His ability and willingness to work were superior.  His morale building attributes were often thought of and mentioned during the years that followed.

The application and results of the dental service were obvious and attracted the attention of the Dental Surgeon of the North African Theatre, (the then) Lt. Col. Van Egbert Cowan, as well as the Mediterranean Base Section Dental Surgeon, (the then) 1st Lt. Clyde Ellison.  It was only natural that when they saw the need for increased prosthetic service in the theatre, that they seek the services of the Chief of the Prosthetic Section of the 21st General Hospital, (the then) Captain L. Woodrow O’Brien.  Cheerfully, so as to never thwart one of his officer’s chances for recognition, Col. Gurley agreed wholeheartedly to the transfer.  Captain O’Brien then moved, April 27, 1943, to Ain-el-Turk, a suburb of Oran and established, by virtue of much hard work, an excellently functioning Prosthetic Clinic on the grounds of the 2nd Convalescent Hospital, high on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean.

Additions of officer personnel to the Dental Service during these months included one 1st Lt. Stanley S. Goldberg who remained with the organization until June, 1945.  Replacements were most difficult to obtain, and then began a “long parade” of attached duty officers.

During the month of May, 1943, 1st Lt. Lester H. Jasper received a most deserved promotion to captain.

On June 20, 1943, (the then) Captain Shepard was transferred to the 40th Station Hospital to become Chief of the Dental Service of that organization at Mostaganem, Algeria,[1] some forty miles northeast of Bou-Hanifia on the Mediterranean coast.

The only original members of the service remaining were then Lt. Colonel Gurley and Captain Jasper.  Many officers served on detached service with the dental service, including the 70th General Hospital, the St. Louis University affiliated unit.

Needless to say, experience in all the branches of dentistry continued to mount.  Every officer to a man, daily donned the operating gown and served the best interests of the dental profession.  There were no “prima donnas” or non-working supervisors.  The work had to be done and so it was.

In October, 1943, Captain Spellman was transferred from 2nd Convalescent Hospital to the 21st General Hospital but remained on temporary duty with Captain O’Brien at the Prosthetic Clinic.  He was to become an “honorary original 21st’er.”

During this period Capt. Jasper had as an honorary special duty the Presidency of the 21st General Hospital Officers’ Club.  During his tenure of office an attractive building of native design and architecture was built and almost ready for use when the alert order for movement arrived.

After a sojourn at famed “Goat Hill” staging area, the unit embarked for Italy, December 6, 1943, exactly one year to the day from its arrival in North Africa.  Officer personnel was then as follows:

Webb B. Gurley, Lt. Colonel, DC, Chief of Service
Lester A. Jasper, Captain, DC, Oral Surgery
Stanley Goldberg, Captain, DC, Prosthetics
Lane W. O’Brien, Captain, DC, Prosthetics (rejoining 21st)
Elwood M. Spellman, Captain, DC, Prosthetics