Appointment in Mostaganem Norman Wahl, DDS, MS Thousand Oaks, Calif.
The
time: Friday, 25 June 1943, about 1430
hours. The place: 40th Station Hospital at Mostaganem, Algeria. The general situation: The United States II Corps, under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., has just stemmed the Axis attack at El Guettar and is preparing for the invasion of Sicily. The local situation: Capt. Earl E. Shepard, Chief of the Dental Service, is at work in the 40th's dental clinic, located on the first floor of a converted apartment building. His patients are hospital personnel of all ranks, as well as outpatients from the nearby invasion training center. The telephone rings. The clerk, a North African French girl employed by the army, approaches Capt. Shepard. "Captain, the Colonel wants to talk to you." It is Colonel Morris, his superior. "Shepard, I just got a call from General Patton's aide. The general wants his teeth checked. You have an appointment with him "at 1300 tomorrow." As Captain Shepard hangs up the phone, he wonders, "Why me? Of all the dentists in all the clinics of North Africa, why did Saint Apollonia decide to smile on me?" In hopes of finding an answer, he mentally retraces the path leading to what Patton might have called his "appointment with destiny." Graduating first in his class from the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in 1931, Dr. Shepard was appointed as instructor in the Crown and Bridge Department. Thus began an association with his alma mater that, except for his wartime service, continues to this day. Soon after graduation, as the Great Depression was bottoming out, Dr. Shepard opened a part-time office in Edwardsville, Illinois. His longtime interest in orthodontics brought him his first brush with greatness when Dr. Benno E. Lischer arranged a preceptorship in the office of Dr. George H. Herbert. Lischer was dean of the dental school and one of orthodontics' leading educators. One did not "brush" Benno Lischer without remembering it. "He was a martinet," Dr. Shepard recalls. "I mispronounced the word facade once, and he very 811123647
364
pointedly said, 'Earl, that's fah-sahd.'" He absolutely forbade me to use the terms Class I, Class H, or Class III, as originated by Dr. Angle. He claimed that Angle's classification was not scientific. Instead, he coined the terms neutroclusion, distochtsion, and mesioclusion. Later, Dr. Shepard became associated with Dr. Leo B. Lundergan in St. Louis. Orthodontic patients were not plentiful in those days, and on Christmas Eve 1942 the two doctors were seated in their office, in Dr. Shepard's words, "waiting for the phone to ring." Ring it did, but it was not a patient. It was a call to arms. Dr. Shepard was a reservist with the 21st General Hospital, a unit comprising staff members of Washington University. A month later, "Captain" Shepard, along with his unit, found himself in Fort Benning, Georgia. Since orthodontics was not one of the specialties recognized by the armed forces, Shepard received the designation, maxillofacial specialist. At Fort Benning, Captain Shepard and his wife, Wilma, "spent the best i0 months we ever had." But the grim realities of war could no longer be put off, and in October the 21st sailed for England on the S. S. Mariposa under the careful scrutiny of enemy submarines. Eventually a hospital site was set up in Bou Hanifia, a hot springs resort in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. After 6 months, Captain Shepard was transferred to the 40th Station Hospital, where he was now making preparations for his second "brush." "I had made up my mind that I was a professional man and that Patton had come to me as a patient--not as a general," recalls Dr. Shepard. "Promptly at 1300, a large Packard touring car, siren blowing and preceded by two motorcycles, pulled up at the hospital. "The general was dressed to the teeth with "pink" [officers' silver-gray] whipcord riding breeches and high, shiny, dark-brown boots. An OD "olive drab" jacket and general's belt completed his uniform. "From his belt hung two pearl-handled pistols. As he entered my treatment room, he removed his helmet liner, which was adorned with the three stars of a lieutenant general, his belt, and finally his jacket. "After placing him in the steel field dental chair, I proceeded to examine the General's teeth. At this stage of the war we had no x-ray machines, so I had to rely on clinical observation.
Volume 98 Number 4
Special article 365
.a'
I
Capt. Earl E. Shepard.
Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. (Courtesy of the National Archives.)
"I found a small carious lesion on the distal of the upper left second molar. After cleaning his teeth, I prepared the tooth for an inlay and secured a wax pattern. (Gold was not routinely used at that time, but, naturally, an exception was made.) "The General was a fine patient and did not require an anesthetic. I informed him that he would have to return the next day for the completion of the treatment, to which he readily agreed. As I helped him into his jacket I said, 'So these are the famous guns?' He kind of chuckled, and I asked, 'Do you mind if I heft 'em?' He said, 'No, go ahead.' "He told me he had been out target practicing and added, 'I guess I ' m the only general officer who can still shoot a pistol.' When I told him I'd read about his exploits during the Mexican border incidents of 1914, he grinned. "The next day he was prompt in keeping his appointment. He seemed relaxed and talked about the formation of a new unit, the Seventh Army. This was the operation for the invasion of Sicily but, of course, he didn't tell me this. We had no difficulty in completing his restoration.
"As he put on his jacket and belt he said, 'Captain, please write down your name, rank, organization, and serial number.' To this request I asked, 'Are you going to prefer charges, General?' He smiled and said, 'You know, when someone does something nice for me, there is only one way I can repay him.' A few days later, I received a commendation which I've always treasured."
HEADQUARTERS I ARMORED CORPS, REINFORCED A.P.P. #758
June 28, 1943 Colonel Egbert W. Van D. Cowan, D.C. Headquarters NATOUSA A.P.O. 512 My dear Colonel Cowan: Captain Earl E. Shepard, D.C., 0-33848, has just completed putting an inlay in one of my teeth. As I have a great number of inlays, I am a connoisseur and wish to highly commend Captain Shepard for his superior technique and courteous treatment Very truly yours, /s/G.S. Patton, Jr.
Lieut. General, U.S. Army, Commanding.
Years later, a friend saw the commendation hanging on the wall of Dr. Shepard's office. As he was also a friend of Patton's son (Maj. Gen. George S. Patton), he asked for a copy. A few weeks later, a large package
366
Wahl
arrived, bearing the major general's return address. It was the two-volume set of The Patton Papers. On page 268 of Volume II, the following entry appears:
G.S.P.Jr., to Beatrice [Mrs. Patton] June 26, 1943: I had my teeth cleaned today and had only one small cavity . . . . I am going out to do a little more pistol practice.., but I have become so seared that I won't have a chance for any personal combat, but I am ready.
Dr. Shepard rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before the war ended and received the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal. In November 1945 he returned to St. Louis. After several weeks of rest
Am. J. Orthod. Dentofac. Orthop. October 1990
and recreation, he reopened his office in the Lister Building to build a new orthodontic practice. In time other greats touched his life. Otto Brandhorst tapped him for his first official post as secretarytreasurer of the (then) Central Section of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO). Oren Oliver recognized Dr. Shepard's organizational talents and got him started on the road to the presidency of the AAO. With James McCoy he was coauthor of a textbook. To this modest man came other offices and awards known only too well to members of our profession. As Executive Director Emeritus of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO), Earl Shepard is, at 81, very much in the swim of things. "Mr. ABO" touched great lives many times since his appointment in Mostaganem. And, ultimately, greatness touched him.
The
time: Friday, 25 June 1943, about 1430
hours. The place: 40th Station Hospital at Mostaganem, Algeria. The general situation: The United States II Corps, under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., has just stemmed the Axis attack at El Guettar and is preparing for the invasion of Sicily. The local situation: Capt. Earl E. Shepard, Chief of the Dental Service, is at work in the 40th's dental clinic, located on the first floor of a converted apartment building. His patients are hospital personnel of all ranks, as well as outpatients from the nearby invasion training center. The telephone rings. The clerk, a North African French girl employed by the army, approaches Capt. Shepard. "Captain, the Colonel wants to talk to you." It is Colonel Morris, his superior. "Shepard, I just got a call from General Patton's aide. The general wants his teeth checked. You have an appointment with him "at 1300 tomorrow." As Captain Shepard hangs up the phone, he wonders, "Why me? Of all the dentists in all the clinics of North Africa, why did Saint Apollonia decide to smile on me?" In hopes of finding an answer, he mentally retraces the path leading to what Patton might have called his "appointment with destiny." Graduating first in his class from the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in 1931, Dr. Shepard was appointed as instructor in the Crown and Bridge Department. Thus began an association with his alma mater that, except for his wartime service, continues to this day. Soon after graduation, as the Great Depression was bottoming out, Dr. Shepard opened a part-time office in Edwardsville, Illinois. His longtime interest in orthodontics brought him his first brush with greatness when Dr. Benno E. Lischer arranged a preceptorship in the office of Dr. George H. Herbert. Lischer was dean of the dental school and one of orthodontics' leading educators. One did not "brush" Benno Lischer without remembering it. "He was a martinet," Dr. Shepard recalls. "I mispronounced the word facade once, and he very 811123647
364
pointedly said, 'Earl, that's fah-sahd.'" He absolutely forbade me to use the terms Class I, Class H, or Class III, as originated by Dr. Angle. He claimed that Angle's classification was not scientific. Instead, he coined the terms neutroclusion, distochtsion, and mesioclusion. Later, Dr. Shepard became associated with Dr. Leo B. Lundergan in St. Louis. Orthodontic patients were not plentiful in those days, and on Christmas Eve 1942 the two doctors were seated in their office, in Dr. Shepard's words, "waiting for the phone to ring." Ring it did, but it was not a patient. It was a call to arms. Dr. Shepard was a reservist with the 21st General Hospital, a unit comprising staff members of Washington University. A month later, "Captain" Shepard, along with his unit, found himself in Fort Benning, Georgia. Since orthodontics was not one of the specialties recognized by the armed forces, Shepard received the designation, maxillofacial specialist. At Fort Benning, Captain Shepard and his wife, Wilma, "spent the best i0 months we ever had." But the grim realities of war could no longer be put off, and in October the 21st sailed for England on the S. S. Mariposa under the careful scrutiny of enemy submarines. Eventually a hospital site was set up in Bou Hanifia, a hot springs resort in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. After 6 months, Captain Shepard was transferred to the 40th Station Hospital, where he was now making preparations for his second "brush." "I had made up my mind that I was a professional man and that Patton had come to me as a patient--not as a general," recalls Dr. Shepard. "Promptly at 1300, a large Packard touring car, siren blowing and preceded by two motorcycles, pulled up at the hospital. "The general was dressed to the teeth with "pink" [officers' silver-gray] whipcord riding breeches and high, shiny, dark-brown boots. An OD "olive drab" jacket and general's belt completed his uniform. "From his belt hung two pearl-handled pistols. As he entered my treatment room, he removed his helmet liner, which was adorned with the three stars of a lieutenant general, his belt, and finally his jacket. "After placing him in the steel field dental chair, I proceeded to examine the General's teeth. At this stage of the war we had no x-ray machines, so I had to rely on clinical observation.
Volume 98 Number 4
Special article 365
.a'
I
Capt. Earl E. Shepard.
Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. (Courtesy of the National Archives.)
"I found a small carious lesion on the distal of the upper left second molar. After cleaning his teeth, I prepared the tooth for an inlay and secured a wax pattern. (Gold was not routinely used at that time, but, naturally, an exception was made.) "The General was a fine patient and did not require an anesthetic. I informed him that he would have to return the next day for the completion of the treatment, to which he readily agreed. As I helped him into his jacket I said, 'So these are the famous guns?' He kind of chuckled, and I asked, 'Do you mind if I heft 'em?' He said, 'No, go ahead.' "He told me he had been out target practicing and added, 'I guess I ' m the only general officer who can still shoot a pistol.' When I told him I'd read about his exploits during the Mexican border incidents of 1914, he grinned. "The next day he was prompt in keeping his appointment. He seemed relaxed and talked about the formation of a new unit, the Seventh Army. This was the operation for the invasion of Sicily but, of course, he didn't tell me this. We had no difficulty in completing his restoration.
"As he put on his jacket and belt he said, 'Captain, please write down your name, rank, organization, and serial number.' To this request I asked, 'Are you going to prefer charges, General?' He smiled and said, 'You know, when someone does something nice for me, there is only one way I can repay him.' A few days later, I received a commendation which I've always treasured."
HEADQUARTERS I ARMORED CORPS, REINFORCED A.P.P. #758
June 28, 1943 Colonel Egbert W. Van D. Cowan, D.C. Headquarters NATOUSA A.P.O. 512 My dear Colonel Cowan: Captain Earl E. Shepard, D.C., 0-33848, has just completed putting an inlay in one of my teeth. As I have a great number of inlays, I am a connoisseur and wish to highly commend Captain Shepard for his superior technique and courteous treatment Very truly yours, /s/G.S. Patton, Jr.
Lieut. General, U.S. Army, Commanding.
Years later, a friend saw the commendation hanging on the wall of Dr. Shepard's office. As he was also a friend of Patton's son (Maj. Gen. George S. Patton), he asked for a copy. A few weeks later, a large package
366
Wahl
arrived, bearing the major general's return address. It was the two-volume set of The Patton Papers. On page 268 of Volume II, the following entry appears:
G.S.P.Jr., to Beatrice [Mrs. Patton] June 26, 1943: I had my teeth cleaned today and had only one small cavity . . . . I am going out to do a little more pistol practice.., but I have become so seared that I won't have a chance for any personal combat, but I am ready.
Dr. Shepard rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before the war ended and received the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal. In November 1945 he returned to St. Louis. After several weeks of rest
Am. J. Orthod. Dentofac. Orthop. October 1990
and recreation, he reopened his office in the Lister Building to build a new orthodontic practice. In time other greats touched his life. Otto Brandhorst tapped him for his first official post as secretarytreasurer of the (then) Central Section of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO). Oren Oliver recognized Dr. Shepard's organizational talents and got him started on the road to the presidency of the AAO. With James McCoy he was coauthor of a textbook. To this modest man came other offices and awards known only too well to members of our profession. As Executive Director Emeritus of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO), Earl Shepard is, at 81, very much in the swim of things. "Mr. ABO" touched great lives many times since his appointment in Mostaganem. And, ultimately, greatness touched him.
