My Version: Dr. P. Richard Wexler

My Version

P. Richard Wexler DDS(ret)

Parents emigrated from Russia and married about 1899.

Progeny: first daughter succumbed to pneumonia at age two: oldest brother born 1906, myself 1909, Ralph 1914 and P. Douglas in 1924.

Lived in New York City for two years then to Elizabeth, NJ four or five years thence to East Rahway for four or five years and finally to Carteret.

Attended newly established High School as first class from 1922 to 1926. Class total was 31 students 16 boys and 15 girls. Positive factors were the ability to participate in three sports, captaining both baseball and basketball. Football started in the second year nominally coached by Miss McCarthy physical training teacher. We were actually coached by semi-pro football players from Carteret.

Our first season record was 4 wins and 2 losses. Pretty good considering the school size and available personnel. A post season game with New Brunswick, ten times our size, ended with a 14-0 loss. No disgrace even including a prejudicial official ruling negating a second half kick-off touchdown by Pete Herman, the center, on the 45 yard line was called for holding on the 20 yard line. I did not have that kind of speed but I was closest to the official and he put the finger on me.

The negative side of the new school was the inexperience of teachers making it more difficult to master a college curriculum, especially competing with students from Newark and other well established High Schools.

Thanks to sympathetic teachers at Rutgers I managed to get by. I even managed to play Freshman basketball and baseball earning a letter in both.

My tenure at Rutgers was shortened by a change of direction in my future from law to dentistry. That necessitated concentrated science courses in my sophomore year followed by an exhaustive summer session in order to acquire sufficient science credits. Sorrowfully left Rutgers in

1928 but never lost interest. I kept up my contacts and supported, financially, as finances permitted in those tough years. Attended various functions including reunions, joined the Henry Rutgers Society, the telethon and, of course, the Old Grad affairs.

Was class '30 rep. and organizer for our 65th reunion. Age and distance had taken their toll on our classmates. We managed 12 returnees and their spouses. We invited Carl Heyer (now deceased) and his classmate with their guests to our dinner. The dinner was a real bull session. Led by our present class President Dave Cowen there were reminiscents galore. A great time was had by all. We had a couple from Georgia and one from Florida.

I took ROTC at Rutgers for two years: matriculated at the school of Dental Medicine at the Univ. of Pennsylvania in 1928 where I took ORC with Col. Oliver and a six week stint at Carlisle Barracks in the summer of my junior year. Maintained my commission as Lt. by attending weekly local Army meetings as well as correspondence courses.

Graduated from dental school in 1932, passed State Board examinations and interned at Harlem Hospital in New York for six months. Took over dental practice of Carteret dentist who had committed suicide. However the aura of that suicide permeated that office and after five years of trying decided to look elsewhere for a career. Settled, happily, in Wallington, NJ, a small hardworking Polish community which accepted me wholeheartedly. I stayed there for some 56 years and retired in June of 1993 after a total of 61 years in the practice of dentistry. I left with a heavy heart because I so enjoyed helping very nice people who appreciated my efforts.

I joined organized dentistry by becoming a member of the NJ Dental Association, the American Dental Assoc. and the Passaic Co. Dental society. Volunteered for many committees including Legislative, PAC, and the NJDA Health Comm. which pioneered mandatory mouth guards in contact sports. I became a force in trying to educate the public in the prevention of dental disease mainly through the use of water corrected to one part per million (ppm) of fluoride. In that capacity I formed and chaired the Citizens for Better Dental Health Committee for some twenty years.

I traveled the State for some 27 years in this quest. The rational for this involvement of dentistry in fluoridation (which could only have negative financial results) actually originated in my military service. As a dental officer examined thousands of recruits. Some of their teeth looked like the same horrible structure that I had been seeing in the Northeast but, amazingly, most of the recruits had marvelous intact dentition. This all took place in EI Paso in the Southwest. It got so, and many other examiners will attest to this, that one could specify as to what part of the country each soldier was raised. Further investigation by the U.S. Public Health Service proved that some 2000 U.S. communities had, in their drinking water, a natural concentration of at least 1.0 ppm fluoride. Since NJ had only 12 such communities in that category the task of correcting the existing fluoride content to 1.0 ppm was called for.

This effort coincided with the dictates of Dr. G.V. Black, a dental pioneer, who, about 1907, wrote that, "the primary objective of every health professional was to put himself out of business." Thus began preventive medicine and dentistry.

Having recorded all of this I now go on to other personal matters. I met my future and present wife in the summer of 1928 and were eventually married in 1934. Anyone living through the 1929 crash and depression will understand why it took six years for us to wed. We have one daughter, Nancy, and one granddaughter Stacy. She is now on scholarship at the Univ. of Arizona, in 1999, finishing her senior year. They also now live in California.

People have asked how was it possible for me to have spent so much time away from home most evenings and many days on this fluoridation quest. First of all Nancy worked with me in the office for 27 years and Helen, my wife, fell in love with the art of brailling scholastic text books for students. This enabled blind students to learn in the same classroom as the sighted students and not, as formally, in class with only other blind youngsters. So when I was out lecturing she was home brailling.

In 1941 I was summoned to active duty. However since my younger brother Ralph was already on active duty with the 44th Div. I was given a reprieve, However, a year later, in April 1942 I accepted another call to duty even though, as the only dentist in town, the people of Wallington offered to request a deferment. I refused. Hitler was such a threat to my people that I felt I needed to do my share. After a tearful going away party my wife and I headed for Fort Benning, GA with orders to join a chemical battalion there. However they had moved on before I got there and I was attached to the base where I was assigned to the Dental Clinic. With my military know how I had no desire to be a chair bound participant despite the fact that the chief dental officer was a friend of mine and it would be a cushy assignment. In order to avoid being permanently assigned to the base I was ready to join up with a parachute battalion when I received orders to join with the First Cavalry Division, 342nd. medical detachment at Fort Bliss, EI Paso Texas,

On our way to EI Paso we diverted to Biloxi, Miss. where I signed out a cousin of mine for a few days in New Orleans. The humidity was unbearable, a lot worse than that which I experienced, later, in the New Guinea jungle. In New Orleans, towards evening, we finally found what was probably the last overnight accommodations. We slept probably four or five hours got up dressed apologized to my cousin and hit the road to a stop over in San Antonio where the humidity was less but still intolerable. 560 miles to El Paso brought relief from the weather in the opposite direction: sunny and hot and dry. As we approached the city we noticed women with umbrellas. What! No rain but umbrellas! We found out why when we stepped out of our car and were greeted by brilliantly hot, dry, sunny weather. We got accommodations in what we considered to be a very expensive motel. 1^st Lt. pay could not support that motel or any other in town. Financially we were relieved by receiving a monthly check from my closest friend, classmate and roommate at Penn who gave up some of his time from his own S. Orange practice in order to keep by practice from disintegrating.

The next morning we headed for Fort Bliss, found the 342nd and reported to the first Sgt. He finally ushered me in to Col. Ferguson's domain where I delivered a snappy approach and salute. After reporting Col. Ferguson dismissed me. I took one step back threw him a proper salute about faced and was prepared to depart when he stopped me and asked if I had found proper accommodations. When I replied in the negative he told me to take all the time I needed before reporting for duty. Later the 1^st Sgt. told me how much Col. Ferguson was impressed with my military demeanor. It held me in good stead all the while I was under his command. (I was later told that he was grateful to finally have an officer who knew proper military protocol.)

The portable dental equipment was the #60 chest which is a marvelous conglomeration of dental treatment necessities. As good as it is it is utilized mainly as an emergency office. Serious dental procedures are performed at the base dental clinic. Ideally, before going into combat, all troops are fully examined and completely treated before leaving base.

We found a small house on N. Piedras which rental was affordable. Bob and Bert Whiteaker lived close by and we became very good friends. They were from Missouri without ever having Jewish friends. That was of no concern to them. We got along famously. Bob was the other dental officer at the 342nd, and had been for a year before I arrived. They were childless after 8 years of marriage. We also got acquainted with a medical officer and his wife, Luther and Doris Crull. He also was with the 342nd.

Luther was a hard-shell Southerner who thought that a Northerner, especially one of the Jewish faith, must have horns. I'm not sure if he was disappointed or not to find out that I was a regular guy from whom he could borrow money to tie him over to the next paycheck.

Rodkinson, another medical officer from the 342nd,got a week-end pass and asked if we could take care of Hamish their Scotty. Saturday morning I left early for the post without waking my wife. She later told me that she kept pushing me away from her until she realized that Hamish had taken my place and was snuggling up to her.

On Sunday we went to visit the Whiteakers. When we got into the house I noticed that Hamish was limping and found a burr in his footpad. When we left he did not cross the grass where he had picked up the burr but went down the walk down the driveway and then to the car. I hated to give him back on Monday.

Every time a new medical officer arrived, especially if he was from the Northeast and Jewish he was subjected to all sorts of indignities. This was the First Cav. with horses at the time. These new arrivals never sat on a horse and since we went out every morning at about 6:30 equitation was a requirement. Some of these medicos had nightmares from these equitation exercises. Even my thighs had become raw from posting at the trot. I, myself, was an equitation amateur but I was never hazed except by my mounts. I had two horses. The first was Chico who taught me how to ride and the second was Ajax, a three quarter thoroughbred who almost killed me.

One evening, on Ajax, we rode out about 15 miles from the post on an exercise. When we turned for home and Ajax saw the barn lights he took off hell bent. Horses are herd bound. Ajax was determined to get back to the barn as fast as possible regardless of the fact that it was pitch dark. I could not rein him in. I used all the tricks that were taught to me but to no avail. Finally, remembering that voice commands were common I called trot Ho! and he slowed to a trot. Then I brought him to a walk and we came home without further incident.

Capt. Hood a M.O. from upstate N.Y. was a short stocky man, when his horse made an unexpected change of direction, he would invariably fall off. He just dusted himself off and remounted. A gutsy guy.

A dental officer, from S. Carolina, joined us but did not stay very long. He could not resist gambling with the enlisted men; was caught and cashiered out of service with a dishonorable discharge.

One day Luther Crull and I decided to ride out into the desert. Our mounts were frisky but well behaved until we turned for home when the herd mentality kicked in and off we went for the stables. Again, nothing would slow them down until we came to a high hedge where they were so confused that they quieted down. A third time, out in the desert, we did jumping exercises. Everything went well until I jumped Ajax in the direction of the stables. We cleared a three foot obstacle and he decided to go home in a hurry. Off we went until he realized that his buddies were behind him and not home. He stopped so abruptly that I sailed over his head into, fortunately, the sand unhurt, but wizened.

One morning, in El Paso, we had a 1/2 inch snowfall. Even though it disappeared by noon time school was out. Ten year olds had never seen snow. On one problem, a mile from camp, we were deluged with a sudden downpour that lasted 10 minutes but left us soaked to the skin. By the time we walked back to camp we were bone dry.

Col. Ferguson worked us hard but we learned. We threw up hospital ward tents in their exact spots as taut as could be in 15 minutes or less. Later, on Hawei Island, in the Admiralties, my 7th. Cav. Battalion commander put up a hospital ward tent for his headquarters. It was cockeyed, sway backed and with no rain protection. I convinced him to tear it down and let me put it up. It was beautiful.

In the summer of '43 we left for two months of maneuvers in Louisiana in the vicinity of the Sabine River. We were blessed with much rain and mud. We treated more sickness than injuries. We became swamped with soldiers complaining about high fevers and couldn't figure out why. We could not put our fingers on any particular cause. Other than the fevers there were no other symptoms to go by.

Col. Ferguson solved that dilemma. He had us check under the armpits of the men. The skin was very red. These ingenious GI's, tired of the maneuvers, would take some strong brown soap and hold it under their armpits until the irritation caused a reaction resulting in a high fever. When word got out that we knew what they were doing the emergency disappeared.

One morning Chaplain Pond dropped into my tent and remarked that he hadn't seen me at breakfast. Could it be that today was Yom Kippur, our most holy day of Atonement? It was. He asked if he could do anything for me and I quickly replied that I could use a three day pass to New Orleans. What a relief from the rain and the mud. I stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel ate myself sick at the best restaurants and returned with renewed energy. Following that incident whenever I encountered Chaplain Pond he would always ask if he could do something for me. I never again took advantage of his good nature. Chaplain Pond was a terrific person, religious to a fault yet one of the boys. In Australia, one week-end, a dance at one of the area hospitals was arranged. I did not go but when I saw Chaplain Pond the next day and asked him about the dance his reply was, "you couldn't hear the music for all the sexual activity going on."

All our wives took the opportunity of our absence at maneuvers to go home to see their families. My friends told my wife that they never saw her looking so well. El Paso is a healthy environment in a reclaimed desert.

On her way back to El Paso her train was delayed for several hours to allow Mrs. Roosevelt's train to pass on the single track. Needless to say it was a terrific reunion.

The GI's had a terrific sense of humor. It supported them when things got tough. Whenever we were away from post they would always talk about the second thing that they were going to do when they got back home. One need not guess too much as to what was uppermost in their minds. One soldier had one of his ears almost completely severed from being bitten by his partner. Other minor tooth bruises were the norm for a few days after coming home from a protracted exercise.

I was with the 342^nd which, incidentally, is the first line of treatment and evacuation for the sick and wounded, having collection and clearing companies, for about six months when I was transferred to the 7th. Cavalry Reg't., the Garry Owens Reg't. of Gen. George Custer, an infamous tactician.

Col. Finley was our Regimental Commander while Major Theussen was my medical superior. Training was severe and intensive. We finally lost our horses and became foot infantry. This involved many miles of marching where previously we had ridden. The men began to wish that they had their horses back. Bob Whiteaker was sent to the 12th. Reg't. and Luther Crull to the 8th. Did I mention that the 1st Cav. was the only square division in the Army? There also was the 5th. Reg't.

Every Saturday was inspection time. We polished our leather boots until they shone like mirrors. Barracks were also inspected and also shined. Foot lockers were opened on occasion. Lo and behold one G.I. Cpl. Curry, my assistant, a hard shell Baptist, was the only man to get caught with a bottle of liquor in his foot locker. This should prove something about denying youngsters habits that were natural for their peers.

The GI's, in general, were a remarkable group. Worked hard and played hard. One 30 year old who looked 50 when questioned as to looking so much older replied that no one has ever lived who had lived harder and had more fun than he had.

Part of our training was the live ammunition obstacle course under barbed wire. Came in second even though I was the second oldest person there. No matter what we were involved in I, due to my age at 33, asked no quarter and received none.

Of all the training we received we eventually used some 50% of it. However, it was comforting to know that if some unusual situations arose that we would know what to do.

We finally got orders to get fully provisioned and prepared to leave Fort Bliss. We all got our wives on trains for home. At the train station we saw Bing Crosby and friends waiting for transportation to Mexico for a fishing trip. We didn't appreciate that at all. Parting is not really sweet sorrow. Nothing was sweet about it. It was wrenching for all. Who knew who would return and in what condition. It wasn't spoken but was understood. My wife's friends back home told her that she didn't have anything to worry about that I was a dental officer and out of danger. The first fatality on Attu Island was a dental officer. We dental officers, in combat, are medical officers the first echelon for the wounded. On beach landings we were in the fourth wave on shore under enemy fire. The first fatality on Luzon in the Philipines was Lt. Ralph Conrad, 7th. Cav. 2nd wave. That's how close we were. We did not wear our Red Cross arm bands because we found out that medical personnel were primary targets, contrary to the Geneva Convention. The first ship to be lost in the battle of the Coral Sea was a Hospital ship. The Japs paid dearly for that blunder.

In El Paso, for the next seven months I had my own dental clinic for my own troops and conducted my dentistry as I had in civilian life. That brought a complaint from the Division quartermaster, a Major Porter, because of my excessive (his term) use of local anesthetic. When questioned by my boss Major Theussen I merely replied in justification of my moral obligation to practice painless dentistry for my men. He told me to carry on and he would take care of it. He did!

In the 7th. Reg't medical staff we had Major Theussen, Capt Brown, Capt Butera and Capt. Chaffin. The other dentists name eludes me. Jimmy Butera, from Texas, was indispensable. He had a marvelous sense of humor, of limitless worth. For example when vaccines were being administered he had one patsy, a private, who feared injections. Jimmy would come out of the tent with a 6" long applicator attached to a 50cc syringe from the veterinary department and call out this privates name. Invariably the private would blanch and faint dead away. At injection time we had three lines set up. Chaffin's and my line took care of 90% of the troops. We were not needle pushers. We threw the needle into a taut arm. There was no pain.

Another time returning from imbibing at the bar in the officers tent with one of our vets, in blackout conditions, in Australia, Jimmy and his vet buddy burst into our tent with the vet complaining that Jimmy had peed on his leg. When we commiserated with him that, because of the blackout, he couldn't gauge his aim or direction, the vet agreed except to say that Jimmy had used his flashlight to be sure of not missing his target. Needless to say neither one was feeling any pain. Incidents such as these occurred frequently and brought some well needed humor. He kept us loose.

Jimmy Butera and Chaplain Pond hated sea travel to the extent that they would practically become seasick upon reading orders for sea travel. All the more coincidental that during one practice landing exercise 6 miles from shore, one landing craft became lost and that craft contained both Butera and Pond. They kissed the ground when they finally landed after 6 hours at sea on an unstable landing craft.

Zale Chaffin became my off-post roommate and good buddy. He was a most unusual human being. At 6'2 and 220 pounds he was an imposing figure. A one handicap golfer: rolled a 299 in a National Bowling Congress competition: a shotgun expert and a fabulous fisherman who smoked cigars and had an infectious laugh. He was a great psychologist who never lost money playing poker whether he had good cards or not. One never knew if he was bluffing and it would cost dearly to find out. If one wished to be judgmental and find fault with him it was that he left his wife and three daughters in Oklahoma City and joined the army with another woman and her daughter Janey, a delightful child of age 6. It is sad to relate that while on Hawei Island in the Admiralties Chaffin started to lose weight afflicted with a chronic diarrhea. One day he decided to revisit the big island Manus where he stopped in at the motor pool to chat with Ernie Nunn with whom he had played poker for months. With a sad face Chaffin told me what happened. When he was greeted Ernie said "do I know you." I had not realized that Chaffin had changed so much. He then shocked me by saying that he had, probably, a year to live. He was right. After I was home for a while I called his army wife who told me that Zale was in a coma and was not expected to last the night. She gave me his father's phone number and I called him the next day when he confirmed that his son had died the night before. What a waste. A 35 year old extraordinary physician with a tremendous future. Chaffin had been at odds with his father for abandoning his wife and daughters. I tried to tell him that he would have been proud of his for his accomplishments in service and the esteem with which he was held by all who knew him. Chaffin and I had been cited for the Silver Star for our patrol work in combat. Unfortunately it was never confirmed. My friend had died of a lymphoblastoma probably curable with today's medicine.

I digress. Col. Hall, Div. Surgeon, and I never did get along. He knew that I knew him to be a big 6'3" intimidating, threatening, officer who acted like an extrovert but who actually was an introvert. Whenever he threatened to transfer me to a cadre to hellish places or one of the combat regiments I would look him straight in the eye and tell him that I was ready anytime he was. I think he was afraid of what Col. Ferguson would do to him. I never allowed Hall to subjugate me. Six weeks before we were scheduled to begin shipping out the dental officers were temporarily assigned to the base dental clinic in order to better expedite a perfectly healthy mouth of our troops. One of our gadgets, a contra angle started to wear out with no replacements to be had. I offered to take them and reroute the gear mechanism and so restore them. The D. C. Col. agreed and I took about a week off to fix those contra angles. This meant that my dental production suffered. Col. Finley, our Reg't. commander called me in one day and told me that he had received a very poor performance report from Col. Hall and that I was shirking my duty. I told Col. Finley that Hall and I did not get along and that he was lying. Saying that about a regular army officer to a regular army officer in serious business. Col. Finley asked if I could prove that and I said that I could. I told the D.C.C.O. that I wanted to see my records and he refused. I picked up the phone and called Col. Finley, who incidentally was a hell of a nice man, who proceeded to chew out the DCCO and I got my records. They did not show what Hall had charged. Finley then realized that Hall and I did not like each other.

Another interesting incident took place while I was attached to the base clinic. During an inspection by the 6th Army Dental Surgeon, a three star General, he looked at my chart and remarked that I had reported a three sided procedure as two sided procedures and wanted to know why. I told him that we were graded on how much we produced and since it took much more time for the three I wanted credit for the extra time. He, also chewed out the DCCO. (do you think that I antagonized that DCCO?).

That same three Star General visited us on Hawei Island and sent down a runner demanding that I come to Headquarters to see him. I sent word back that I was working under a local anesthetic and that as soon as I was finished I would come up to see him. He was a nice person and sure enough he came down to see me and remembered me from EI Paso. Such people restore my faith in the military.

A month before we were scheduled to depart we were allowed two weeks off to go home. Most men just went home for a last goodbye. Hall turned down my request for leave. That same day I was treating the 1^st Sgt. Division personnel and told him what Hall did. He offered to O.K. my leave and off we went. When I got back to post I found officers, junior to me, had been promoted over me. I had three fogies drawing the equivalent pay of a Capt. so it didn't bother me too much. However it did annoy me. At officer's call in Australia, Col. Finley asked where my Captains bars were. I reminded him of my problem with Hall. He told me that he had demanded my promotion and was ticked off. Two hours later Finley's aide, Hastings, stopped at our tent and asked what I had on Finley. Nothing, of course. Yet Hastings read a copy of a blistering demand of Hall to expedite my Captaincy. It arrived the next day.

At one point, in El Paso, after dinner I told my wife that I had to return to the post and would not return home until the following morning. Up until then, after 8 years of marriage we had not ever been separated. She said that I couldn't do this to her. I explained that I was to be officer of the day and what it entailed. We survived. Some weeks later Col. Ferguson had decided that he had worked us pretty hard and that we deserved a vacation of 10 days up in the mountains of Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Needless to say my wife, this time, really felt abandoned. However her female friends who were in the same situation kept her busy and she got along very well. When I got back, after dinner, she asked me for a cigarette. I was stunned. She had never smoked. She would prove that she had finally become sophisticated. I lit her cigarette and then she made a mistake. She inhaled. She has never, to this day, picked up another cigarette.

Cloudcroft was a terrific diversion for our troops. Beautiful in the daytime but a freezing disaster at night. It took 3 blankets underneath and 4 blankets on top as cover to barely tolerate the bitter cold. Our 4" canvas water buckets were nothing but ice in the morning. We still got a well needed rest and returned to the post refreshed.

To show what a fine leader Col. Ferguson was when he found out that Hall had chewed out one of the young officers of the 342nd he read the riot act to Hall and cautioned him that if anyone under Ferguson's command needed to be disciplined that he would do it. What a load was taken off the men.

We kept receiving recent medical school graduates mainly from the northeast who knew nothing of military protocol. I was given the task of teaching them the necessities including short order drill. I am afraid that I abused them a little because I knew that Hall was watching out of his

window and might, at some later date, take it out on these recruits when he had more control.

We wore 45s sidearms and learned to use every firearm in order to relieve the boredom of attending all scheduled target practices. I got pretty good with them all including the BAR and the 20mm cannon. The Springfield rifle had the kick of a mule but was very accurate at any distance. The Garrand was quite good but the carbine, up to a hundred yards was as accurate. The problem with the carbine was its low velocity at some 1700 ft. per second. The slightest cross breeze affect direction. One Capt. told me that he hit a running Jap 7 times and he didn't stop running until he fell and died.

Boarded a -troop train in June '43 and arrived in Pittsburgh, Ca. embarkation point for the Pacific Theatre. The first night, a Capt., a company commander, had too much beer. He loaded his carbine and started firing in our barracks. Needless to say we all hit the deck until he quieted down. "Irrational Exuberance." Three days later we boarded a small ship, sailed down the Sacramento River to San Francisco Bay where we boarded a 20,000 ton troopship. I'm not sure, anymore, of the name: the Mariposa, the Monterey? We bedded down in the bowels of the ship, assigned to hammock beds. Not too pleasant. It took us 14 days, taking evasive action every 7 minutes, to reach Brisbane, Australia. Despite the inconveniences the voyage was quite pleasant. We crossed the Pacific without incident, monotonous except for watching the Dolphins at play. They are beautiful.

Pulling into Brisbane Harbor we met a big black submarine heading out for combat. It was most formidable looking. The harbor waters were littered with jellyfish; Men of War. Coincidental?

The Division set up about 20 miles north from Brisbane. We were greeted, the first day, by radio, by Tokyo Rose who greeted our division by name. Very disconcerting. How did they know so soon?

Jungle training started early on. The Flying Fox took some casualties. I thrived on it. Exciting!

I took on the job of tobacco officer. Cigarettes 40 cents per carton. No one was ever without this distraction. I also took on the job of officer of the Post Exchange. At one time inventory came around. We had, attached to us, an Australian CPA. He was amazing. Australia money was in Pounds, Shillings and Pence, three columns of figures. While we converted Pence to Shillings and then to Pounds this Aussie added all three columns in his head. He was accurate to the Pence! Chaffin and I, whenever we could, would hitch a ride to a golf course near Brisbane where I would trade excess cigarettes for excess liquor. American tobacco was a relish for the Aussies as a good bottle of booze was for Americans.

One day at the golf course there was a Sgt. playing snooker. Chaffin, the natural athlete, was good with a cue stick and challenged the Sgt. who proceeded to clobber him. He told us that he was a professional gambler and not to play anything with him for money. He was attached to Corps. Hdq. for two years. During that time he had made enough money to buy two Cat Houses. He had a brother-in-law, in Brooklyn, who would send him loaded dice and marked cards. He would take a deck of cards, turn up the top card, start dealing and the exposed card never moved. We did not gamble with him.

In Brisbane there was a nightly poker game, at the Officer's Club, which had been going on for two years. There was no limit on betting. I watched one hand of open poker where one player, after four cards, had a pair of 4's showing. His one opponent had Jack, Queen, King of spades showing. Later we saw that his hole card was the ten of spades, a royal flush in the making. The bet from the one with the pair of 4's was $10,000 for his opponent to draw the fifth card. All he needed was to match any of his cards, another spade, an Ace or a Ten of any color. He didn't have that much money so he excused himself and called some supporters who guaranteed the bet. His fifth card was the seven of hearts. He lost!.

One weekend it was decided to let the soldiers relax with a beer party. What a time they had. The beer was green and powerful. These guys who could drink anyone under the table found themselves there. They were a bunch of drunken coots.

My wife, periodically, would send me golf balls along with toilet paper. The Australian brand was like wax paper. She would also send cigars which her father somehow was able to find. I shared them with Chaffin, a real cigar smoker. Chaffin and I bunked together, golfed together (how he tolerated my golf considering that he was a one handicap golfer was beyond me), cribbaged together and became good friends. To this day I am not sure that, during war time, it's a good idea to get too close to another human being.

One night we had a severe tropical storm vicious enough to topple a gigantic tree 41 in diameter. The core of the tree was infested with millions of termites. Australian timber is very hard wood. To drive a nail it had to be greased. Yet the termites made mincemeat out of it.

Tokyo Rose was a riot. We listened to her every night. Invariably they shot down 99 of our planes and lost maybe one of theirs. The truth was just the opposite. When the antiaircraft batteries complained that the flyboys left them nothing to do our crazy pilots let a Zero get on their tail and lured them into firing range of the ack-ack boys. Rose also hammered at the fact that if the GIs continued to take their Atabrine that they would become impotent. That's the worst scare you can visit upon a virile GI.

After I received my first medical discharge my wife, after 12 years of marriage, became pregnant. Our friends, the Whiteakers, were childless after 10 years. He was now with the 12th. Reg't. I immediately wrote to him to double his daily Atabrine dose and sure enough shortly after his discharge Bert became pregnant. They eventually had two children.

A personally pleasant incident took place at camp. While I was filling a front tooth for one of my men Col. Richardson, from the 8th. Reg't., stopped by to ask if I would take a look at one of his teeth. I asked if he would just relax for a few minutes while I finished what I was doing.

He was very gracious about the delay and I eventually attended to his problem. Could it be that my reputation for painless dentistry had spread around the division? I was honored and self satisfied. After all the 8th. Regt also had two dentists of their own.

Two weeks before we took off for combat Gen. Douglas McArthur inspected us. I was in the entourage when we entered the mess hall. The mess Sgt. was summoned and was questioned by McArthur who asked "Do you have enough food?" Answer, Yes!. "Are there any complaints about the food?" Answer No. Then McArthur blew his top, "When I ask you a question you give me an honest answer. Never in the history of warfare did troops not complain about their food." The Sgt. felt like a fool. Also, McArthur was on one of the destroyers supporting the landing in the Admiralties when the Rangers who had surveyed the defenses reported massive guns protecting the landing site. McArthur then and there changed the plans and landed us some two miles from the original area.

After 5 months we were alerted to precede north to New Guinea. We boarded Liberty ships, packed our heavy equipment on an LST and doing it without the Australian stevedores because they did not want to give up their tea time. Up the inland passageway with the Coral Reef on our starboard. We stopped at Townsville on Australia's N.E. coast. It was, I guess, the hottest place on earth. They supplied salt tablets at every drinking fountain. We couldn't wait to get back on board.

My first frightening military experience took place a day later. I was bunked just below the fantail. Unbeknownst to me there was a 3" gun just above my bunk. When they decided on gun practice, firing at the reef, the din below was tremendous. I had no idea what was going on. It could have involved enemy action for all I knew.

We sailed past Port Moresby up to the Lae-Nadzab area on the east coast of New Guinea. The hot humid jungle welcomed us. We pitched four walled tents, dug moats around them and hunkered down. Our jungle training continued in earnest. Atabrine was the order of the day. The flies were ubiquitous. We, finally, were issued DDT bombs. We hung strings of cord and sprayed them with the DDT. Flies died by the hundreds.

On an excursion, a mile up the coast, we examined an area previously occupied by the enemy. They had built a corduroy road the bed of which were saplings laid side by side. We saw a 3" gun with the barrel shredded. Evidently anti Jap forces had plugged the muzzle of the barrel and when the gun was fired the barrel fragmented. Jap casualties must have been severe.

We were bivouacked near a small temporary hospital. Rumor had it that one of the nurses sent home large sums of money accumulated by selling her services for $100.00 per night. Just a rumor. I had no personal knowledge of its truth. I have no reason for it but one day we processed wounded Marines who had fought in the Solomon Islands. After emergency treatment we evacuated them to the nearest hospital.

While attending an outdoor movie we got an alert that we were to pack up and to leave for combat up north in the Admiralties. Training was over. The moment of truth had arrived.

We boarded destroyers. I must say that the naval personnel were most solicitous. They even gave up their bunks for the overnight trip. Also the kitchen baked us a huge cake. They knew what we were heading into.

When we reached open water the destroyer pitched and yawed wildly. One of our 2nd. Lts., Sims, a Southerner who married a gal from the SOUTH of New Jersey, while reading a map started to look a bit green about the gills. The medical officer suggested that he go up to the deck and get some fresh air. I asked the M.O. the worst case of sea sickness that he had ever seen. He pointed to himself. He had just graduated when he was inducted and ordered to Newport News. He purchased fancy naval clothing expecting a great time ashore. Lo and behold he immediately received orders to proceed to the Pacific theater via a troop ship which was tall and narrow (I remember diving off one of those ships). He claims that he was sea sick for months. Whenever shore leave was granted he was not allowed off the ship. They knew that he would desert. They had a guard on him 24 hours a day. Now, 18 months later, he was fine.

We landed on Manus Island in the Admiralties 48 hours after the 5th. Reg't. had secured the beach. They had a tough time, took casualties but persevered and won the beachhead. We, the 7th. were grateful to them. The first sight that we saw were surgeons, in the open, operating on a GI whose liver had been perforated. They were sewing him up and he would recover nicely. Interestingly the surgeons told me that what they had just done with the liver was not supposed to work. But it did. We learn things in odd fashions sometimes.

We dug in for the night. The engineers cut coconut logs which were our protection (It took one man per foot to carry those water laden logs). I had arrived with a miserable cold. Yet, while living in a wet hole, like an animal, for 3 days, the cold was gone!

We were protecting airplane revetments, some 20' high which the Japs had built. We stationed men, with cases of grenades, atop these revetments. All night long the Japs kept coming trying to dislodge our men who responded by pulling grenade pins and rolling the grenades down the slope. In the morning dead Japs were piled three deep one on top of the other. They just kept coming.

The Japs used bull horns all night long trying, unsuccessfully, to frighten our men. We secured the area and after a few days moved inland passing dead enemy soldiers, some strapped to the tops of trees and emitting a very sweet nauseous scent. It was interesting to see how they built their above ground shelters. There was no direct entry into the body of the shelter. You could not just throw a grenade into the opening with any effect. They created a maze leading into the heart of the shelter.

An unfortunate incident occurred the morning after our first bivouac. We did have some trigger happy inexperienced soldiers. Out of the jungle came a group of unarmed men waving a white flag. Unthinking some of our men opened fire before they realized that they were not the

enemy. Actually they were Sikhs newly liberated from serving as slaves for the Japs.

We eventually welcomed the survivors and apologized for their losses. It seemed that they had been imprisoned for some months before the Japs panicked, fled and let them free. This was all recorded by a journalist who had joined us the night before. I do not remember his name or his publication. It was not the Stars & Stripes.

We knew from our native bearers that an elite force of some 60 Japanese officers and men were retreating on Manus Island. We made some forays looking for them but without immediate results. They were, later, captured. Incidentally the natives we used were marvelous. They would carry 40 pounds all day without complaint. One of them we called Alley Oop was a card. Very funny with his pidgin English. When we would come to a fork in the trail he would tell us which one the Japs took. He said he could smell them, that they had a distinct odor and so did we Americans. Never knew that!

At times we had ANZACS attached to us for their local expertise. They were fine chaps. On one of our forays our Battalion Commander assigned me to accompany him. Medical personnel always brought up the rear so that they could treat any casualties occurring up ahead. On this trail I heard a distinct sound. The Japanese armed their grenades by tapping the mechanism on their helmets (Not like ours where you just pulled a pin). I went for my 45 turned and there he was. I hit him in the chest the force of the 45 knocking him to the ground and falling on top of the live grenade which finished him off. I was thankful for all the time I had spent in target practice.

Two of our companies were assigned to attack and secure Hawei Island which stood astride the only entrance to Seadler Harbor, a natural harbor secure and deep enough for most any naval vessel.

As we boarded the landing crafts a map, taken by an observation plane, was delivered. The Lt.Col. who had been a High School math teacher, leading the troops, glanced at the map and started to assess the Island. Chaffin, looking over his shoulder, estimated, immediately, that the island was 3/4 miles long and 1/2 mile wide exactly as we found it.

We landed and worked our way inland finding light resistance which was quickly neutralized without any of our casualties. There was one fortress like dugout consisting of coconut logs with firing ports covering all areas. We could not get near it. Grenades had no effect and we did not have any heavy weapons. We called up the tank division which sent us a tank the next day. Its cannon only shook up the fort. It then rode up on top spun around a few times and crushed it to the ground. The island was secure.

The engineers dug some holes and fresh water was struck. With our sterilizing tablets we had safe drinking water. The only other problem were the rats which were of considerable size. We took 5 gal, food cans, cut off the tops, sank them to ground level and half filled them with sea water. We built a gang plank with bait at the end. The rats would walk the plank overload it and slip into the water. The smooth sides defeated escape and they drowned. The plank then returned to normal position for the next victim. And so we rid the island of rats.

One morning it became quite evident why Hawei was so important. Out on the horizon appeared what looked like huge box-like contraptions. The antisubmarine net between Manus and Hawei was lowered and these boxes were towed in. They were assembled in the harbor and became huge drydocks capable of repairing most any damaged naval vessel. They would sink the drydock and float a ship over it, pump out the water and raise the crippled vessel right out of the water for repairs. These ingenious Americans. Seadler Harbor was the quest all along.

Our first casualty of the 7th. Med. Detachment was Cpl. Hastings who, on patrol, had his skull de-boned from a shell that whirled around inside his helmet. So it goes! I was told that the Luzon invasion produced a 100% casualty rate of the Med. Detachment. It made me sad.

At times division strategy was difficult to fathom. A company commander came into our tent and showed us an order telling his company to take a trail leading out of our encampment and to reconnoiter for 2 miles. He asked us, Medical men, what we thought. We told him that he is going to get his ass shot off and would be lucky if he got 1/2 mile into that trail. We were overoptimistic. His company got about 1000 yards up the trail before they ran into a buzz-saw. It took many casualties and an artillery barrage to extricate him from such an untenable situation. If medical men could see what was going to happen, what about the thinking of high echelon officers?

We did many patrols from Hawei onto Manus. On one patrol our vehicle got mired in the mud about a mile from camp. We could not budge it and had no means of communication back to camp. It was now twilight and we could not stay there over night. I volunteered to return to

base and report. As I got close to the perimeter I realized that, like with the Sikhs, our trigger happy men could get spooked and fire at anyone entering the perimeter. I just kept yelling and identifying myself until I cleared into camp. One can get sweaty palms from such a situation.

After another patrol, this time with Chaffin, looking for stray enemy, we returned to camp only to learn that the indispensable Jimmy Butera had been evacuated. It seemed that there was a red alert the night before. He unlatched the safety on his 45 and failed to reset it when the all clear sounded. In the morning, with little sleep, he picked up his 45 yawned and it fired right into the web of his hand between the thumb and first finger. Since he was a surgeon this was devastating probably reducing his dexterity if the area contracted from scar tissue. We were devastated losing him because of his innate humor.

I didn't see Jimmy again until I was a patient in the 35th.Gen. Hosp. I inquired about his wound and lo and behold the web was quite normal. How come I asked? Well Jimmy said that every day, for weeks, he pulled and pulled on his thumb and eventually stretched the web back to normal. But more of that later. During these alerts the Japs would fire what we called knee mortars. They were about 20mm but not very destructive. It was easy to follow their trajectory and they were hunted down. We started a two week patrol deep into Manus. We camped next to the Lorengau river which looked like manna from heaven. Clear, gently flowing, something to bathe in and clean our sweaty bodies. Little did we know that the river was full of fungi which settled mostly in the ears. It took many years later to get rid of the ear problem. An interesting incident occurred when one of our GIs ruined his shoes in the river. I radioed in for a replacement which was dropped to us from a small plane. The soldier's comment was that for the first time in his four years in service he finally had a pair of shoes that fit comfortably.

A week into this patrol another soldier and myself came down with a violent diarrhea which wouldn't let up. I felt so sorry for the litter bearers who had to carry me for some miles back to camp. I could not walk. Coincidentally my first stage of evacuation was at the Clearing Company of the 342nd. Med. Det. with Capt. Rodkinson in charge. After 24 hours he shipped me to a temporary surgical hospital, a MASH. In addition to my dysentery which was subsiding I developed an infection at the base of my finger nails. This is not something a dental officer would relish. It had serious connotations for my future. The condition steadily got worse and it was decided to evacuate me to the afore mentioned 35th. Gen. Hosp. I eventually lost all of my fingernails and, to this day, have imperfect nails.

Sad happenings are always occurring in the military, especially overseas. At the hospital, one morning there was a constant wailing coming from what turned out to be an Army nurse. Seems that she was pregnant and discarded by the officer who impregnated her. Her wail was that he had promised her that he was going to divorce his wife and marry her. He reneged on that promise and she was devastated.

Jimmy Butera greeted me with open arms. It was such a nice feeling to bump into someone you knew. My healing progress was nil. My fingers now looked like sausages and the pain was not getting any better. I was to be evacuated back to the states. The immediate problem was heavy military action up north and no medical aircraft were available. Not only that but there were quite a few high ranking officers due to be sent state side and they had priority.

I made a deal with Jimmy. Get me on the second plane and I would give him my pith helmet which had cost me dearly to acquire. DEAL!

After some 18 months overseas I was on my way back home. I was a little sad to leave behind so many new friends that I had liked, especially Zale Chaffin who also was so ill. We took a 3 hour stop over in Hawai for refueling, not only the plane but also we who had endured ersatz food for so long. Imagine; Steak and real potatoes with fresh milk and desert. We headed for Fort Hamilton Ca. We arrived, Oct. 1, 1944, on a beautiful, sunny, non humid day. At first, viewing the local people we remarked to each other how pale and sickly these stateside people looked. We then realized that, from Atabrine, we had acquired a gradual yellowing of our own skin.

The first order of the day was telephoning home. It was fantastic hearing my wife's voice again. We arranged that as soon as we reached our final destination that I would call again. We transferred to the workhorse DC10 headed for El Paso, Texas, ironically from where I had departed 18 months ago. One of my dental friends from Fort Bliss, Ted Hollingsworth, ineligible for overseas duty, was still there. He came over and we rehashed our experiences.

At Fort Bliss we were, again, stuffed with fresh food. In a matter of some 6 weeks my weight ballooned to 160 pounds, too much above my pre military weight of 135. My body gradually demanded less and less food and I stabilized. From Fort Bliss we headed for Waynesboro, Va. to a General Hospital. My parents drove my wife from Clifton, NJ to meet me. Needless to say the reunion was happily tearful. My mother had three sons in service and I was the first one home safely. My other two brothers, in the ETO, eventually returned unharmed physically. Treatment, at the hospital, was exemplary but my infected fingers did not improve markedly. I was finally ordered to Fort Dix for processing. The Review Board gave me a medical discharge and I came home. Strangely my close friends showed absolutely no interest in my overseas experiences. It seems that the home folks were cautioned not to ask questions. I couldn't understand that directive.

My youngest brother, in Belgium, had bivouacked with a delightful family and is in touch with them to this day. He was a great ambassador of good will for America. He and his wife were invited to help the people at Houyet, Belgium, celebrate the 40th anniversary of the European armistice. My wife and I joined them. We were welcomed as family. When we drove up to the house, in Houyet, the entire family was outside waiting for their American friend. Mama, especially, was so glad to see him. We were entertained at dinner and the next day, which was the culmination of their celebration, they put my brother in the lead jeep in the parade. That night my wife and I didn't get to our accommodations until 1 :00 A. M. yet the proprietor and helper stayed awake to welcome us.

We took the opportunity of leaving early to visit the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. We stopped on the way to visit the museum dedicated to the Battle of the Bulge. During the war the priest of Houyet had established radio contact with the British. He alerted the British that a panzer unit was approaching in the forest down a very narrow road built into the side of a mountain. The RAF attacked, knocked out the lead and last tanks and then methodically bombed and destroyed the trapped tanks.

My wife and I settled in fairly normally: purchased a second hand car having sold our Pontiac in El Paso before going overseas. The new Pontiac had cost $700.00 the not so new, not so good replacement was $1100.00.

Some two weeks after discharge I received a telegram ordering me back to duty. Our destination now was Fort Snelling, MN where I was assigned to the Dental Clinic even though I was unfit to function dentally. At the clinic I bumped into Col. Tom Fox who had been one of my instructors at Penn Dental School. Since I was still unable to do any dentistry I was of no use there and was shipped off to Fort Leavenworth.

Even though Kansas City was a good distance from Leavenworth we decided to find a place to live there. We found a nice, clean, newly painted apartment and moved in one morning. We needed to do some shopping and didn't return to the apartment until dark. We entered the kitchen, flicked on the light. Lo and Behold; scurrying visitors. Roaches like we had not seen since EI Paso. The next morning I bought a DDT bomb and proceeded to spray thoroughly after which, to avoid the smell, we took a long walk in a nearby park. When we got back I noticed that my wrist had swelled so much that it covered my I.D. bracelet and that my feet had swollen and that my breathing was shallow. I called a local physician whose son I had met in Virginia but he refused to see me. My wife even held a mirror by my nose to be sure that I was still breathing.

I reported to the dispensary at camp but there was no dermatologist or anyone who had any idea as to what afflicted me. I even drove to Topeka, KS to a better medical facility to no avail. After a few days I received orders to proceed to a cooler climate which turned out to be Colorado Springs, CO. It took 2 1/2 days to drive from 100 degree heat in Kansas to subfreezing climate. When I looked out of the hotel window and saw snow and frost I thought of my poor car without any winterizing. Sure enough the car would not start. Fortunately I had parked on a hill with no car in front of me. I saw a garage at the bottom of the hill and coasted down to it. An elderly gentleman came out looked at my license plates and remarked that he too was a NJ native. He had come to town for his health 8 years ago wanting to stay 6 months. He felt so good that he just stayed. I didn't blame him because after the dry healthy atmosphere of El Paso, Colorado Springs turned out to be a very healthy area.

In any event we found a motel to stay in. Something which we could afford. It had a porch with an ice box on it where food froze at night and melted during the day. Pikes Peak was magnificent.

On Saturday afternoons we would attend a football game at the University and sit on the sunny side. By the third quarter the sun would drop over Pikes Peak and as if someone blew a whistle everyone got up put on gloves, mufflers, hats and overcoats because right now it got cold.

I would, daily, report for treatment at the hospital at Camp Carson. One day I wasn't feeling so well and turned myself in. One moment I was hot and sweaty and the next moment I got the chills so bad that my bed shook. I had now been out of the jungle for 13 months. Diagnosis was difficult yet it mimicked malaria. Body temperature was close to 106. It took 4 days for a positive culture to prove that, sure enough, I had a very serious case of malaria. My pregnant wife sat at my bedside all day long and I am afraid that I abused her. She needed to force liquids and I resisted her. Yet she persisted and really nursed me back to health.

I had a marvelous physician taking care of me. Dr. Carl Steiner, an Austrian émigré who had fled from Hitler. I eventually improved. At my first breakfast at mess I sat across from a medical officer and asked him how long he had found anyone to have come down with malaria after leaving the jungle. He proudly pointed to himself: five months he said; 13 months I said and he was flabbergasted. It was unheard of for it to take that long to fester.

Since then, although volunteering many times, I am not permitted to donate blood. When I asked Bill Trager, a Rutgers classmate and a world renowned malaria expert with the Rockefeller Foundation, why not he told me that one never knew when a recurrence might happen. Sure enough, some 50 years after recovering, I had a recurrence of sweating and shaking. Since I kept a quantity of quinine at all times I immediately overdosed and recovered quickly.

My wife was now nearing her 8th month of pregnancy and it was decided that she fly home. I drove her to Denver Stapleton Airport where they were hesitant about taking one so late in term. She promised to stay put and they relented. Unfortunately on a refueling stop some of the fumes got into the cabin and made her queasy. She eventually made it home after a very difficult flight. I was now, again, scheduled for the Review Board. This time one of the Board members suggested that if, indeed, I couldn't return to dentistry that maybe I should consider driving a taxi. That hurt has never left me. How inconsiderate!

I was discharged with a promotion to Major. There was a pilot who was also being discharged. He lived in Pennsylvania. With his help I drove home arriving in time to settle down and see my wife safely through the delivery of our only child, Nancy. Finally we were rewarded and grateful.

The malaria left me with an intolerance for alcoholic beverages. For three years I could not drink even one glass of beer without getting tipsy. The first July 4th celebration instinctively recalled cannon fire and almost drove me under my bed.

Finally, after 49 months of active duty, I was a civilian again. After several weeks I returned to my dental practice wearing white gloves covered with rubber gloves. To this day my fingernails are imperfect. I always carry a nail clipper to smoothen off cracks. The dysentery is long gone; the malaria lurks in the background and the jungle rot is still with me. After 61 years of dentistry I am now retired as of June 1993.

What are my final feelings about active military service? No money in the world could get me to repeat that experience. Doing it for my country was another story. There was no question of my doing my duty. Recalling all the witnessed tragedies, making and losing friends, I am left Very hard on the outside, but mush on the inside.