Dentists.

This is coolbert:

Here are two men, dentists in civilian life, reservists both pre-war [Second World War], who stood very tall on the battlefield.

1. Franz Bake. German tank ace, senior armor commander. Renowned for his exploits on the Eastern Front during World War Two.

"A dentist in civilian life", a reservist who had seen combat action during World War One [WW1], recalled to active duty during World War Two [WW2], not serving in a medical capacity, but as a combat commander.

"Bäke fought during World War I, but rose to fame for his command of heavy Panzer forces in World War II. A reservist, Bäke was a dentist in civilian life, having received his Doctorate in Dental Medicine in 1923."

Served in a wide variety of leaderships roles as a leader of tank troops [to include but not limited to].

* Reconnaissance.
* Tank recovery.
* Special missions.

Led armor units into combat in all the major battles on the Eastern Front during WW2:

* Leningrad.
* Moscow.
* Stalingrad.
* Kharkov.
* Cherkassy Pocket.

Always leading from the front, up-close and personal-like, surviving the war to resume his dental practice.

Incidentally, in the image accompanying this blog entry, those three patches on the right sleeve of Bake indicate having destroyed an enemy tank with infantry weapons, again, "up-close and personal-like"!

2. Ben Salomon. U.S. Army medical officer [dental]. While serving as a front-line surgeon, single-handedly defended his medical station against a banzai attack by overwhelming numbers of Japanese, Saipan, 1944.

Ben Salomon, a dentist in civilian life pre-war, trained as an infantry troop while serving with the National Guard. Salomon KNEW weapons and how to handle them. Put that knowledge to good use in 1944, finally succumbing to multiple numbers of multiple wounds, undoubtedly saving many lives in the process!!

"Benjamin Lewis Salomon . . . was a United States Army dentist during World War II, assigned as a front-line surgeon . . . When the Japanese started overrunning his hospital, he stood a rear-guard action in which he had no hope of personal survival, allowing the safe evacuation of the wounded, killing 98 enemy troops before being killed during the Battle of Saipan in World War II."

Ben Salomon only posthumously and much belatedly receiving the Medal of Honor [MoH] for his exploits.

Comments:

* The "multiple numbers of multiple wounds" refer to literally DOZENS of gunshot and bayonet thrusts inflicted PRIOR to death, and literally MORE DOZENS of gunshot and bayonet thrusts inflicted AFTER death!!

* It has been suggested Ben Salomon was denied the MoH because he was JEWISH! The chain of command having to forward the recommendation for awarding the medal DID have reasonable issues - - denial being made NOT in a mean-spirited way? This is debatable.

coolbert.