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In 1937, Dr. Benjamin Salomon graduated from USC and applied for a commission as an Army dentist. Due to a lack of need for dentists in the service, his application was rejected. Dr Salomon then opened a private practice in Los Angeles. But soon the political climate changed and President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act in 1940, requiring men age 21 to 35 to register for military training.
Dr. Salomon signed up again and was immediately called into service as an Army private in the 102nd Infantry Regiment at Ft. Ord, California, near Monterey. While going through military training, Dr. Salomon would scale the teeth of the men from his platoon in their spare hours. On weekends, he would drive a group from his regiment down to his office in Los Angeles, do their dental work, and get back to report for duty Monday morning.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dr. Salomon’s platoon shipped out to Christmas Island south of Hawaii. His enthusiasm and constant learning earned him sergeant stripes within a year, putting him in command of a machine gun section in his heavy weapons company. In August 1942, Sergeant Salomon was transferred to the 105th Infantry Regiment in Hawaii, promoted to lieutenant, and made the regimental dentist. He performed dentistry in the morning and served as an infantry instructor in the afternoon. His regiment won several infantry proficiency competitions and within the year he was Captain Salomon.
Then on 15 June 1944, he landed with his regiment on Saipan in the Marianas Islands. The Japanese Army launched an all-out attack on the American soldiers on 7 July 1944, the largest attack in the Pacific Theater. Dr. Salomon was manning a small tent first aid station caring for about 30 wounded soldiers. As he was tending to one of the wounded, he saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded near the tent door with two more enemies at the tent entrance and four crawling under the tent flaps. Grabbing a wounded soldier’s rifle he shot those at the door, bayoneted another, kicked a third while another wounded soldier killed the rest. Rushing outside, Dr. Salomon saw that the machine gun nest that was to protect the first aid station contained dead soldiers. He immediately ordered the tent’s wounded to help each other get to the regimental first aid station while he would buy them time manning the machine gun nest.
The next day, Dr. Salomon’s body was found slumped over the machine gun with his hand still on the trigger. There were 98 dead Japanese soldiers in front of his position with Dr. Salomon having 76 bullet holes in his body. Dr. Salomon was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroic valor in action.
The Congressional Medal of Honor, the first awarded to a dentist, was refused by Dr. Salomon’s commanding general because while Captain Salomon richly deserved the Award, he was in the medical service and wore a Red Cross arm band. Under the Rules of the Geneva Convention, no medical officer can bear arms against the enemy.
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Thus, the issue rested for 50 years. Dr. Salomon’s case was buried with his ashes by his parent’s grave. There was no other family.
Then in 1997, an informal gathering of USC dental alumni met to begin preparation for their centennial celebration. Dr. Robert West, a 1952 graduate, and PFA Fellow from Calabasas, California, came across documentation of Dr. Salomon’s story submitted by 1936 graduate Harry Cimring. Dr. West had himself served as a medical and dental corpsman during World War II. Dr. West researched the case and discovered that the denial was based on an error, not a technicality. The Rules of the 1929 Geneva Convention did specifically prohibit medical personnel from taking arms up against the enemy offensively, but did provide for medical staff to defend themselves and /or their patients with force. Dr. Salomon’s commanding general had wrongly denied the medal on a misinterpretation of the Geneva Treaty. And Dr. West took up the crusade to right the wrong on 7 July 1997, when he started writing his Congressman and the military leadership.
But another problem arose. The statute of limitations had run out on receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. With Dr. West’s perseverance in the matter, he had won over the Congress and the military. Congress granted a waiver in this case; and Major General Patrick Scully, Chief of the Army Dental Corps, wanted the honor bestowed during his command. In December of 2001, Dr. West received assurances that the matter was reaching a favorable conclusion. Then on 1 May 2002, President George W. Bush held a formal ceremony in the White House Rose Garden to present Dr. Benjamin Salomon’s Congressional Medal of Honor to Dr. Robert West accompanied by his wife and daughter and former USC dental school Dean John Ingle, who also had tried to have the award bestowed years before. The Rose Garden presentation was followed up with a military ceremony and reception in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes. Dr. Salomon was an only child, never married, and his now deceased parents had no known living relatives.
President Bush noted in the solemn presentation that no one at the ceremony knew this great hero, but now his record of valor will be inscribed for all Americans to know Dr. Benjamin Lewis Salomon, who received this honor due him from a grateful country.
Dr. Salomon’s Congressional Medal of Honor is on permanent placement in the Army Medical Department Museum in San Antonio, Texas. A replica of the Medal is on display at the USC School of Dentistry. And we honor the efforts of Dr. Robert West and former Dean John Ingle to bring closure to Dr. Benjamin Salomon’s final act of valor in defense of his country with this article.
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Tongue Studs
by the Academy of General Dentistry
The current rage among many teens is to have their tongues pierced and various metal ornaments placed through the tongue. Many dentists have seen the results of this decorative procedure. Tongues are meant for aiding mastication, taste, and speech. How the fad evolved that they should create an attractive facial beauty is beyond understanding. Perhaps it could not be tattooed, or such piercing artists ran out of places to puncture.
However, as dentists we have repaired many a tooth that chomped down on this foreign body in the normal use of the tongue in chewing. Coupled with this, AGD reports that it also affects recessing gingival tissue and nerve damage problems. But beyond those “reparable” events, it also puts such wearers at risk for the development of fatal infections such as Ludwig’s angina or endocarditis (AGD’s General Dentist, June 2004 issue).
Ludwig’s angina is a bacterial infection of the floor of the mouth. It can occur after a tooth infection, mouth injury, oral surgery, and oral piercings.
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Piercings, lip rings, and tongue studs create an open wound, which allows bacteria to travel through the blood stream. Such bacteria can cause rapid swelling in the floor of the mouth, which can block the airway or prevent the swallowing of saliva.
Endocarditis occurs when the traveling bacteria infects the heart. Patients with known heart defects are at great risk for endocarditis.
Dr. William J. Dunn, author of the study, notes that “most body piercers are unlicensed and not members of the medical profession. Because of this, health histories are not recorded or reviewed, emergency kits are not available, antibiotics are not prescribed, and postoperative care is not available.”
AGD spokesman Dr. Melvin K. Pierson adds, “People are told to expect some swelling from a tongue piercing, but if they don’t receive follow-up care, they may not be aware of when it is abnormal swelling. A person may have an angina attack and not know it.”
Unclean, unsterilized piercing equipment can cause other infections, such as blood-borne hepatitis.
The AGD article does not mention another possibility of kidney nephritis and damage as a long-term possibility.
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