Research Issue - Harvard School of Dental Medicine

harvarddentalbulletinWinter 2010–11Volume 70Number 3Alumni FocusClass of ’44 Members Studied Together,Went to War TogetherBob Hennessy and Phil Sehl have kept in touch for 70 years.They came as dental students and left as officers in theUS Navy. Bob Hennessy and Phil Sehl, both Class of 1944, wereamong 40 men training to be dentists at the Harvard Schoolof Dental Medicine during World War II. “Before the UnitedStates entered the war,” says Sehl, “when we were first-yearsat HSDM, people were being drafted. To avoid the draft andto stay in school, most of us signed on with the Army or theNavy to serve when we finished at the School. When we got ourdiplomas, we—including the medical students—were givenour first commission for military service.”In fact, the students received their diplomas at the School, thenwent across to Vanderbilt Hall for a commissioning ceremony,which included music from a Navy band. “That was March 20,1944,” says Sehl. “We received our commissions as lieutenantjunior grade and got our service assignments.” Of the 38 menwho graduated in the DMD Class of 1944, 32 went straight intomilitary service, with 16 choosing the Navy and 16 the Army.the warIn December 1941, when Hennessy and Sehl and the rest ofthe Class of ’44 were still new at HSDM, the Empire of Japanattacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii—leading tothe US declaration of war on Japan. “A lot of us tried to breakour commissions so we could join the war effort right away,”says Sehl. “But we couldn’t; we had to finish our dental training.They needed dentists.” Indeed they did. Four of the 16 menfrom Harvard who went into the Navy—including Hennessyand Sehl—were sent to the Sampson Naval Training Center atLake Seneca, N.Y. There they were among some 200 dentistscharged with treating 50,000 recruits—most of whom hadnever before seen a dentist—to ensure that they were healthyand ready to be deployed within six weeks.Hennessy and Sehl shared an apartment in the officers quarterson the base. They received little naval training, functioning solelyas dentists to the recruits. But after some time, both decidedthey no longer wished to stay at Sampson. They sentletters to “big shots” in the Navy whom they knew,asking to be sent to the war itself. Hennessy, whohails from Westborough, Mass., knew Admiral LouisDenfeld, chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, whowas also from Westborough. “I wrote to him andtold him I wanted to go to sea. Within two weeks,I was assigned to USS Starlight, a troop-transportship.” Hennessy was told to report to San Franciscoto wait for further orders; that journey to the WestCoast was his first trip on an airplane.Waiting in San Francisco for five weeks, Hennessyand a friend stayed at the Plaza Hotel, where theBob Hennessy, DMD ’44, today, at his home inWestborough, Mass.2