AMEDD Corps History > U.S. Army Dental Corps > United States Army Dental Service in World War II

In the preparation of this volume free use has been made of the published and unpublished works of earlier authors, among which the contributions of Colonel Walter D. Vail, DC, Colonel Pearson W. Brown, DC, and Colonel John C. Brauer, DC, are particularly significant. In addition, the author has had the benefit of advice and assistance from a large number of individuals who filled key positions in the Office of The Surgeon General during and following World War II, whose wide experience and personal understanding of the problems of operating a wartime dental service enabled them to provide invaluable information not available in official files.

It is regretted that the necessary screening and destruction of obsolete Army files has resulted in the loss of a considerable number of the documents from which information in this volume was compiled. Though these documents are no longer available for study, they have not been removed as references since identification of source material may enable the reader to assess the validity of the information. Documents which are no longer available are specifically identified in the footnotes by a [D] symbol.

While this volume is primarily concerned with the Army Dental Service during World War II, some discussion of problems and events preceding that conflict has been included. The inclusion of some of this material is justified on the ground that it involves problems or policies which later affected the operation of the Dental Service in wartime. Other material concerning the initiation and early development of the Army Dental Service has been included because of its general interest and the fact that very little information on this subject is available in standard publications to date.

GEORGE F. JEFFCOTT
Colonel, DC, U. S. Army.