67th #deanehistory.

This is the story of Ben Salomon, the fighting dentist.

Salomon graduated with a degree in dentistry in 1937. He immediately applied to both the Canadian and US armies, but was rejected from both.

He therefore started a dental practice on the west coast and was soon thriving. So, of course, he was promptly drafted into the US army as a private as war loomed.

By the time his abilities were recognised and the Army commissioned him into the dental corps in 1942, this tough contrarian soul had settled into infantry life and tried in vain to stay with his machinegun team.

Serving in the war in the Pacific, Salomon was promoted to Captain and volunteered for the position of a surgeon which had fallen vacant. Thus, when the Japanese attacks began on the Marianas islands, he was running a field hospital mere yards behind the frontline.

Things went badly for the Americans and the Japanese attack began to overwhelm the line. Refusing to abandon his post and his patients, Salomon mounted a rearguard action, solo, to allow time for the hospital to be evacuated and his comrade patients saved.

He was treating a patient when prompted to take up arms by the sight of a Japanese soldier bayoneting the wounded some way off. Salomon picked up a rifle, killed him and went back to treating the wounded.

But soon more came. Salomon was soon engaged in hand to hand combat, dispatching four enemies.

Then he picked up a machine gun. This was something he knew how to use…

The American forces fell back, then slowly retook the territory. When they recovered the hospital, some 15 hours after he was left there alone, they found Solomon.

His body had fallen over his gun at the last. Before him, the bodies of 98 Japanese soldiers. Salomon was the only defender of the hospital. He had killed them all.

His body had 76 bullet wounds and many, many bayonet wounds. The attackers, when finally upon him, had unleashed a frenzied revenge on this bravest of men.

Salomon was wrongly denied an award for his actions because of an incorrect interpretation of the rules regarding medics. Whilst no medical non-combatant can be awarded for actions during an offensive, Salomon’s of course were not.

Medics are permitted to use force in “final defence” of themselves or their patients.

Thus in 1998, almost 60 years after his death, his brave last stand was finally recognised as he deserved. He is a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor.