John Mance Gillette Jr.
John Mance Gillette Jr. was born on 2-Dec 1913 in Sloatsberg NY. His parents were John Gillette and Mary E. Merritt Gillette. In 1930, John was living with his family in Sloatsberg. He had three sisters: Marian, Juanita and Alpha. John won an award from the American Society for Promotion of Dentistry for Children in 1940. John was a graduate of Washington University Dental School.
John enlisted in the Army on 24-Nov 1942 and served in the Army Air Corps. Dentists or doctors drafted into the US Army generally did not attend the same full-length basic training (boot camp) as enlisted soldiers. Instead, as officers, their training focused on officer skills and their specific role within the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). The training lasted 10-14 weeks.
Clark Gable, a Hollywood star, was one of his most famous dental patients. When John’s daughter Linda asked her father how Clark Gable’s teeth were, he responded “false”. Editor’s note: Clark Gable, the “King of Hollywood,” served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in August 1942 at the age of 41, after the death of his wife, Carole Lombard, in a wartime plane crash. Heartbroken, Gable flew combat missions over Europe, primarily filming aerial gunners in action aboard B-17 bombers.
John served in the Asiatic Pacific Theater during World War II and was deployed to Ecuador.
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