The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, And Nothing But The Tooth: A West Point Air Defender Becomes An Army Dentist

William Freccia was born in 1946 in Brooklyn and lived in the Bay Ridge and Flatbush neighborhoods. He grew up in the “Little Flower Parish,” noting that all the kids identified their neighborhood by the 10-square-block area of their church parish in this very Irish and German Catholic area. His grandfather, Ralph Freccia, came from Amalfi, Italy, in 1903, landing in Boston but eventually moving to New Haven, Connecticut. William’s father was born in 1917, the youngest of five siblings. Their mother, William’s grandmother, died in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic, leaving Ralph a single father raising five children. He worked for the railroad union and traveled often. When he traveled, he temporarily left the children at the Sisters of Mercy Home, picking them up when he got home. Over time, one of the nuns became very close to the children, and she became very close to Ralph, who she eventually married. Unfortunately, she too passed away before William was born. William’s father, like his father, worked for the railroad union and sold tickets for the New York railroad. His mother was a homemaker. William’s only brother, Richard, is six years younger, attended Marist, and lives in Princeton, New Jersey. William met his future wife, Millie O’Rorke, in 4th grade. They were neighbors and friends, and did not begin dating until his Firstie year. He enjoyed sports, and ran track in high school. St. Augustin High School, a scholarship school, prepared him academically, morally, and physically for West Point. Growing up, he watched three TV shows, “Men of Annapolis,” “West Point,” and “Navy Log,” and he secured an appointment to the Naval Academy, but poor eyesight turned him to his backup plan, West Point. The day he was to report to the Academy, he drove up from Brooklyn and over breakfast at what is now “Barnstormer BBQ” met the Hogue family, who were dropping off their son too. He recalls telling his family, “I’ll see you later,” when they dropped him off, not realizing that it would be weeks before he was able to see them. He remembers the heat (99o) and the “Man with the Red Sash” on July 1, 1963. He felt well prepared for Beast Barracks but admits, “I didn’t know anything.” He enjoyed his Yearling summer training at Camp Buckner, and later, during Army Orientation Training (AOT), he enjoyed Air Defense at Ft. Hood. He remembers firing the Honest John (M31 surface to surface nuclear capable missile) for General Lampert. He also describes attending the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow, New York, and driving to Montreal for Expo ’67. He did well in academics, especially English and social studies, but found engineering and math tough. He did fine (average) militarily, and enjoyed boxing and wrestling, but not gymnastics. He describes being the last class to remain at West Point for Plebe Christmas, and credits the expansion of the size of the Corps for ending that tradition. He participated in the Catholic Choir and recalls trips to New York City and Westchester County. He joined the pistol team and remembers shooting at the Camp Perry Match. He earned numerals and a letter, as well as a gold star for beating Navy in February 1965. He describes earning the highest score on the Army Training Test. Everything was going well, and then he got “slugged” Firstie year for hiding a transistor radio in his uniform during a parade to play “Rock and Roll” music, earning 33 demerits, 66 hours, and 3 months confinement. As a Yearling, he played soccer, but as a Cow and Firstie he played Rugby with Randy Pais, and he recalls being named the #1 team at the Notre Dame tournament in the spring of ‘67. Part of the reason for his switch to rugby is because Coach Bobby Knight angled to get rid of the B-Squad Soccer Team to allow more training time for his basketball players. He recalls Army football beating Air Force at Soldier Field in Chicago. He was in Company H-1, but graduated from Company F-3 when the Corps expanded. H-1 was a particularly hot company for the Plebes, who called it “Hell 1,” but F-3 was a good company. He branched Artillery, but tracked into the Air Defense before those branches officially split because he liked shooting missiles and enjoyed Ft. Bliss, Texas. In June 1968, Artillery and Air Defense Artillery formally split into distinct branches. After attending the Basic Course and Ranger and Airborne Schools, he was assigned to A Battery, 7th Battalion (HAWK), 2nd Air Defense Artillery, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in Yongsan, south of Seoul. He took over a Service Platoon, and was in charge of vehicles, trailers, and equipment for the missiles protecting Osan Air Base. He discusses the North Koreans trying to assassinate President Park, and the capture of the USS Pueblo, which put them on high alert. HAWK missiles (Homing All the Way Killer) is a medium-range surface to air missile which include three launchers with three missiles each, and their associated radars. In March, 1969, he returned to Ft. Bliss, Texas, to command D Battery, 6th Battalion (HAWK) 71st Air Defense Artillery, 6th Artillery Group. The unit had just returned from Vietnam and was slated for deactivation, but before they cased their colors, they participated in Operation Intercept along the southern border to intercept drug planes. In 1970 he joined the staff and faculty at the Air Defense school, where he was in charge of non-resident instruction. 1971 marked a transition in his career. Reading through AR 601-112, he learned of the opportunity to attend professional schools. His wife thought he was too old to become an Army Doctor, but recommended he become an Army Dentist. First, he passed the Dental Aptitude Test, then he was accepted to the University of Michigan, and he was well on his way to embarking on a new career path. He found dental school to be easy, and was in the top 10% of his class. There were about 10 other veterans in the course, which felt very welcoming. His residency was under the tutelage of John Feagan and it was wonderful. From 1978 to 1979, he served in DENTAC at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, during the blizzard of ’78. In 1979, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Institute of Dental Research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he conducted original research on traumatized front teeth that become discolored, and he worked on techniques for bleaching teeth. In 1981, he attended George Washington University, where he focused on endodontics because he “didn’t like lab work.” He describes endodontics, noting “when the [tooth] pulp gets infected, it is not what you put in, it’s what you take out.” His next two assignments were both DENTAC assignments, first at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, from 1981 to 1986, and then Tripler Army Medical Center from 1986 to 1987. In 1987, he retired from Active Duty as a Lieutenant Colonel promotable and he entered private practice, serving as an endodontist until 2012. He remains an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, giving back to the next generation of dentists. In 1996, one of his daughters graduated from the Naval Academy, and she later became a dentist too. He remembers, “the Naval Academy treated us very well as parents,” including Superintendent Tom Lynch. Reflecting on his service as both a Soldier and dentist, he states, “I tried to do the best I could.” Throughout the interview, he reflects on the people he served with and includes several specific memories, including the “rally” before the 1963 Penn State game, where MAJ Joe Rogers, USMA ’51, told Rocko McGurk, USMA ’65, to “get this situation under control.” He also describes marching in MacArthur’s funeral parade and hearing about President Kennedy being assassinated, and he provides a great description of Major Art Bonifas, who was killed in Korea in the August 1976 axe murder incident at the DMZ. “He took care of us” as Plebes, he recalls.