By Cody Berry

This story comes straight from that mysterious scrapbook I found in Dr. Gann’s office furniture in the front room of the museum. One of the things that fell out of that scrapbook turned out to be some of Dr. Gann Jr.’s military records from 1917. That year, the United States joined the First World War. Like most men his age, Dr. Gann Jr was caught up in it. What follows is a brief account of his service according to those records.  

On July 3, 1917, Major R. R. Miller of the U.S. Medical Corps reported that he had been directed by the Surgeon General to notify Dr. Gann Jr that he had been found qualified after his examination for appointment in the Medical Officers Reserve Corps at Hot Springs, Arkansas. On July 13, Dr. Gann Jr was appointed First Lieutenant in the M.R.C. On July 21, it was recorded that Dr. Gann Jr accepted his commission.¹  

Dr. Gann Jr was sent to Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia. On August 4, 1917, he was told to report in person to the Commanding Officer Medical O’ training camp for instruction.² On September 25, First Lieutenants Dr. Gann Jr and S.F. Elliot along with seven others were told they would represent the First Battalion “in making and reporting observations of trench warfare as carried on by the men of the Reserve O’ Training Camp.”³   

We don’t know exactly what Dr. Gann Jr saw in the trenches, but we do know from this set of records that Colonel Henry Page, the camp’s Commandant, showed Jr’s account to the Surgeon General personally. Col. Page remarked that Dr. Gann Jr’s account was “very interesting,” after which he was promoted again to Student Class “A.”⁴ On October 20, 1917, Dr. Gann Jr was relieved from duty in the Fifth Student Battalion and was assigned to serve as Assistant to Major H.R. Allen, MRC.  

Historian Dallas Tabor Herndon said that Dr. Gann Jr had been made a captain after “seven months’ service,” in the Panama Canal Zone.”⁵ Thanks to a certificate from Hank Mashburn on November 1, we now know that Dr. Gann, Jr stayed in the Army Medical Corps for a while. On November 6, 1928, Dr. Gann, Jr was promoted to the rank of “major in the medical corps” by President Calvin Coolidge.⁶ He would ultimately become a lieutenant colonel.⁷ We still don’t know everything about Dr. Gann Jr’s military experiences, but we are learning more all the time. 

If you have anything pertaining to the Gann family, or some other part of Saline County history, please call us at the Gann Museum. I will be presenting on Dr. Gann Jr and other veterans at the library’s Benton branch on November 4 at 5:30pm and I’ll be at the Veterans Appreciation event at the Bryant branch on November 8 at 2pm. 

Citations:

¹ War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, 1917, p. 1. 

² War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, 1917, p. 1. 

³ War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, 1917, p. 3. 

⁴ War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, 1917, p. 4. 

⁵ Dallas Tabor Herndon, “Dewell Gann Jr. M.D.,” Centennial History of Arkansas, Chicago: 1922, p. 998-1001. 

⁶ President of the United States, Certificate of Promotion, “Dewell Gann, Junior,” U.S. Army, 1928. 

⁷ Cody Lynn Berry, “Gann House,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/gann-house-12173/, Date Accessed 11/2/2024.