OUR LIVES
20 REMINISCE.COM * SEPTEMBER 2019
B
ackin 1945 ,whileIwasstillcutting
my baby teeth, my father, Clarence,
was on an important diplomatic
mission making dentures for
Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the
Nationalist government of China.
The assignment came about unexpectedly.
Before he was drafted into the Army in 1944 ,
my dad worked for several years as a partner
in a Minneapolis dental lab. After basicAt Work
A JOB DAD COULD SINK HIS TEETH INTO
He took a bite out of a problem plaguing a world leader.
BY TOM WILL • APPLE VALLEY, MNCLARENCE WILL
(left) made new
false teeth for
Chiang Kai-shek,
(above and below
right) head of
China’s Nationalist
government, at the
close of WWII.
Clarence received
a Bronze Star for
his work.training, when his commanding officer
learned of Dad’s unusual skills, my father was
sent to Kunming, China, to be a technician
with the military’s central dental laboratory.
Patrick J. Hurley, ambassador to China at
the time, had dentures made by the central
laboratory. Madame Chiang confided to him
that her husband was suffering with poorly
made false teeth. He was using two worn
sets—one for eating and one for speeches—