A Soldier Story: Honoring Those Who Served

By Dr. J. Ester Davis

Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,  Justice of the Supreme Court  of the United States from, 1902 to 1932, and author of “The Soldier’s Faith” was once asked the meaning of Memorial Day.  “It reaffirms from year-to-year our national  act of sacrifice, enthusiasm and faith”.  Continuing he says “our deceased brothers and sisters still live in us and bid us to life with our memorable times. . . not death.”

Dr. Hubert Freeman, DDS, is a well-known ‘inspiring dentist’ in Dallas, with lots of expressions of gratefulness from students he has mentored now out there emulating his style. He acknowledges that he has possibly trained and motivated more hygiene nurses in the medical field to which he is extremely proud.   His years of creating a winning ‘smile’ span several decades. Dr. Freeman is good at his craft, enjoys his customers and golf on his days off.  He flavors it with a sense of humor.  Last month, I reluctantly and unwillingly had to go to the dentist.  You know the feeling.  First of all, I was prepared to stay incognito, because most doctor/dentist offices are closed on Wednesdays and therefore, completely unavailable.   Dr. Freeman called me back, and into his office I journeyed.  Now the real breadth of this story is not only his coming in on his off day, but he was in a reflective mood and I was not . . . at first.   I simply only had time to think about the things I had scheduled that would not be realized until much later.  It pays to listen because “this soldier story” stuck with me.

Dr. Freeman, busy with my emergency situation kept walking and talking.  Somehow, he returned to his roots and started with the military. He needed to find a job, he said, after high school.   “You know in those days, we had the draft and people would not hire you if you were close to that age”, he recalled.   Oh, yes, the draft.  Sure wish we had it today, I thought.   Dr. Freeman has an engaging warm but authoritative voice because he is accustomed to people paying attention to what he is saying.  He continued to rebound.   I detected along the way that he was deeply attached to the symbolism of the United States Army.  He enlisted, of course.  Found himself overseas stationed in  Turkey.  His career aspirations were still a series of random searches, maybe  a biologist, maybe marine life or research.  Security was where he landed.  He did not say much about that.  His tone and smile broaden as he “spoke of a friend” on base that told him about an opening as a dental assistant.  “I had no dreams of being a dentist”, he announced  emphatically with me still  in the chair. “ I did not even know I could be a dentist”, he added.   But “the friend” insisted he would be a natural for the position.

Needless to say, the rest is history.

Dr. Hubert Freeman, after the military entered the School  of Dentistry at Meharry Medical College in Nashville.  He graduated in 1974.

I began to feel better  leaving the dental chair, but I thought more and more  of the message and definition of Memorial Day as cited by Judge Holmes  and reminisced  by Dr. Freeman.

Ester Davis can be reached at
Estyler2000@aol.com.  You can reach
Dr. Hubert Freeman at 972.283.2700
Honoring Those Who Served