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Albert James Draper Hequembourg (Septebmer 5, 1884 - May 7, 1967) was an American dentist whose remarkable diaries chronicle life as a dentist in the First World War.

Biography
Albert James Draper Hequembourg was born on September 5, 1884, in Dunkirk, New York, to parents Walter King (1850-1915) and Ellen Draper (1847-1894) Hequembourg. Following his mother's death at age 46, he appears to have lived with his uncle Frank Harden for some time, before attending the University of Pennsylvania and graduating in 1908 with a DDS. While at Penn, Hequembourg was a member of Psi Omega and the Kirk Dental Society. He moved to New York City after his graduation where he worked as a dentist with R.H. Macy & Company.

On July 31, 1917, Hequembourg enlisted as a private in the infantry. He was called into active service as a 1st Lieutenant of the United States Army Dental Corps on May 2, 1918 and served overseas from June 4, 1918 to July 22, 1919. He was promoted to Captain on May 3, 1919 and honorably discharged on July 28, 1919. According to the United States Army Office of Medical History, during World War I, more than one million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces "were treated for many different dental conditions ... [and] dental officers provided ... restorations, ... extractions, ... crowns, and ... dentures." Hequembourg trained at Camp Greene in North Carolina and at Raritan Training Camp in New Jersey from January to May, 1918, before traveling to France aboard the S.S. Mauretania which left New York City on June 5, 1918. He landed in Liverpool, England, traveled south by train to Southhampton; and took Channel transport to Havre, France, arriving there on June 14, 1918. During his time in France, he was "in action from close to Ypres, Belgium to Amiens, France," (inside front cover, Volume 2).

Following his return to civilian life, Hequembourg married Jessie Gillies Sibley on June 19, 1920 in Cuba, New York. Hequembourg and Jessie appear to have known each other before he began writing his diary, but their relationship was strengthened during the war and through what seems to have been a regular correspondence while she was in France performing war work with the YMCA. She graduated from Cornell University and worked as a librarian. They appear to have settled in White Plains, New York, where Hequembourg practiced dentistry. Hequembourg died on May 7, 1967 in Winter Park, Florida.

Military Service
Hequembourg spent time at Camp Greene in North Carolina, performing dental work for his regiment. He spent significant amounts of time studying for an exam which would qualify him for the Dental Reserve Corps and writes of the process of receiving a commission. On March 17, 1918, Hequembourg left Camp Greene, via troop train, and arrived at Raritan River Ordnance Training Camp in New Jersey on March 20. He appears to have spent most of his time on guard duty, rather than performing dental surgeries, while waiting for his assignment to active duty, which he received on May 2.

On he went to France on the S.S. Mauretania he went, leaving New York on June 5 and arriving in Le Havre, France on June 14, 1918. He spent several days enjoying the experience of France in Le Havre before they were transported to the 30th Division headquarters and from there to his billets with a French farmer. He began his official dental work on June 29, 1918.

Between examining hundreds of American soldiers' teeth, Hequembourg describes the front and surrounding areas include observations on the women, children, and elderly inhabitants of the towns; the damage to the landscape and villages; and sounds of guns ever-present in the distance. The need to move the dental equipment and office regularly seems to have occupied the time of the dental surgeons almost as much as their actual dental work; although in the period just before the soldiers were sent to the front lines, Hequembourg's time was spent "getting patients ready to go to front, filling root canals and putting treatments in to hold over till they get back." He describes in great detail being caught in a German air-raid, living in a dug-out and working in a dental office in "a corrugated iron shed camouflaged with branches," and seeing a field hospital.

Researchers interested in the American soldier's training and overseas experiences in World War I, medical work during World War I, and the American soldier's perspective of war and the peace negotiations following the war will find this collection to be very valuable. Hequembourg provides vivid descriptions of the battlefield, and more frequently the area just beyond the battlefield.