Centennial Moment

Alexander Gordon Lyle, DDS, FACD

Vice Admiral, Dental Corps, US Navy Medal of Honor, Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster

Stephen A. Ralls, DDS, EdD, MSD President, American College of Dentists Foundation

The collective Fellowship of the American College of Dentists has encompassed numerous, distinguished leaders from all walks of dentistry. Among this already elite assembly are some whose lives and accomplishments provoke an added sense of awe and amazement. Alexander Gordon Lyle is one of those persons. His list of achievements is truly remarkable.

As widely reported in newspapers on the one-year anniversary of Armistice Day, December 11, 1919, Dr. Lyle was one of two Navy dentists selected to receive the Medal of Honor for his service in World War I, the other being Lieutenant Junior Grade Weedon E. Osborne who received the award posthumously. The medal was designed by Tiffany and Co. in 1919. Dr. Lyle and Dr. Osborne are the fi rst and only Navy dentists so recognized. On March 13, 1943, Dr. Lyle became the fi rst Navy dentist to be elevated to the rank of Rear Admiral. He also appears to be the fi rst, and perhaps only, Navy dentist to have been retired at the rank of Vice Admiral. This was done through a “tombstone promotion,” which was a process in place at the time where combat-decorated naval offi cers could be promoted to the next higher rank at retirement. Rear Admiral Lyle was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Dentists in 1944, apparently while serving as Inspector of Dental Activities for the Navy. Emergency regulations of World War II prohibited large meetings and this policy prevented the College from holding Convocations from 1942 through 1946. To continue functioning under these wartime conditions, Sections were asked to confer Fellowships locally. Admiral Lyle would have been inducted as Fellow in this manner, most likely in the fall of 1944 by the Washington, DC Section or Maryland Section. He remains the only Fellow of the American College of Dentists to have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Alexander Gordon Lyle was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on November 12, 1889, to James J. Lyle and Margaret D. MacFarlane. Both parents were of Canadian nativity. In 1912 he graduated from the Baltimore College of Dentistry and three years later, on April 21, 1915, he was appointed Assistant Dental Surgeon in the Navy Dental Corps. Dr. Lyle’s father was a mariner, which may have played a role in his choice to enter the Navy. Although World War I began July 28,

1914, the United States did not enter the fray until April 6, 1917—almost two years after Dr. Lyle entered naval service. Following his appointment in 1915, Dr. Lyle was ordered to the Naval Station, Newport, Rhode Island. He remained there until June 1917 when he was assigned to the Fifth Regiment of Marines. He served with that regiment in France throughout the War. Dr. Lyle was recognized with a Silver Star (Army) and later the Medal of Honor—both awards apparently for the same action. The citations for the two awards are virtually identical and involve saving the life of Corporal Thomas Regan on April 23, 1918. The citation for the Medal of Honor reads: “For extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with the Fifth Regiment United States Marines. Under heavy shell fi re, on April 23, 1918, he rushed to the assistance of Corporal Thomas Regan, who was seriously wounded, and administered such effective surgical aid while bombardment was still continuing, as to save the life of Corporal Regan.” It appears that a closer review of the heroic act behind the Silver Star prompted subsequent, enhanced recognition through the Medal of Honor without nullifying or retracting the original Silver Star. There is some evidence that the Navy initially wanted to change the Silver Star to a Navy Cross, but Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, upgraded it to the Medal of Honor instead. For gallantry in the Soisson Sector of France in July of 1918, Dr. Lyle also received an Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second Silver Star (Army). Four months later, World War I ended with the Armistice of November 11, 1918. Over the course of his distinguished career, Dr. Lyle had a variety of duty stations and assignments, including the Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode Island; USMC, Fifth Regiment, France; Base Hospital Two, Paris; Navy Yard, Boston; New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn; USS Tennessee; USS California (BB-44); USMC, Fourth Regiment, Shanghai, China; USS Houston (CA-30); Army Industrial College, Washington, DC; Naval Dispensary, Washington, DC; Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida; Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island; Inspector of Dental Materials, Medical Supply Depot, Brooklyn; Inspector of Dental Activities for the Navy, Washington, DC; Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for Dentistry and Chief, Navy Dental Corps; General Inspector (Dental) in the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; and retirement as Vice Admiral. In addition to the Medal of Honor and Silver Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Vice Admiral Lyle was also recognized with the Commendation Ribbon, Italian War Cross and Diploma, the Fourragère, Victory Medal, Overseas Clasp, Yangtze Service Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. He also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Maryland. Vice Admiral Lyle died on Friday, July 15, 1955, at his home in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, reportedly of a heart attack. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Ruth, of Newport, Rhode Island, survived him along with a son and daughter. Vice Admiral Lyle richly deserves a special place in our history. His courageous actions and trailblazing leadership were at the highest levels and unquestionably embody the standard of Fellowship.

Otto W. Brandhorst, The American College of Dentists: Its History, Organization, Objectives and How it Functions, St. Louis: John S. Swift Co., ca. 1970, pp. 105, 536. 2 “Vice Admiral Alexander G. Lyle Deceased,” Navy Offi ce of Information, Internal Relations Division (OI-430), April 8, 1965; Modern Offi cer Biographies Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command Archives, Washington Navy Yard. 3 Obituary of Alexander Gordon Lyle, Newport Daily News, July 15, 1955, vol. 111, no. 236, p. 2, col. 4. 4 Obituary of Ruth (Haire) Lyle, Newport Daily News, March 28, 1963, vol. 118, no. 42, p. 2, col. 4. 5 Images, US Navy.

Dr. Lyle, wearing his medal of honor.