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‘Dixie’ was his national anthem Bill Gorman offered a wry perspective on life, business, even war
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f anyone could make going to war sound funny, it was Bill Gorman. “I had reached 18 years of age and the draft was getting more and more of those old men (those 19 and 20 year olds),” he wrote in his memoirs of his wartime experiences, from the summer of 1942 to January 1946. “I was giving serious consideration to joining the Air Force and the right opportunity came along. “I had gone home for the weekend in Cordele [Ga]., and the recruiting team from Turner Air Force Base in Albany came to town. They had a big brass band and played pretty marching music and got me in the mood to fight a war. The sergeant in charge
promised me that if I would join that day, I could spend the rest of the war at Turner Air Force Base. I joined. He lied.” Gorman was to spend two tough years in the Pacific Theater. Bill Gorman, chief “bookkeeper” of Atlanta Dental Supply for 60 years, patriot, family man and mentor and advisor to hundreds of young dentists, died at age 90 in July. “He lightened things up,” says Atlanta Dental President Gary Kirkus. “But he was a tough manager. He held everybody accountable.” “He was loved,” adds Jay Fawbush, customer service and iCare team manager for Atlanta Dental – and Bill Gorman’s grandson. “He was always laughing, always smiling, always wanting to see everyone. But he could get serious. He was a powerful speaker, and when he stood in front of a group of people, he would hold your attention.” Gorman was born in September 1923 and raised in Cordele, Ga. His father, William McKinley Gorman was a postal worker and a veteran not just of World War I, but of World War II as well. In fact, he was part of the Allied invasion of France on D-Day 1944, says Fawbush. His mother, Bobbie Gorman, was a homemaker.
Flag-raising When World War II erupted, Gorman enrolled in an aircraft maintenance program 52 : October 2014 : First Impressions : www.firstimpressionsmag.com