Brigadier General Billie B. Lefler was a deputy commanding general and assistant chief, surgeon (dental) headquarters, 7th medical command and headquarters, USAREUR, and Seventh Army.
Brigadier General Bill Lefler was born in Rawlins, Wyoming, on October 20, 1933. He attended Hendrix College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Basic Science. He is a December 1956 graduate of the University of Tennessee School of Dentistry, where he received his commission as a Dental Corps Officer. He completed his fixed prosthodontic residency at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1968.
He has worked in a variety of positions in the United States and overseas since entering the Army. Among them was the chief of fixed prosthodontics at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In addition, he is Chief of the Fixed Prosthodontics Service and Director of the Residency Program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Brigadier General Billie B. Lefler served as Chief of the Department of Dentistry, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Commander of the Dental Activity (DENTAC) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Brigadier General Billie B. Lefler then served as Senior Dental Corps Staff Officer in the Office of the Assistant Surgeon General for Dental Services/Chief, Army Dental Corps. Following this assignment, General Lefler was appointed as Deputy Commanding General and Director of Dental Services for the United States Army Health Services Command.
Brigadier General Billie B. Lefler also served as a fixed prosthodontics consultant to the Assistant Surgeon General for Dental Services. He coordinated all fixed prosthodontics training programs under the university concept of dental education in the Army Dental Corps. As Deputy Commanding General and Director of Dental Services for the Health Services Command, he assisted the commander in carrying out the Army’s health care mission throughout the United States and several overseas locations. General Lefler is awarded the Army Surgeon General’s “A” prefix. This is the highest award in recognition of professional excellence within the Army Medical Department.
He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Prosthodontics, a Charter Fellow of the American College of Prosthodontics, a Fellow of the International College of Dentists, a Fellow of the American College of Dentists, a member of the American Academy of Crown and Bridge Prosthodontics, the Pierre Fouchard Academy, and the American Dental Association.
Among General Letter’s military awards are the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Expert Field Medical Badge. He and his wife, Carolyn, have three children: Tracey Salter, Thomas, also an Army officer, and Mark. Brigadier General Billie B. Lefler died on September 25, 2017.
