John Flannelly, 57; was saved by Marine dog in Vietnam

John F. Flannelly, 57, who died Monday in Salem Hospital, was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who learned through experience that dogs are indeed man's best friend. He owed his life to a military dog named Bruiser.

The year was 1969. It was the middle of the night, and Mr. Flannelly was a 21-year-old Marine on patrol in the rice paddies south of Da Nang in a dangerous area nicknamed ''Rocket Alley."

John Flannelly, 57; was saved by Marine dog in Vietnam By Tom Long, Globe Staff | April 28, 2005

The year was 1969. It was the middle of the night, and Mr. Flannelly was a 21-year-old Marine on patrol in the rice paddies south of Da Nang in a dangerous area nicknamed ''Rocket Alley."

Mr. Flannelly was leading a 12-man patrol with Bruiser, an 85-pound German shepherd. The young Marine and his dog stepped into the open, and ''the whole clearing seemed to explode," Mr. Flannelly said in a story published in the Globe in 1969. ''Everything hit the clearing: mortar rockets, grenades, automatic weapons. I was just lying there. I couldn't believe I wasn't hit."

The sergeant yelled to move back, and something blew up beside Mr. Flannelly when he was getting up. ''Oh, my God, my arm is gone," he yelled. It wasn't gone, though he couldn't feel it or move it.

He tried to get up again, and there was another explosion. He was hit in the chest, head, side, and legs. ''I looked down and saw my left lung hanging out and blowing up like a balloon," he said.

Mr. Flannelly fired back with his shotgun but was unable to move. He ordered his dog to leave, but the big German shepherd crouched beside him and began pulling his master to safety.

''He dragged him about 300 yards to a shell crater hole," said Mr. Flannelly's cousin Henry Connolly of Peabody, who served in the Marine Corps with him.

Mr. Flannelly was evacuated by helicopter and reunited with the dog at a mobile Army hospital.

''He climbed on the bed, put his head on my shoulder, and licked my face," Mr. Flannelly said in a story published in the Tampa Tribune in 1999. ''I just held him and cried. What do you say to someone who's saved your life?"

Although World War II military dogs were sometimes given medals for performance above and beyond the call of duty, Vietnam War dogs were considered equipment. Most were euthanized or left behind when the war ended.

Mr. Flannelly never saw Bruiser again after he was evacuated from the country.

A Boston native disabled by his war injuries, Mr. Flannelly was affiliated with Gross & Flannelly, a custom house broker and freight forwarding company at Logan International Airport, until he retired about 15 years ago.

''He looked healthy, but he was probably in pain for his entire life," Connolly said. Mr. Flannelly had lost his spleen, a lung, and a kidney. More than 100 pieces of shrapnel remained in his body.

But it didn't affect his disposition.

''He was larger than life and cast a wide net," Connolly said. ''He had a wide range of friends, from street people to CEOs, and kept in touch with everybody -- from his Marine buddies to the mothers of his high school friends."

Mr. Flannelly was featured in the Discovery Channel documentary ''War Dogs, America's Forgotten Heroes" in which he dissolves into tears when remembering the dog that saved his life. He was active in the movements to create a war dog memorial and to persuade the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp.

Mr. Flannelly, of Lynn, was a tall man who loved to ride his Harley-Davidson wearing all black, his long, silver hair trailing behind him. His buddies called him Johnny Gray.

''He might have been a little hard-headed -- he did exactly what he wanted to do -- but he never hurt anybody," his friend Peter Allard of Beverly said yesterday.

''He was a wild man and I loved him for it, " said Chris Mataragas of Peabody, a friend.

Despite years of hard living, it was a shock to his friends when Mr. Flannelly died, apparently of natural causes.

''He was near death many times, not only from his injuries in Vietnam but a couple of motorcycle accidents. We thought he had nine lives," said his friend Amy Hyam of Marblehead.

Mr. Flannelly leaves his wife, Marsha (Plank); his mother, Rita (Connolly) Lee of Melrose; two brothers, Jim of Illinois and Paul of California; and a sister, Anne Marie Kneuker of San Francisco.

A funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Saturday in Incarnation Church in Melrose. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

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