War dog memorial honors forgotten aspect of military

Los Angeles Times ^ | JONATHAN ABRAMS

[Dubya]

The small group of veterans gathers at March Field Air Museum in Riverside, Calif., once a year, traveling from all corners of the country, to mourn forgotten heroes of battle.

They come to honor the dogs that saved lives by detecting booby traps and watching over military camps, dogs that became trusted friends in times of loneliness. snip The Vietnam Dog Handler Association estimates that dogs saved 10,000 soldiers' lives during the Vietnam War. They would alert handlers to tripwires blowing in the breeze or the otherwise undetectable scent of buried explosives.

Depending on their level of aggressiveness, the dogs were sent to two camps to hone their skills before deployment. Scout dogs were trained at Fort Benning, Ga., and sentry dogs at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, still one of the country's largest dog training facilities.

The federal government, fearing that such dogs could not be rehabilitated after the war, classified them as equipment. They were euthanized at the end of battle.

[Dubya]

The West Coast War Dog Memorial at March Field Air Museum in Riverside, Calif., bears the names of war dogs and their handlers. Of the estimated 4,000 dogs used in the Vietnam War, only about 200 returned to the U.S.

IRFAN KHAN PHOTOS: LOS ANGELES TIMES

[nmh]

That’s nice.

I didn’t know they were so involved in the war.

[SIDENET]

I saw a documentary about war dogs in Vietnam. They were mostly German Shepherds and very few were allowed to return home. Very sad.

[Kozak]

It was touching to see soldiers crying over the heroic actions of those dogs 30 years ago.

[VOA]

War dog memorial honors forgotten aspect of military

Well, The Los Angeles Times will sometimes forget to aknowledge
Pearl Harbor in their Dec. 7 editions.

But IIRC, they often did run an article about a cemetary marker
for a war-dog that always got decorated on Memorial Day.
(Sort of like the anonymous decoration of Edgar Allen Poe's grave)

I don't think this was at March, but somewhere on the coast
south of the LA area.

[trimom]

I visited this site at March and spoke with one of the Air Force dog handlers, long since retired. The dogs were used on the flight lines for security. He said that the dogs got so attached to the handlers that, in many cases, they couldn’t transfer their loyalty to the replacements. In some cases, the handler would re-up because of his attachment to the dog. In other cases, the dogs were euthanized.

These fine animals did countless wonderful jobs. Man’s best friend, indeed.

[VOA]

The federal government, fearing that such dogs could not be rehabilitated
after the war, classified them as equipment. They were euthanized
at the end of battle.

I got to see a canine security detail (from Whitman AFB) at
the annual "Salute To Veterans" airshow at Columbia, MO.

The handlers took plenty of questions from the crowd.
And suprised me when one of the handlers honestly disclosed
that occassionally they do "put down" a trainee-dog due to
too-high an agression level.
It seems to be the down-side of being a handler.

[SandRat]

WOOF! WOOF!!!

[freekitty]

They are suppose to be changing that.

[Howie]

A US Marine, the four-legged type takes a break on Iwo Jima during WWII. www.http://www.npswapa.org/gallery/albums/

[puppypusher]

It’s Really unfortunate that the U.S. military left those dogs in South Vietnam when we withdrew. We’ll never know what the South Vietnamese did with the dogs but Dog is a delicacy in Asia.