A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....09-24-03...War Dogs...Forgotton Heros

Dutchess, Gizmo and Billie

[dutchess]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

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~ Billie, Mama_bear, dansangel, Dutchess, Aquamarine, FreetheHostages

How precious we "creatures" great and small are. As we salute our military we thought it appropriate to spotlight some of our "behind the scene "heros", the War Dogs who have been serving our country since WWII. God bless our military men, women and canine friends...

"War Dogs...Forgotten Heros" Compiled from the Archives of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum & Quartermaster Historian, Fort Lee, Virginia by K. M Born.

The Army Quartermaster Corps began the U.S. Armed Forces first war dog training during WWII. By 1945 they had trained almost 10,000 war dogs for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

A little known, but interesting chapter in Quartermaster History is the War Dog program. During World War II, not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American Kennel Club and a new group calling itself "Dogs for Defense" mobilized dog owners across the country to donate quality animals to the Quartermaster Corps. Dogs donated by a patriotic public to the Army saved the lives of a number of soldiers in combat.

The first estimates were that only about 200 dogs would be needed, but that soon changed. Dogs for Defense worked with qualified civilian trainers, who volunteered their services without pay, to train dogs for the program. Soon the demand for sentry dogs outstripped the original limited training program. As requirements increased reception and training responsibility was transferred to the Quartermaster Remount Branch, which had years of experience dealing with animals. Dogs for Defense continued its highly successful campaign to solicit donations of dogs. In the fall of 1942 the program expanded to procure and train dogs for the Navy and Coast Guard as well. Later these branches procured and trained their own dogs.

Total training time for a dog was between 8-12 weeks. At the training centers, dogs began a rigid military routine. A "basic training" period was initiated where dogs were trained to carry out certain fundamental commands such as sit, stay, come, etc... They were also accustomed to muzzles, gas masks, riding in military vehicles and to gunfire. After completion of basic training each dog went through specialized training:

Sentry Dogs

Worked on a short leash and were taught to give warning by growling, alerting or barking. They were especially valuable for working in the dark when attack from cover or the rear was most likely. The sentry dog was taught to accompany a military or civilian guard on patrol and gave him warning of the approach or presence of strangers within the area protected.

Scout or Patrol Dogs

In addition to the skills listed for sentry dogs, scout/patrol dogs were trained to work in silence in order to aid in the detection of snipers, ambushes and other enemy forces in a particular locality.

Messenger Dogs

The most desired quality in these dogs was loyalty, since he must be motivated by the desire to work with two handlers. They learned to travel silently and take advantage of natural cover when moving between the two handlers. (A total of 151 messenger dogs were trained.)

Mine Dogs

Called the M-Dog or mine detection dog they were trained to find trip wires, booby traps, metallic and non-metallic mines. (About 140 dogs were trained. Only two units were activated. Both were sent to North Africa where the dogs had problems detecting mines under combat conditions.)

Outstanding War Dogs

Probably the most famous War Dog was Chips. Chips was donated by Edward J. Wren of Pleasantville, New York, was trained at Front Royal , Virginia in 1942, and was among the first dogs to be shipped overseas. He was assigned to the 3d Infantry Division and served with that unit in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. His assignments included sentry duty at the Roosevelt-Churchill conference in Casablanca in January 1943. Although trained as a sentry dog, Chips was reported on one occasion by members of Company I, 30th Infantry Regiment, to have broken away from his handler and attacked a pillbox containing an enemy machine gun crew in Sicily. He seized one man and forced the entire crew to surrender. He was also credited by the units to which he was assigned as having been directly responsible for capture of numerous enemy by alerting to their presence. In recognition of his service Chips was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, both were later revoked. In 1993 Disney produced a TV move about Chips called "Chips the War Dog".

Dick, a scout dog donated by Edward Zan of New York City, was cited for working with a Marine Corps patrol in the Pacific Area. This dog not only discovered a camouflaged Japanese bivouac but unerringly alerted to the only occupied hut of five, permitting a surprise attack which resulted in annihilation of the enemy without a single Marine casualty.

Returning War Dogs to Civilian Life

At the end of the war the Quartermaster Corps put into operation a plan for return of war dogs to their civilian owners. Dogs were sent to a reprocessing section for the purpose of rehabilitation for civilian life. Dogs were trained that every human was friendly and tested for such things as reaction to people riding around them on bicycles or placed in an area with a great amount of noise. Before return, each dog was given a final check by a veterinary officer. Shipment of the dog to the owner was made at government expense. Those dogs which the original owner did not desire were sold to the public by the Treasury Department with the assistance of Dogs for Defense. By early 1947 the return of all borrowed dogs was completed.

Postscript

The oldest memorial to War Dogs in the United States is at the Hartsdale (New York) Pet Cemetery. This memorial was dedicated in 1922 to War Dogs used in World War I. In 1994 a War Dog memorial was dedicated at the U.S. Marine Corps War Dog Cemetery on Guam to honor the dogs that served in the An effort is currently underway to to petition the U.S. Postal Service for a stamp honoring military working dogs.

How to Adopt a Retired Military Dog

The Department of Defense is now making Military Working Dogs that are no longer capable of performing their military duties available for adoption. Public Law 106-446 makes the Department of Defense military working dogs available for adoption to law enforcement agencies, former handlers of these dogs, and other persons capable of caring for these dogs. If you are interested in adopting one of the dogs please call Status Control at 1-800-531-1066.

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 09-22-03 Military Monday 09-23-03...Isabel

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[Temple Owl]

Ink sends her love to Gizmo, Codee and Fred. We sure are lucky!

[dansangel]

That is just *way* too cute!

BadDogCam - what a concept! :-)

[dansangel]

It could mean they like that short leash because it keeps them close to their honey.

You backpeddled your sweet self right out of that one! LOL!!

[JustAmy]

Make sure you let your daughter know that she is greatly appreciated!!!

[iceskater]

Very cute!

[Billie]

But I love war dogs! They are among my new friends.

Weinie

Running, playing, chasing squirrels, never catching them because they have no pain either......:)

[Billie]

I think a lot of the married guys here can probably relate to that.

LOL!

[Billie]

!!!!

Hi! Great to see you today.

[Billie]

You two never let us down if you're 'in town', and this hostess is always glad to see the little red plane and the purple cup! All's well. :)

[Aeronaut]

Why thank you, ma'am.

[Billie]

...and as for the wolfie, well.....we know why he's here 'ever day' :)

[Billie]

Hi, Pip - loved your 'poem' today on the Poetry thread. :)

[Billie]

Afternoon, Miss Freezie! Waiting for the calendar that is all about you to open so I can see! :),p>Oh, LOL! I just saw it! Somehow, I don't quite believe you really, really feel that way. :)

[Billie]

Afternoon, iceskater, hope everything's good with you after Isabel now. :)

[iceskater]

Things are doing ok. We just have to get the little bit of food we managed to salvage by putting it in my Mom's freezer back from her house. The grocery stores are just bare. Pretty much everybody had to throw away most of their food so the grocery stores are as empty as I've ever seen. My sister who lives about 25 miles from me won't be getting power back any time soon. She does have a generator so that helps.

Work is back and driving me crazy so I guess that means things are pretty much back to normal. LOL!

But when the dust settles, we WILL be getting a generator.

[Billie]

Afternoon, Meekie! What a picture! LOL! Idiots. :)

[Billie]

Good afternoon to Johnny Mac. Things are well with you? I hope!

[Billie]

I love that picture, and its caption. And those men - God Bless those men who survived the attack on their ship, the USS Intrepid in 1944!

[FreeTheHostages]

Whew! Thank goodness I'm back. I got lost in a very strange thread.

There's nothing like Freeper's Finest, where the people are always nice!!

I promise never to leave again!! Hee hee, well, maybe every now and then . . . .

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL ! Howdy !