Near Danang, a soldier and his war dog, a German shepherd named Bruiser, silently creep forward, searching for any sign that the enemy is near. Bruiser suddenly stops dead in his tracks, his nose up and ears twitching — signaling danger. His handler makes a decision to fire, and seconds later, enemy bullets and grenades rain violently down on the soldiers.
Bruiser's handler, John Flannelly, is gravely wounded. Ignoring Flannelly's orders to leave him on the battlefield, Bruiser drags Flannelly to safety, while taking two rounds in the process. Other brave soldiers die that day, yet with Bruiser's advance warning, many survive — including Flannelly, who was later reunited with Bruiser in a field hospital.
Flannelly later said, "Bruiser saved not only my life, but the lives of the other Marines I was working with. I never would have made it without him. I will never be able to thank him enough. I owe my life to that dog."
Buck was a German shepherd mixed breed experimental dog developed by the Army. He could smell out the enemy at more than 350 yards, as well as find explosives buried six feet underground. His handler, Dennis H. Jefcoat, tells this story: "On our first mission together in Nam, Buck saved my life by alerting on a trip wire I was about to step onto. From that moment on, my life was completely dependent on him. The combat troops in the field loved Buck, because when he was off patrol duty, he would give every guy a doggy kiss that wanted one and would do flips chasing a frisbee. Buck would bring up the spirits of every GI by protecting, entertaining and, yes, loving every man in every patrol we were assigned to. Buck never lost a man to an ambush, trip wire or pungy pit. Buck was killed when he missed a trip wire. His photograph has always been posted on a wall in every home I have lived in because I owe my existence to that dog's devotion and courage."
One of the most famous war dogs was Chips, who served in World War II. Chips, donated to the war effort by Edward J. Wren of Pleasantville, N.Y., was trained at Front Royal in Virginia, and was one of the first dogs to be shipped overseas.
Chips was assigned to the 3rd 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.
Though trained as a sentry, on one occasion in Sicily, Chips broke away from his handler and attacked a pillbox containing an enemy machine gun crew. He seized one man, and forced the entire crew to surrender. The units to which he was assigned also credited him for being responsible for the capture of numerous enemy by alerting soldiers to their presence. Chips received both the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, although both were later revoked. In 1993, Disney produced a TV movie called "Chips the War Dog."
Sources: War Dog Memorial Fund Inc. (www.war-dogs.com); U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, Fort Lee, Va.
Duties of war dogs
War dogs were trained to work in the following areas:
Sentry dogs: They were taught to give warning by growling, altering or barking. They were especially valuable working in the dark when attack from cover or the rear was most likely. Sentry dogs would also accompany a military or civilian guard on patrol and give 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 dogs were trained to work in silence in order to aid in the detection of snipers, ambushers and other enemy forces.
Messenger dogs: They learned to travel silently and take advantage of natural cover when moving between two handlers.
Mine dogs: These dogs were trained to find trip wires, booby traps, metallic and nonmetallic mines.
Combat tracker dogs: Using both visual clues and scents such as blood and body odors, these dogs were used to locate missing personnel, such as downed pilots.
SOURCES: U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, Fort Lee, Va.; United States War Dogs Association, www.uswardogs.org
War dogs in history
As early as 2100 B.C., Hammurabi equipped his warriors with large dogs.
In 628 B.C., the Lydians deployed a battalion of fighting dogs that was separate from their regular battalions.
Roman legions used fighting dogs called Pugnaces Britanniae, with one company of dogs per legion.
Attilla the Hun used large Molossian dogs (forerunners of the mastiff and ancestors of the bloodhound) in his campaigns.
During the Middle Ages, dogs were often outfitted with armor and used to defend caravans.
In 1580, England's Elizabeth I sent 800 dogs to fight in the Desmond Rebellion.
In the Seven Years War, Frederick the Great used Russian dogs as messengers.
Napoleon used fighting dogs in his campaigns and also posted dogs as sentries at the gates of Alexandria in Egypt to warn his troops of enemy action.
The first recorded American Canine Corps was used during the Seminole War of 1835, when dogs were used to track Indians and runaway slaves in the swamps.
Dogs were used as messengers, guards and mascots during the U.S. Civil War.
In 1884, the German Army established the first school to train war dogs.
War dogs were used by Teddy Roosevelt's Roughriders as scouts in the jungles of Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
Sources: community-2.webtv.net/Hahn-50thAp-K9/K9History/; Wikipedia