[ SHOWGSD-L ] Veterans Visit Riverside memorial to honor war dogs
- From: "Cyndy Davis" <cyndy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <CHGermanShepherdShowDogsList@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 18:14:37 -0700
From the LA Times on this Memorial Day:
Veterans visit Riverside memorial to honor war dogs
Memorial gives veterans a place to pay tribute to dogs that served with them
in war and even saved their lives. Most were left behind.
By Jonathan Abrams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2007
The small group of veterans gathers at Riverside's March Field Air Museum
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.
The meeting point is the 16-foot-tall West Coast War Dog Memorial, which
holds a bronze statue of a soldier and his German shepherd.
For years, veterans have sought to have the contributions of war dogs
recognized with a national monument.
The West Coast memorial, designed by Denver-area sculptor A. Thomas
Schomberg, was to have been placed at Riverside National Cemetery, but a
national Veterans Affairs advisory committee argued that doing so would be
disrespectful. The museum agreed to take it, and the veterans to meet there
every year on the Sunday before Memorial Day.
"It honors another aspect of the military that is forgotten," said Patricia
Korzec, the museum's executive director. "Man's best friend truly turned out
to be man's best friend on the battlefield."
Legislation currently weaving through Congress would establish a national
memorial at Ft. Belvoir, Va. It is included in the House's 2008 defense
authorization bill and is waiting to be heard in the Senate. If passed, it
could be signed into law as early as November.
The tribute could not come sooner for many war dog handlers, most of whom
were forced to leave their dogs behind when they returned to the United
States after World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
John Burnam, a Vietnam veteran who spent countless days with his German
shepherd, Clipper, credits the dog with saving his life several times.
Once while on combat patrol, Clipper stopped, his muscles tensed and ears
perked toward the sky. Burnam, who always followed the dog's lead, ducked to
the ground. Machine gun fire erupted, killing a soldier in front of them.
Burnam said he and Clipper played dead for 10 minutes before help arrived.
If not for Clipper, Burnham said, he has no doubt that he would have died.
"We were basically leading combat patrols, and the dogs, with their natural
abilities, were leading us."
Burnam now travels the country, advocating for a national war dog monument.
He and others proposed generating the $3 million needed for the monument
through fundraisers.
"We aren't equating them to humans, but we are saying . . . there are
families that have grandkids as a result of these dogs being deployed," said
Burnam, author of "Dog Tags of Courage: Combat Infantrymen and War Dog
Heroes in Vietnam."
The Vietnam Dog Handler Assn. 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 Ft.
Benning, Ga., and sentry dogs at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, still one
of the country's largest dog training facilities.
The scout dogs learned to alert handlers to foreign scents and sniff out
land mines, snipers, enemy sentries and patrol camps.
Sentry dogs learned to stand guard and protect bases, airfields, ammunition
dumps and fuel dumps.
The dogs are said to have lessened the chance of an ambush while on combat
patrol and lifted soldier morale.
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, much to the dismay of their
handlers.
Of the estimated 4,000 dogs used in the Vietnam War, only about 200 returned
to the United States.
In 2000, legislation that allowed handlers to adopt war dogs and bring them
home was signed by President Clinton.
Today, canine corps are deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq and are used to
secure bases and guard prisoners. Some of those dogs wear backpacks equipped
with radios and are given radio commands from soldiers in protected areas.
"These dogs have been serving our country and on the battlefield in every
war," Burnam said. "They've been doing it and saving American lives with
valor."
The military first started using canine scouts and messengers in World War
I.
After meeting a war dog handler at a Memorial Day event, Rep. Walter B.
Jones (R-N.C.), agreed to sponsor a bill for the national monument.
"It's a love that is hard to define," he said. "These comrades crawled in
the jungle at nighttime to find where the enemy was and sniffed out enemies.
They need to be recognized as an intricate part of our national security."
The memorial in Riverside was dedicated in 2000 before more than 100 Vietnam
veterans. At the base of the monument, paw prints and emotional messages
relay the bond between the veterans and the dogs.
"My friend, Bingo. Leaving you was sad and wrong."
"To my rebel protector and friend."
"If not for Dusty, I wouldn't be home."
On a recent sweltering morning, Mike McKelroy, who served as a dog handler
in Vietnam for 18 months, visited the memorial with Ken, his 7-year-old
German shepherd.
The dog has the same name as the one that served alongside him in Vietnam --
the one that saved McKelroy's life on a dusky morning when trees blocked a
hidden enemy camp from his sight, but not from his dog's nose.
"This is so lifelike," he said, gazing at the sculpture. "You live, breathe
and sleep with your dog, and he becomes a part of you."
jonathan.abrams@ latimes.com
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