The Amazing Adventures of Archibald Esq.

American War Dog Memorial: 24 May 2009

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Throughout history us dogs have pursued a vast array of careers — just like their two-legged companions. And it is fair to say that one of the worst duties for hounds and humans alike is to go to war. It is also fair to say war is without exception caused by the tragic failure of human communication. Alas. (And they say dogs are dumb!)

Well, us dogs are noted for our loyalty. Our gullibility? And so we have followed the two-legged into their blood-soaked fields of war and terror. Awooooo!

Despite a lamentable track record in the treatment of the dogs of war by the American military, there are moves to redress the wrongs of yesterday, and a small group of veterans are lobbying to have a national monument to these forgotten four-legged war heroes.

Jonathan Abrams of the Los Angeles Times reported (7 Sept 2007) on an annual reunion of veterans at the March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California. March Field is a legendary Air Force base that has preserved bits of its history in the impressive Museum, which makes a fine backdrop for the West Coast War Dog Memorial.

The veterans travel from all corners of the country to honour the countless dogs that saved lives by detecting trap wires, guarding camps, and generally sensing danger. Saving lives is a complicated business, and also involved being trusted friends and companions in time of great duress and loneliness.

The veterans meet there every year on the Sunday before Memorial Day. The West Coast War Dog Memorial is a 16 foot bronze and granite statue of a soldier and his Alsatian. It bears the names of war dogs and their handlers.

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates American men and women who died in military service. It began first to honour Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War.

The black obelisk/column is just past the entryway B-24 bomber. The sculpted memorial was funded and sponsored by Nature’s Recipe Pet Foods. It was sculpted by A. Thomas Schumberg and dedicated on Feb. 21, 2000.

Most touching are the tiles around the Memorial’s base, tributes to individual dogs, each marked with a symbolic black pawprint.

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, and another soldier in front of them was killed.

John said he and Clipper played dead for 10 minutes before help arrived; if not for Clipper, Burnam said, he has no doubt that he would have died.

In Clipper’s enduring memory, John 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.

In response to detractors, John says firmly that “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.” In addition to his dog memorial advocacy he has written Dog Tags of Courage: Combat Infantrymen and War Dog Heroes in Vietnam.

The inscriptions are short and cryptic, but hint at the adventures (and trials) these dogs must have undergone: “‘Hilda’ My Hero Da Nang 66 B Martin” or “Team F Ban Me Thout 981st MP K9 Mort 69.” Other tiles salute dogs from WW II and Korea.

The Vietnam Dog Handler Association estimates that dogs saved 10,000 soldiers’ lives during the Vietnam War. Dogs routinely alerted their two-legged handlers to tripwires 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 — which is still one of the country’s largest dog training facilities.

It is a sad historical truth that the American government, fearing that ‘veteran’ dogs could not be rehabilitated after the war, classified them as ‘equipment.’ Part of the euphemistic ‘new-speak’…. And so these loyal, hard-working and big-hearted four-legged heroes were euthanized at the end of the War.

The West Coast Dog Memorial is not the only war dog memorial site. The East Coast National War Dog Memorial is at Fort Benning, GA — in front of the National Infantry Museum. Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York has been home to another War Dog Memorial for many years.

The island of Guam features the Doberman War Dog Memorial (of which there is a replica at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine).

Small town tributes such as “Guardians,” a war dog memorial in Streamwood, Illinois, are becoming more common.

But there is growing pressure for recognition on a national scale. A brochure available at the March Field ticket counter encourages visitor donations to a proposed National War Dog Memorial in Washington DC, honouring “Courage at both ends of the leash.”

The tribute could not come sooner for many war dog handlers, most of whom were forced to leave their dogs behind after World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Tragically, of the estimated 4,000 dogs used in the Vietnam War, only about 200 returned to the USA.

Dogs of war are not just a thing of yesteryear. There are fresh ‘heroes’ and veterans all the time, as dogs continue to play a vital role in today’s military ‘deployments’. It seems until thick-headed humans stop waging war, dogs will be there by their sides, loving and suffering in unequal measures. Awooooo!

After years of veterans campaigning to have the contribution of war dogs recognized with a national monument, there is now hope. Legislation currently weaving its slow and steady way through Congress would establish a national memorial at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Let’s hope John Burman and his friends such as the Vietnam Dog Handler Association are able to address these on-going wrongs.

Archie - a steadfastly pacifist hound

Posted 24 May 09