Loss of a legend

Every dog has its day -- and for some dogs, that day is about to come, just a few years overdue.

A War Dogs Memorial for the Valley is in the planning stage now, and organizers are hoping to have a bronze memorial in place at the Veterans' Wall of Honor by Memorial Day, 2003.

"It seemed appropriate to have a memorial for the dogs because they served, too, and they saved thousands of lives," said Leo Kaye, who is helping lead the project. "They never get the credit, though."

If war dogs were treated like their human counterparts, Kaye said the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. "would have had a lot more names on it. The dogs were important soldiers."

The memorial will be six-feet tall, with the bronzed soldier standing three-feet tall, and depict a soldier and his dog emerging into combat. Both the soldier and the dog have a feeling of anxiety on their faces.

The memorial will be cast in bronze in Oregon. Local artist Eugene Stotts is developing a clay mold of the project now, and once the funds have been raised, it will be sent to Oregon for the bronzing. Fund raising has been a challenge, Kaye said.

"It is going to cost about $30,000, and we're working hard to raise that money," Kaye said. "The borough donated $5,000 to the project, and we are talking to local organizations and groups."

Kaye said the idea to establish the War Dog Memorial in the Valley came after he watched the "War Dogs: America's Forgotten Heroes" movie detailing the role of war dogs. John Morrisey, a Vietnam veteran who climbed and renamed Mount POW/MIA in the Valley, also talked to Kaye about war dogs his company had.

"John said Woton [his war dog] saved his life at least three times in battle," Kaye said. "Animals have a place in all of our hearts."

During World War II, the American Kennel Club and a group called Dogs for Defense got together and started training dogs for combat. The Quartermaster Corps ran the training program at the War Dog Reception and Training Center in Virginia. Originally, more than 30 breeds of dogs were accepted, but those were narrowed down to just a few select breeds.

Bloodhounds were tried first, but they made too much noise. German Shepherds were by far the best choice, because of their color, size and the ability to withstand the sound of gunfire and heat. More than 10,000 such dogs were trained and used in World War II.

Dogs were trained for several lines of duty. Sentry dogs were taught to give warning by growling, alerting or barking. A scout dog, or patrol dog, was trained to work in silence to detect snipers, ambushes and other enemy forces. Messenger dogs were trained to work in silence and deliver messages, and mine dogs were trained to detect mines. A large majority of war dogs were of the sentry type.

War dogs were used extensively in Vietnam, and Kaye said he has heard estimates that more than 10,000 lives were saved through the use of war dogs. About 4,000 dogs were used in Vietnam, and all of them were German Shepherds. Scout and sentry dogs were used in Vietnam. They did everything from showing where the enemy was hiding, locating mines, identifying booby traps and pointing to where snipers were waiting. The sentry dogs were used in battle to kill enemy soldiers -- one sentry dog even earned three purple hearts for heroic acts in the line of duty.

Not every story about war dogs ends happily, however. When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, more than 1,500 war dogs were not able to be brought home -- they were turned over to South Vietnamese forces.

"Their final disposition once handed over [to the South Vietnamese] is open to speculation," wrote Michael Lemish in "War Dogs." "The general belief is that the dogs became another source of walking protein for troops."

Because of that, and because war dogs played an important and relatively unknown part in the history of U.S. military operations, Kaye feels the time to honor those dogs is long overdue.

"I'm hoping this memorial will be one people come from all over the country to see," Kaye said. "War dogs should have been honored a long time ago."