Tuesday, November 11, 2008

War Dog Memorial

Bougainville - 1943

Last year we barked about our paw-fathers and paw-mutters that served in the Great War (WW I). This Veterans Day we bark about those that served in the South Pacific during WW II. The official US Marine dog during WW II was the Doberman Pinscher. Their first action was during the landing as Bougainville on 1 November 1943. These Devil Dogs detected mines, went on patrol, performed sentry duty and sniffed out the enemy. They saw combat on Saipan, Iwo Jima, Guam and Okinawa.

The 2nd and 3rd Marine Platoons on Guam used more War Dogs than all the other areas of combat in the Pacific. While during their duty on Guam 25 of our paw-fathers crossed the rainbow bridge in 1944. One Devil Dog named Kurt saved the lives of 250 soldiers when he alerted them to Japanese troops. Most of these dogs were buried in the Marine cemetery and marked by simple concrete graves that were each indented with the dog’s profile.

Marine and wounded Dobe
Guam - 1944

Guam War Dog Cemetery - 1944
At the wars end 549 dogs remained. Military Brass argued these dogs were killers unfit to return. They were wrong. The Devil Dogs were detrained and only four found unfit to return to civilian life.

War Dog Memorial

Fifty years later a new War Dog Memorial was dedicated to those dogs that never left Guam. The inscription on the memorial reads as follows:

25 Marine War Dogs gave their lives liberating Guam in 1944. They served as sentries, messengers, scouts. They explored caves, detected mines and booby traps.
SEMPER FIDELIS.

Kurt--------Yonnie------Koko-------Bunkie
Skipper---Poncho-----Tubby-----Hobo
Ni-----------Prince------Fritz--------Emmy
Missy------Cappy------Duke-------Max
Blitz--------Arno---------Silver------Brockie
Bursch----Pepper-----Ludwig----Rickey
Tam (buried at sea off Asan Point)

Given in their memory and on behalf of the surviving men of the 2nd and 3rd marine war dogs platoons, many of whom owe their lives to the bravery and sacrifice of these gallant animals.

11 comments:

Sunny,Scooter, (sometimes Jamie) said...

Once again today, Mom has goose bumps and leaky eyes. Mom's son is a Marine and her great Uncle was on Iwo Jima(also a Marine) He had an old pic of one of the "devil dogs"-so named by our enemies. Today we saluted the human vets(including Mom's son&Dad) We are glad y'all saluted our K-9 heroes!
Semper Fi Devil Dogs! (and ALL our k-9s serving)
Proud Hugs
Sunny&Scooter&Jamie(swallowing a huge lump in my throat)

Jake of Florida said...

Great blog, Collies. We all get so involved with the trivia of our daily lives that we sometimes forget what really matters: the hearts and souls of those who sacrifice everything for something greater than themselves.

How proud we are of our canine brothers and sisters as well as their human warriors.

Jake and Just Harry

Unknown said...

This is wonderful - thank you so much for sharing. Giant Schnauzers were employed by the Nazis during WWII (THEY didn't know they were on the WRONG side ...) and many of them patrolled death camps. Madison's breeder told us that a very elderly Jewish couple came to look a pups a few years ago, and the wife broke down when she saw the mother - the giant black dog with pointed ears brought back memories that the old woman had long suppressed ...

Lacy said...

w00f's pups, pawsome post...honoring the dogs that helped secure our freedom...

b safe,
~rocky~

Mack said...

We get chills just reading this blog. Those are some very brave doggies!

Anonymous said...

Hi Essex,Deacon!

Come over to my blog...there's something for you:)

Licks n Wags,
Oorvi

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post. I think it's important that once in a while we remember those who gave their lives for a cause.

Licks n Wags,
Oorvi

Dakota said...

Thank you for posting this, my friends. I did not know the history behind those four legged friends who helped make us safe. My Poppy was in Guam, I will have to ask him what he knows.
May all of our Veterans know they are loved and appreciated.

Dakota of the East and The Mom

Anonymous said...

Hi Essex n Deacon,

I am sorry about the butterfly. There was a butterfly on that flower, but one of you said that you didn't like butterflies so I asked her to remove it:(

Doesn't matter though...when they next work on Oodgets (there's quite a list that we have:)) I'll have the butterfly added. Don't worry...you won't have to do anything for it:) One fine day you'll see a butterfly on that flower...I just can't predict when.

Things've been a bit rough out here.

Licks n Wags,
Oorvi

Cowspotdog said...

Thank you so much for sharing this.....the mom loved reading it and was sad and proud at the same time. The mom talked about watching Lassie movies based around war time and how sad those were......and that we forget they were based on real facts.

duo_disaster said...

Essex & Deacon,

Thank you so so much for this post!
Its indeed so thoughtful of you to share this with us.

We appreciate it much!
Rudolf & Goofy