ohmidog!

An American Legion honor guard in Fort Benton, Montana commemorated a little-known group of soldiers on Veterans Day – about 4,000 scout dogs, most of which were abandoned after protecting soldiers in Vietnam.

“In memory of the over 4,000 U.S. military working dogs that served in the Vietnam War,”  the Military Working Dogs Memorial, unveiled Tuesday, reads. “When the war was over, these dogs were left behind in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.”

The memorial came out of the collaboration of Adjutant Ron Saville, a former dog handler, and George F. Conklin, commander of American Legion Post 26, according to the Great Falls Tribune. 

The dogs first in Vietnam served as sentries to guard American and South Vietnamese installations, but also served as scouts, guard dogs, trackers, messengers, and munitions and drug detectors. They also sniffed out mines, trip wires, booby traps or tunnels.

Dogs and their handlers are estimated to have saved more than 10,000 lives in Vietnam, including his own, Conklin said. He choked back tears as he read a citation in honor of the military dog, Echo, that saved his life.
“At the end of the cavalry era, the Army machine-gunned its horses to death. After Vietnam, much the same thing happened to the working dogs, although it was more humanely done,” Conklin said. “Of more than 4,000 dogs sent to Vietnam, only two shipments, about 190 dogs, returned.”

The rest may have starved in their pens or have been killed and eaten by the North Vietnamese, Conklin said. They were classified as disposable “weapons systems.”

The military currently has between 1,700 and 1,800 dogs working with American military forces, and their classification, training and post-war future have all improved, said Col. John Probist, commander of Malmstrom Air Force Base’s 341st Security Forces Squadron.

“Since President Clinton signed the Robby law in 2001, it makes it possible for those dogs to be brought home and enjoy a retirement after their years of service,” said the colonel.

The “Robby Law” stemmed from a case involving a handler at Marine Base Quantico who sought to adopt his partner, Robby, upon the dog’s retirement. The issues raised then became the foundation for the “Robby Bill,” which was passed by Congress and signed into law, ending the Department of Defense policy of euthanizing military working dogs.

The final line on the back of the new memorial reads: “They were our heros, our best friend and companions and we will never forget them.”

(Photo: Tino, a military dog in Iraq trained to detect explosives; Air Force photo)