"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war."
-William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
Nemo
Vietnam War (1957-1975)
The two thousand dogs that worked as scouts,
sentries,and patrole dogs during the Vietnam War
were credited with saving more than ten thousand lives.The most famous of these dogs was Nemo. Nemo was one of hundreds of sentry dogs that helped to protect American air base inside Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Air Force and Marine Corps fighters, fighter bombers, and transport planes worked from theses bases. Tis made them an important target of the enemy. On december 5,1966, Nemo and his handler, Airman Second Class Robert Thorberg, were patrolling Tan son Nhut air base near an old Vietnamese cemetry. After a deadly atack by the Vietcong the night brfore, neither dog nor handler could be to carefull.
Shortly before midnight, Nemo paused by a Japanese shrine. It was a clear starlit night, and Thornberg had no trouble reading his dog's signals. Nemo's eyes were glistening. his ears had perked up. And the fur around his neck was standding on end. The enemy was nearby.
Thornberg put Nemo on alert. "Watch him!" the marine commanded. As he spoke, the hidden enemy opened fire. One bullet tore through Thornbergs shoulder. Another entered Nemo's skull under the right eye and exited through the muzzle.
"Get him!" Thornberg ordered, letting go of Nemo's leash. The wiunded dog leapt into the darkness. Humen screams told Thornberg that Nemo hit his mark. The handler quickly called for help before rejoinning the bloody battle.
Backup troopsArrived to find Nemo, bloodied but alive, standding gaurd over his handler. Thornberg was unconsciouse from a bullet wounds to his shoulder and the arm. Two Veitcong guerrillas lay nearby. One was deaid from dog-bite wounds. The other from bite and bullet wounds. four abamdoned machine guns showed that Nemo and Thornberg had frightened away two other attackers.
Nemo had saved Thornberg's life. He also saved many other lives and aircraft, which could have been stopped. Nemo received a hero's welcome when he returned to the U.S in July 1967. The dog who lost his eye but saved so much more retired to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. There he became the symbol of the important relationship between dog and handler.
Chips
Chips was the First American dog hero of the World War II. This scout dog saved countless lives when he ran through the line of fire to disarm enemy machine gunners. He did this during the American campaign to take Sicily, an island off the southern tip of Italy. Chips and his handler; Private John P. Rowell, were part of the of a pre-dawn landing force that hit the beach there in July 1943.
They had advance about 400 yards when machine-gun fire began pouring out of a grass hut up ahead, Then "Things happened pretty fast," Rowell remeabereds. As he and the American soldiers hit the sand, Chips bolted. The dog yanked his leash from Rowell's hand and tore towards the hut. He was inside in a flash. " There was an awful lot of noise." Rowell Remeambered. "then I saw one fellow come out the door Chips at hit throat. I called him off before he killed the man. Right afterwards, the other fellow came out holdding his hand on above his head."
Rowell took two Italian gunners Prisoner. Chips suffered a powder wound and a scalp wound in the attack. Hee was given medical treatment and quickly returned to duty. That night he helped Rowell capture ten more Italian soldiers. word of Chips' heroism spread. He was cited for performing "with utter disregard to his own safty." November 1943, he was awarded two medals: the silver star for bravery and a purple Heart for wound received in action. Theses medals were later withdrawn when some people complained about an animal being given medals meant for humens. with or with out his medals though, Chips was a hero. General Dwight D. Esenhower, then Allied Commander in Cheif in the Meditrranean theater, even tried to congratulate him in person. but Eisenhower forgot what Chips did not, when Eisenhower reached for him, Chips bit the Four-star General's hand.
STUBBY
Brave Soldier Dog of The 102nd Infantry
The story of STUBBY actually starts with the beginning of the Great War in Europe. From 1914 to 1917 the French, Germans and others struggled with each other for control of France and Europe. In April of 1917 America finally entered the war and mobilized its National Guard forces.
The 1st Connecticut from the Hartford area and the 2nd Connecticut from the New Haven area were sent to Camp Yale in the vicinity of the Yale Bowl for encampment and training. It was during this phase that two important things occurred. The 1st and 2nd could not muster the required number of forces between them to form a fully manned regiment of 1000 + so they were combined. The 1st and 2nd with nothing in between became the 102nd Infantry and was made a part of the 26th (YANKEE) division of Massachusetts. It was also around this time that STUBBY wandered into the encampment and befriended the soldiers. In October 1917 when the unit shipped out for France, STUBBY, by this time the "UNOFFICIAL - OFFICIAL" mascot, was smuggled aboard the troop ship S.S. Minnesota in an overcoat and sailed into doggy legend.
Times were not good in France, the American Expeditionary Force was looked upon as second class soldiers, not to be trusted without French oversight and trench warfare combined with deadly gas took a toll on both the men and their spirits.
STUBBY did his part by providing morale-lifting visits up and down the line and occasional early warning about gas attacks or by waking a sleeping sentry to alert him to a German attack.
In April 1918 the Americans, and the 102nd Infantry, finally got their chance to prove their mettle when they participated in the raid on the German held town of Schieprey, depicted here in an original oil painting, by John D. Whiting, that hangs in the 102nd Regimental Museum in New Haven. As the Germans withdrew they threw hand grenades at the pursing allies. STUBBY got a little over enthusiastic and found himself on top of trench when a grenade went off and he was wounded in the foreleg.
This occurred in the vicinity of "Deadmans Curve" on the road outside Schieprey so named because to negotiate the curve vehicles had to slow down making them an easy target for German artillery.
After the recapture of Chateau Thierry the women of the town made him a chamois blanket embroidered with the flags of the allies. The blanket also held his wound stripe, three service chevrons and the numerous medals, the first of which was presented to him in Neufchateau, the home of Joan of Arc
Wolf
As Wolf led the infantry patrol though the Corabello Mountains in Northern Luzon, an island in the Phillippines, he scented the enemy. Luckily for the Americans, Wolf scented at quite a distance. The Japanese were on a hill about 150 yards away. The patrol had time to take cover before the Japanese attacked.
Wolf was wounded during the fighting that followed. Pieces of shell tore through the German shepherd's coat. But the brave dog didn't cry out. He didn't show any sighns of pain. The men around him never knew he had been hurt.
As the battle raged on, the Amiercans realized they were outnumbered. They had to turn back before it was too late. But the Japanese nearly had them surounded. It would be tough to break through enenmy lines and return safely to headquarters,
Again, Wolf and his handler took the lead. Three times Wolf alerted the patrol to japanese troops closing in on it, and each time the Americans successfully avoided coming into contacte with the enemy. Thanks in a large part to Wolf's alerts, the American troops arrived back at their camp without a single casualty.
But it wasn't an entirely happy endding. Once back at camp, the men discovered Wolfs wounds. A veterinarian performed and emergency opration, but was unable to save Wolf's life. The 25th Division casualty list includes, among others:
WOLF, US ARMY WAR DOG, T121, Died of wounds- Wounded in Action.
"These are a few of the worlds Greatest Heroes."
The K-9 Corp Song
by Arthur Roland
From the kennels of the country,
From the homes and firesides, too;
We have joined the canine army,
Our nation's work to do;
We serve with men in battle,
And scout through jungles dense;
We are proud to be enlisted
In the cause for the dog for defense;
Through the watches of the darkest night
We are ever standing alert;
And if danger comes we stick by our men,
All the rights of the flag we assert;
So bare our fangs in mans behalf
And the cause he's fightting for;
We are glad ro serve as members
Of Uncle Sam's trappy, scrappy K-9 Corps.
-William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
Nemo
Vietnam War (1957-1975)
The two thousand dogs that worked as scouts,
sentries,and patrole dogs during the Vietnam War
were credited with saving more than ten thousand lives.The most famous of these dogs was Nemo. Nemo was one of hundreds of sentry dogs that helped to protect American air base inside Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Air Force and Marine Corps fighters, fighter bombers, and transport planes worked from theses bases. Tis made them an important target of the enemy. On december 5,1966, Nemo and his handler, Airman Second Class Robert Thorberg, were patrolling Tan son Nhut air base near an old Vietnamese cemetry. After a deadly atack by the Vietcong the night brfore, neither dog nor handler could be to carefull.
Shortly before midnight, Nemo paused by a Japanese shrine. It was a clear starlit night, and Thornberg had no trouble reading his dog's signals. Nemo's eyes were glistening. his ears had perked up. And the fur around his neck was standding on end. The enemy was nearby.
Thornberg put Nemo on alert. "Watch him!" the marine commanded. As he spoke, the hidden enemy opened fire. One bullet tore through Thornbergs shoulder. Another entered Nemo's skull under the right eye and exited through the muzzle.
"Get him!" Thornberg ordered, letting go of Nemo's leash. The wiunded dog leapt into the darkness. Humen screams told Thornberg that Nemo hit his mark. The handler quickly called for help before rejoinning the bloody battle.
Backup troopsArrived to find Nemo, bloodied but alive, standding gaurd over his handler. Thornberg was unconsciouse from a bullet wounds to his shoulder and the arm. Two Veitcong guerrillas lay nearby. One was deaid from dog-bite wounds. The other from bite and bullet wounds. four abamdoned machine guns showed that Nemo and Thornberg had frightened away two other attackers.
Nemo had saved Thornberg's life. He also saved many other lives and aircraft, which could have been stopped. Nemo received a hero's welcome when he returned to the U.S in July 1967. The dog who lost his eye but saved so much more retired to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. There he became the symbol of the important relationship between dog and handler.
Chips
Chips was the First American dog hero of the World War II. This scout dog saved countless lives when he ran through the line of fire to disarm enemy machine gunners. He did this during the American campaign to take Sicily, an island off the southern tip of Italy. Chips and his handler; Private John P. Rowell, were part of the of a pre-dawn landing force that hit the beach there in July 1943.
They had advance about 400 yards when machine-gun fire began pouring out of a grass hut up ahead, Then "Things happened pretty fast," Rowell remeabereds. As he and the American soldiers hit the sand, Chips bolted. The dog yanked his leash from Rowell's hand and tore towards the hut. He was inside in a flash. " There was an awful lot of noise." Rowell Remeambered. "then I saw one fellow come out the door Chips at hit throat. I called him off before he killed the man. Right afterwards, the other fellow came out holdding his hand on above his head."
Rowell took two Italian gunners Prisoner. Chips suffered a powder wound and a scalp wound in the attack. Hee was given medical treatment and quickly returned to duty. That night he helped Rowell capture ten more Italian soldiers. word of Chips' heroism spread. He was cited for performing "with utter disregard to his own safty." November 1943, he was awarded two medals: the silver star for bravery and a purple Heart for wound received in action. Theses medals were later withdrawn when some people complained about an animal being given medals meant for humens. with or with out his medals though, Chips was a hero. General Dwight D. Esenhower, then Allied Commander in Cheif in the Meditrranean theater, even tried to congratulate him in person. but Eisenhower forgot what Chips did not, when Eisenhower reached for him, Chips bit the Four-star General's hand.
STUBBY
Brave Soldier Dog of The 102nd Infantry
The story of STUBBY actually starts with the beginning of the Great War in Europe. From 1914 to 1917 the French, Germans and others struggled with each other for control of France and Europe. In April of 1917 America finally entered the war and mobilized its National Guard forces.
The 1st Connecticut from the Hartford area and the 2nd Connecticut from the New Haven area were sent to Camp Yale in the vicinity of the Yale Bowl for encampment and training. It was during this phase that two important things occurred. The 1st and 2nd could not muster the required number of forces between them to form a fully manned regiment of 1000 + so they were combined. The 1st and 2nd with nothing in between became the 102nd Infantry and was made a part of the 26th (YANKEE) division of Massachusetts. It was also around this time that STUBBY wandered into the encampment and befriended the soldiers. In October 1917 when the unit shipped out for France, STUBBY, by this time the "UNOFFICIAL - OFFICIAL" mascot, was smuggled aboard the troop ship S.S. Minnesota in an overcoat and sailed into doggy legend.
Times were not good in France, the American Expeditionary Force was looked upon as second class soldiers, not to be trusted without French oversight and trench warfare combined with deadly gas took a toll on both the men and their spirits.
STUBBY did his part by providing morale-lifting visits up and down the line and occasional early warning about gas attacks or by waking a sleeping sentry to alert him to a German attack.
In April 1918 the Americans, and the 102nd Infantry, finally got their chance to prove their mettle when they participated in the raid on the German held town of Schieprey, depicted here in an original oil painting, by John D. Whiting, that hangs in the 102nd Regimental Museum in New Haven. As the Germans withdrew they threw hand grenades at the pursing allies. STUBBY got a little over enthusiastic and found himself on top of trench when a grenade went off and he was wounded in the foreleg.
This occurred in the vicinity of "Deadmans Curve" on the road outside Schieprey so named because to negotiate the curve vehicles had to slow down making them an easy target for German artillery.
After the recapture of Chateau Thierry the women of the town made him a chamois blanket embroidered with the flags of the allies. The blanket also held his wound stripe, three service chevrons and the numerous medals, the first of which was presented to him in Neufchateau, the home of Joan of Arc
Wolf
As Wolf led the infantry patrol though the Corabello Mountains in Northern Luzon, an island in the Phillippines, he scented the enemy. Luckily for the Americans, Wolf scented at quite a distance. The Japanese were on a hill about 150 yards away. The patrol had time to take cover before the Japanese attacked.
Wolf was wounded during the fighting that followed. Pieces of shell tore through the German shepherd's coat. But the brave dog didn't cry out. He didn't show any sighns of pain. The men around him never knew he had been hurt.
As the battle raged on, the Amiercans realized they were outnumbered. They had to turn back before it was too late. But the Japanese nearly had them surounded. It would be tough to break through enenmy lines and return safely to headquarters,
Again, Wolf and his handler took the lead. Three times Wolf alerted the patrol to japanese troops closing in on it, and each time the Americans successfully avoided coming into contacte with the enemy. Thanks in a large part to Wolf's alerts, the American troops arrived back at their camp without a single casualty.
But it wasn't an entirely happy endding. Once back at camp, the men discovered Wolfs wounds. A veterinarian performed and emergency opration, but was unable to save Wolf's life. The 25th Division casualty list includes, among others:
WOLF, US ARMY WAR DOG, T121, Died of wounds- Wounded in Action.
"These are a few of the worlds Greatest Heroes."
The K-9 Corp Song
by Arthur Roland
From the kennels of the country,
From the homes and firesides, too;
We have joined the canine army,
Our nation's work to do;
We serve with men in battle,
And scout through jungles dense;
We are proud to be enlisted
In the cause for the dog for defense;
Through the watches of the darkest night
We are ever standing alert;
And if danger comes we stick by our men,
All the rights of the flag we assert;
So bare our fangs in mans behalf
And the cause he's fightting for;
We are glad ro serve as members
Of Uncle Sam's trappy, scrappy K-9 Corps.
Community Member
I can't believe that they would make a hymn about the dogs of war, but it was pretty neat.
Great grammar by the way; you've drastically improved.