Rescue of a War Dog: Shadow's Story

During my service in Vietnam, a new man joined our company. Richard was a scout dog handler, and Shadow (an absolutely beautiful black-and-silver German Shepherd) was his canine partner.

Shadow never did like helicopters and always did her best to get off the Landing Zone as quickly as possible, sometimes (this time) knocking Richard down and dragging him across the LZ. She flew between my legs and knocked me down also. I'm sure it was a comic mess (Oh for a video cam!) as she kept going until Richard and I were entangled in her leash and each other. The look on Richard's face was priceless when he (Lance Corporal E-3) realized that not only had Shadow knocked down his company's senior corpsman, but an HM2 (E-5) at that! I was dog-hungry and could have cared less! Shadow was trying to apologize and in so doing, winding the leash tighter and tighter around both of us! I was laughing fit to bust, Richard was trying to apologize, and Shadow was leaping around and trying to lick both of us in the face! Quite a sight that had the whole company laughing!!

Richard, Shadow and I became almost inseparable. In the spirit of cross training, Richard (and Shadow) taught me how to work with Shadow, what her "alerts" were and how to respond to her. Richard and Shadow lived with me in the sick bay bunker. About 2 months later, we got a new Commanding Officer (Captain, USMC). He decided almost immediately that he didn't like the CP bunker (too small) and decided he was going to bunk in with Richard, Shadow and myself in the sick bay bunker. We knew in 24 hours that that wasn't going to work, the captain was new to his rank and somewhat obnoxious.

One of Shadow's favorite meals (when anyone dared to give it to her), was Ham and Lima Beans, for which we had another name! (Ham and ******-*******) She loved them, but Oh Lord did they give her gas! I drew 3 meals of Ham and Limas and fed all three to her at the same time. Shadow gobbled them down and we went to sick bay to wait.

You may not believe this, but you could actually see that gas attack forming. Shadow had laid down under the captain's bunk (the only time she ever did this) and gone to sleep. As the gas formed, you could see Shadow's sides distending. There was a sound like cracking an oxygen cylinder and Richard, Shadow and I left the bunker as fast and quietly as we could! The green cloud formed up and jumped on the sleeping captain's nose! He came stumbling out of the bunker, gasping and choking... "Jesu, Doc! What the (expletive deleted) did you do??!!" "Sorry, Sir, the dog does that from time to time, we've learned to live with it." He moved back into the CP bunker that day. The 1st Sergeant had a heck of a time keeping his face straight "I'm NOT going to live with that dog!"

The day came when my company got caught in an ambush. Shadow and I were wounded, Richard died. I was med-evaced, with Shadow, to Da Nang. The doctor there arranged for me to be sent to Okinawa and told me that he had contacted the kennels and they were coming for Shadow to put her down as he thought her injuries were too serious for her to recover. She had been clipped by a piece of mortar fragment and had most of the skin and muscle of her left side avulsed from the back of her foreleg to her hip. The ribs were exposed but had deflected the fragment enough that it did not pierce her abdomen. There was (in my opinion) enough of a blood supply to keep the avulsed skin and muscle alive until her wound could be sewn and the avulsion re-attached.

When the pilot of the med-evac came through, I knew him. We had been friends since 2nd grade. Begging and pleading, I finally convinced him to take Shadow with us. Bill only had one question, "What the Hell am I going to do with a wounded dog?!! I pulled a morphine syrette out of my pocket, "Bill, what the hell do you think this is for? Half for her and half for me!!" I gave her her half and watched her sink into the arms of narcotic bliss. He had two of his crewmen put her between my legs and cover her with a blanket. They hustled us out to the plane, I remember looking down at the strangely lumpy blanket (Shadow's head was on my groin) and commenting "That's a hell of a strange looking bandage!

After take off, Bill came back and asked what we would do when we got to Okinawa. I told him to have Kadena AFB contact Dr. Magnus, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel veterinarian who lived close to Kadena and have him meet us with a cage. When we landed in Okinawa, Shadow went to Dr. Mangus' animal hospital & I went to Kue Army Hospital. We both recovered, Shadow faster than I did. When I went to get her, I already knew that I was going to be teaching Combat First Aid and Jungle Survival at the Marine Corps' Northern Training Area above Camp Schwab. An excellent place to de-train Shadow before sending her home.

The Corporal sent to be my driver was a bit obnoxious, he didn't feel it was his "place" to have to help with my seabag (I was still on crutches), even when asked politely. I finally reminded him that I was an E-6 and he was an E-4 and to pick the (expletive deleted) seabag up and put it in the jeep! I neglected to advise him that we had another passenger to pick up and gave him directions to Dr. Magnus' hospital. When I came out with Shadow at my side his eyes got big as saucers. Shadow hopped in the jeep and breathed on the back of his neck for the next 4 hours as we went to NTA. She never laid down or relaxed and the Corporal never turned his head except to drive. The Corporal was always polite after that!

A year later, my orders home came in and I took Shadow back to Dr. Magnus to see about sending her home. I was worried that she might be found to be a War Dog during the flight. Dr. Magnus filled out "civilian" papers for her and said "Now really! Who do you think is going to open this cage to look in her ear for a tattoo?" I sent Shadow home. She was in flight and quarantine for more than 24 hours, when my Aunt Gayle picked her up at Raleigh-Durham airport, Shadow was a real mess. She hadn't been out of the cage the whole time.

When I got home 30 days later, Shadow and Gayle were the best of friends and were sitting on the front porch waiting for me. Gayle later told me that Shadow had gotten very restless half an hour before I got home and that the only thing that would settle her down was to be with her on the front porch. I was never able to slip home without warning again!

Shadow lived to be 17 years old, a great family dog, protective and stable. The only times she showed signs of anger were when my wife's aunt tried to pick Jim up out of his cradle the night we came home from the hospital (I picked Shadow out of mid air as she leaped to protect him from this "stranger"!) and any time my wife would try to correct Jim in her presence. I had a very hard time keeping a straight face the day my wife said "Your (expletive deleted) dog bit me in the butt today!" My wife showed me a blood blister about the size of a silver dollar on her butt. I asked what had happened and was told that she had corrected Jim by swatting him on the butt and Shadow had returned the favor! NOBODY touched "her boy!"

My son learned to walk by grabbing her fur and pulling himself up. All she would do was brace herself, check to make sure he had a good grip, then slowly walk off with Jim toddling at her side. I never had to worry about Jim's safety, not with Shadow "On Duty"!

I'm proud to say that in Shadow's memory I had a hand in 2000 in getting the military to stop killing their Military Working Dogs without ever giving them at least the opportunity to be adoped. But, that's another forthcoming story.