Sgt. Stubby — who was believed to be a Pit Bull mix — was the most decorated war dog in U.S. history. Here are some interesting things to know about this four-legged hero.
1. Stubby was a stray dog, wandering around a Yale University field, when he was rescued in 1917 by John Robert Conroy, a soldier being trained for World War I combat.
2. Conroy didn’t want to leave Stubby behind when his unit was shipped off to France. He concealed his dog inside an overcoat and smuggled him onto his ship.
3. Once he was discovered, Stubby became the “unofficial official mascot” of the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division in France.
4. He was hit in the leg by a grenade in early 1918, but that didn’t stop him. He kept other injured soldiers company as he recovered. (Perhaps he was the world’s first therapy dog!)
5. Not long after his leg healed and he returned to the trenches, he was sprayed with mustard gas. Did this stop our resilient hero? No way. In fact, he remembered the scent and barked to warn the soldiers of subsequent gas attacks, saving many lives.
6. Not only did his sense of smell save lives, but so did his sense of hearing. He was aware of the whine of artillery shells before the soldiers could hear it, so he would bark to let them know they should take cover.
7. Because he was a lot shorter than the other soldiers, he could easily scoot under barbed wire in so-called “no man’s lands” to bring supplies to wounded soldiers.
8. When a spy began speaking German to Stubby, the dog chomped onto the seat of his pants and held on until his fellow soldiers arrived.
9. He spent a total of 18 months in France, participating in 17 battles on the Western Front.
10. Legend has it that he even saved a little girl from getting hit by a car in Paris by pushing her out of harm’s way.
11. He was the first – and only – military dog to be promoted to sergeant.
12. At the end of World War I, Conroy smuggled him back to the United States, where the dog got a well-deserved hero’s welcome. He met presidents, led parades, and became an honorary lifetime member of the American Legion, Red Cross and YMCA.
13. In 1926, around the age of 10, he died peacefully in Conroy’s arms.
15. Sadly, this hero dog wouldn’t be allowed to live in housing on Army bases in the United States today. Pit Bulls, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Doberman Pinschers and some other dogs are banned from military housing because these breeds are allegedly “dangerous.” But the only thing “dangerous” is the military’s unfair stereotyping of these dogs.
This story, one of i Still Love Dogs’ most popular, was originally posted on Memorial Day 2015. The computer-animated feature film, “Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero,” was released in 2018 and as of November 2019 is available on HBO.
When Sgt. Rambo leads the Live Oak Memorial Day Parade in Texas this Saturday, it will be the first time the parade has had a fur-legged grand marshal.
But it won’t be Rambo’s first time as a grand marshal — the 8-year-old (as of May 27) German Shepherd from Converse, Texas, had the same honors last year in the Universal City Veterans Day Parade.
Rambo, recipient of the Military Dogs honor in the American Humane Association’s 2015 Hero Dog Awards, served in the Marine Corps as an explosives detection dog. He participated in 622 missions on the base and in the local community of Cherry Point, N.C. Rambo was medically retired due to a shoulder injury, and later had to have his left front leg amputated.
But that didn’t stop this veteran. Rambo became a mascot for Alamo Honor Flight, a nonprofit organization that flies veterans from San Antonio to Washington, D.C., free of charge so they can visit their memorials.
Lisa Phillips, Rambo’s handler and dog mom, has had him for four years. “He’s also my service dog, and he’s the love of my life,” she told MySanAntonio.com.
Phillips is also a veteran. While serving in 2005, she adopted another military working dog named Gizmo. When Gizmo retired, his health declined, and his veterinary bills began piling up.
“I had to get a second job to provide for him the medical care he deserved,” Phillips told MySanAntonio.com.
After Gizmo died of kidney failure, Phillips founded Gizmo’s Gift. The nonprofit provides financial support to families adopting retired military working dogs. Rambo is the organization’s mascot.
“We’re supporting about 30 dogs right now, and about 15 have been adopted by prior handlers,” Phillips told MySanAntonio.com.
Until recently, retired military working dogs were considered equipment. They were often left behind on enemy soil since the cost of transporting them to the United States was prohibitive.
But late last year President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes a provision that not only guarantees that these dogs are returned by the military to the U.S. when they retire, but also that their handlers have first dibs on adopting them as pets.
“We thank these brave heroes for serving our country, and we are grateful that every one will finally get the retirement they deserve with those who care for them most,” Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of the American Humane Association, wrote at the time in a message to supporters.
Many of these four-legged heroes have now been adopted by their former handlers, Phillips said.
“The tricky thing is, most dogs have multiple handlers throughout their careers,” she told MySanAntonio.com. “Rambo got injured early on. Through networking on Facebook, [my adoption of Rambo] was a perfect fit.”
When Rambo, with Phillips by his side, leads the Live Oak Memorial Day Parade on Saturday, he’ll be wearing his Marines vest with his rank and patches.
“He knows something special is about to happen when he gets to put on his vest,” Phillips told MySanAntonio.com.
To celebrate Rambo’s 8th birthday, special T-shirts are on sale for a limited time to benefit Gizmo’s Gift. You can also make a donation to Gizmo’s Gift by clicking here.
On average, every U.S. military dog saves from 150 to 200 servicemen and women during his career. And what rewards are bestowed upon these heroes when they retire from duty overseas?
Until now, none. The sad fact is that they are usually left behind on enemy soil, since these retired working dogs are considered civilians and not permitted on military vehicles. The cost to transport them home is prohibitive.
But military dogs no longer have to face this undeserved fate. Today President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes a provision that not only guarantees that these dogs are returned by the military to the U.S. when they retire, but also that their handlers have first dibs on adopting them as pets.
“The NDAA and its passage will ensure that our four-legged veterans will finally have their chance to come home and live a comfortable quiet life, hopefully with a handler they deployed with or a fellow veteran,” said Lance Corporal Jeff DeYoung, USMC (Ret.), who was reunited with his military war dog Cena with the help of American Humane Association (AHA), in a news release.
“The language in the NDAA is about healing, healing veterans and their families. These dogs have so much love to give…it’s time we show some in return.”
New York Sen. Charles Schumer (yes, he’s a second cousin of Amy Schumer) pushed for the bill’s language that allows handlers to adopt the dogs who served alongside them.
“After all we know about treating debilitating post war conditions, like PTSD and other health afflictions, it makes absolute sense to keep service members joined with their service dogs,” Schumer said in a Memorial Day press release. “Here we have a commonsense policy that is good for the animals that give it their all for America — and for the American heroes who love these dogs so dearly.”
The NDAA provision, supported by the AHA, was introduced in the House by Rep. Frank LoBiondo and in the Senate by Sen. Claire McCaskill.
“This is the email I’ve been waiting for years to send to you,” wrote Dr. Robin Ganzert, AHA president and CEO, in a message to supporters today.
“We thank these brave heroes for serving our country, and we are grateful that every one will finally get the retirement they deserve with those who care for them most.”
Photo credits: PRNewsFoto/American Humane Association; The U.S. Army
Mike, a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, earned two Bronze Stars for his work as a bomb-sniffing dog during two tours of duty in Iraq with his partner, Army Ranger Matthew Bessler. Because of his successful detection of thousands of pounds of explosives, saving the lives of hundreds of people, Mike was promoted to the rank of major.
When they both retired, Bessler adopted Mike, and his partner became his service dog at their home in Powell, Wyo.
“I raised him and trained him as a puppy,” Bessler told the Billings Gazette. “The ability he has to sense some of the issues that I have with seizures, with my PTSD, my TBI (traumatic brain injury) and severe anxiety disorders, how he can calm me down just by him being in my presence. He can help take the focus and help change the focus of what’s going on with me and help me calm down or relax me.”
Mike, who also suffered from PTSD, was the only known combat dog who transformed into a service dog, Bessler said.
“Michael is a brother,” he told the Washington Post in July. “He needs me just as much as I need him.”
Bessler said that when his depression led to thoughts of suicide, Mike would climb into his lap so he couldn’t move. Or he’d drop one of his beloved tennis balls in Bessler’s lap and refuse to budge until his dog dad threw it.
“When you can escape yourself for a minute, and stop being selfish and think about the things you have, in my world, it’s that dog,” Bessler told the Washington Post.
While Bessler was away on a hunting trip Oct. 10, an unidentified 59-year-old man riding a bicycle on Bessler’s street told police he was “attacked by a German shepherd-looking dog,” the Powell Tribune reports. The alleged attacker was Mike.
The man, who had no injuries, claimed he got off his bike and used it as a shield, but Mike kept trying to bite him. So he pulled out a revolver he happened to have with him and shot Mike with what he said was birdshot. The “attacking” dog was 5 to 10 feet away from him at the time he was shot — in the rear end.
Afterward, the man said Mike ran away. He didn’t think he had killed him.
There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. A neighbor told Bessler she hadn’t heard any barking at the time. She found Mike, limping, on Bessler’s property.
“If Mike were to go toward somebody or feel there was a threat, he would start barking first,” Bessler told the Billings Gazette. “If the guy was actually fending the dogs off with a bicycle, (Mike) would have really been barking, and there was no barking. All there was was just a shot.”
Park County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lance Mathess told the Powell Tribune the bicyclist said he was “genuinely in fear of his life and well-being, and the dog was ‘definitely in full attack mode and not backing down at all.’” (How strange, then, that Mike was shot at least 5 feet away from him, and in the rear.)
The bicyclist changed his initial story, in which he claimed he was attacked by a pack of dogs, including a puppy and Yorkshire Terrier. He later said only Mike had been threatening him.
Bessler thinks the fact that Mike was shot in the rear — two pellet marks went into his heart, killing him — is “inconsistent with a dog that’s attacking somebody,” he told the Powell Tribune.
“He would never attack someone,” he said. “The only time he ever protected property was when somebody stepped on to my property and looked into the back of my truck.” He said Mike would rarely get out on the street.
“He was very laid back. He would lean up against people, he liked being petted, he played ball,” Bessler told the Billings Gazette. “He was happy. He was a happy-go-lucky dog.”
From years of chewing on rocks due to anxiety, Mike’s teeth had been worn down to non-threatening nubs.
“I believe the gentleman just shot the dog on my property,” Bessler told the Powell Tribune. “I don’t buy his story.”
The bicyclist is not facing any charges, Park County Sheriff Scott Steward told the Powell Tribune. The sheriff didn’t seem to think there was anything disturbing or illegal about the man having a revolver.
“A lot of people, when they walk or ride bikes around here, they’ve got pepper spray, a gun or a stick,” Steward said. “And that’s because dogs come out and chase bikes (and) people.”
But Bessler, who grew up in Powell, said he was “flabbergasted” over why someone would be carrying the type of weapon the bicyclist was carrying.
“I think that a person that mounts a Judge, a .410 shot, onto their handlebars, has pretty premeditated intentions that they want to shoot a dog,” he told the Billings Gazette. “If he’s passed my house multiple times and he needs to mount a firearm to the handles of his bicycle, he doesn’t have intentions of just shooting snakes.”
The Park County Sheriff’s Office is reportedly following up on a few inconsistencies in the bicyclist’s story.
Bessler told the Billings Gazette he would like “to take a civil avenue to go after him — the gentleman that shot him — because Mike was a retired military officer. I mean, it’s not just a wrongful use of force.”
He said that even if the bicyclist’s claims are true, “I’m disgusted with the fact that the guy hasn’t even shown his face to say, ‘I’m sorry this happened.’”
After a necropsy is completed to determine how Mike died, Bessler hopes his hero dog can be given a funeral with military honors.
The “RIP Major Mike” GoFundMe campaign has been launched to raise expenses for a military funeral for Mike. As of this morning, about $4,200 of the $6,000 goal has been raised. Any extra donations will be given to a program that supports war veterans.
During his five tours of duty in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq, a Royal Air Force (RAF) dog named Buster sniffed out hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), saving more than 1,000 lives in the process.
The Springer Spaniel reportedly completed more tours than any other military dog, according to the BBC. Buster was bestowed with many awards for his service, including the Dickin medal (considered the Victoria Cross for animals, it’s the U.K. military’s top award for war dogs) and the Crufts Friends for Life Award. He was the first dog to become the official lifetime mascot of the RAF police.
The 13-year-old hero, who retired in 2011, crossed the Rainbow Bridge this week at the Lincolnshire home of his longtime handler, Flight Sgt. Will Barrow.
“Buster saved my life every day we were together,” Barrow writes in his book about their partnership, “Buster: The Military Dog Who Saved a Thousand Lives.” [This is an affiliate link.] “I owe him so much that I can never repay the debt, even if we lived forever.”
The book, a No. 1 bestseller in the U.K., will be released in the U.S. this fall.
In addition to sniffing out IEDs and tracking Taliban insurgents, Buster provided emotional support to Barrow and his fellow troops.
“Many’s the time I’d find some of the soldiers on the cot beds with him, just chatting away,” Barrow writes. “They felt they could confide in him and it wouldn’t be going anywhere else.”
Buster also had a knack for enchanting the children in war-torn areas. “Like a canine Pied Piper, Buster drew in his crowd and entertained them,” Barrow writes. “Anyone looking on would have wondered how on earth a spaniel from the U.K. could do so much for the ‘hearts and minds’ operation.”
Even after he retired, Buster was still enchanting children. Just days before he died, he and Barrow handed out report cards to students at a local school, according to a statement yesterday from the Royal Air Force.
An event is being arranged by RAF police to celebrate Buster and other military working dogs. It “will give the force an opportunity to remember those special companions that have saved thousands of lives and served so admirably,” the RAF stated.
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