“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.”
- Francis Bacon

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dear God, bring to rest our fallen warriors & watch over those we have in harms' way...

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan. ~General Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868


Please take the time to remember our dogs of war.
They gave so much for so little in return.

In all previous wars we brought home our highly trained military dogs to retire with their handler or to continue to serve EXCEPT for Vietnam. When our military was ordered out of Nam our dogs were tied to camp poles and left to watch the soldiers they loved and protected walk away and not look back. Those dogs were considered to be excess baggage.

What happened to those dogs? Most were starved to death, used for target practice or skinned alive and eaten by the Viet Cong who considered them to be a delicacy. Rumor has it that those who weren't tied, or confined, ran behind planes, waited patiently beneath helicopters for their orders, and then, when they were completely exhausted, went back to their last camp and held vigil, patiently, for their handler to come back for them. (If you would like to learn more, click on the War Dog graphic. It will take you to a very sobering site.) Out of 3,000 war dogs in Vietnam, about 200 came home.

More war dogs and additional information can be found at my dog's blog, Loving for a Living.

God Bless America
God Bless our troops

10 comments:

Lisa said...

amen!
Hugs, Lisa

Anonymous said...

My heart breaks.

Wendy said...

I can't believe anybody would treat faithful dogs this way. How sick! Truly unforgiveable.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and for your kind words.

Marie Reed said...

I had no idea! My heart is breaking too. Thank you for this powerful post Mimi!

Just Me said...

Mimi, I was not able to drop by your post on Pink Saturday but did see it now and also your Memorial Day post. There's no other way to put it, war is hell, to both mankind and animals. It's a loss for all. God bless our troops.

{Bellamere Cottage} said...

Oh Mimi......I did NOT know that. I LOVE animals and can't believe they would leave them behind. I'm so sad for them AND for our troops who left their loyal pups behind. That must have been horrible for them....like leaving one of your family.

I'm so grateful that our troops are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve now. They are my heros!

God bless 'ya!
Spencer

Abby Lanes said...

It's so sad that we have to live in a world that sometimes feels the need to war. I didn't know the story about the dogs. So sad. Memorial Day is important for this reason I suspect.

Debby said...

HOw sad! Thanks for sharing!
Debby

♥Mimi♥ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

That is just terrible!