Canine Warrior
How a Vietnam Scout Dog Inspired a National Monument
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
John Burnam served two combat tours in the Vietnam War (1966 1968), first as a US Army infantryman and then as a German shepherd scout-dog handler. John quickly learned the incredible advantages of having a dog to detect the sight, sound, and scent of hidden dangers. The dog was far superior to even the most experienced combat soldier at alerting on distant enemy noises and movement, finding hidden enemy caches of ammunition and supplies, searching base camps, and locating camouflaged tunnel entrances. The scout dogs' early silent warnings of ambushes and booby traps saved countless lives.
John's compelling interest and his passion to honor America's working-dog teams and their handlers at the highest level took him to the halls of Congress in pursuit of a national monument. Thanks to John and the devoted efforts of his colleagues, the US Military Working Dog Teams National Monument was approved, and built at Lackland Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Texas, where all of America s military dog teams are trained.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burnam, a retired Army sergeant, shares in this memoir the saga of his two combat-heavy tours of duty serving in the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry and 24th Infantry Divisions in the Vietnam War, and his successful quest beginning in the early 1990s to erect a national monument to honor his fellow dog handlers and their dogs. Burnam's descriptions of Vietnam War combat are well drawn and evocative. Those accounts include his detailed renderings of what it was like to work with German Shepard scout dogs in the midst of combat at its deadliest. The heavily illustrated section on Burnam's efforts to build the moment is less compelling, thought it nevertheless serves as a tribute to the life-saving work done by untold numbers of military dogs and their handlers in every American conflict since WWII. As Burnham writes, when the U.S. Military Working Dog Teams National Monument was dedicated in 2013 at Lackland Air Force Base, he had "accomplished my mission by building a national monument to honor them all forever!" Photos.
