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Author Teaches Students About Dogs' Surprising Role in Wars
Friday, September 27, 2002
(11:58 PM ET)
By Clarke Morrison
AC-T Staff Writer

John Burnam, author of "Dog Tags of Courage," tells students at North Buncombe Elementary School about his experiences handling dogs in the Vietnam War.
Image Credit: John Coutlakis -- AC-T.

"Dogs, they're just amazing creatures. They can hear a heck of a lot better than us humans can, and they see really well at night. You can train your dog to do a lot of stuff. We're using them now in Afghanistan to find places where terrorists put mines."

WEAVERVILLE, N.C. -- AC-T
Like most other kids his age, fourth-grader Zachery Elio knew that dogs were playful and fun, but not that they went to war and saved the lives of American soldiers.

But the students at North Buncombe Elementary School learned that and much more Friday listening to a talk by Army veteran John Burnam, author of "Dog Tags of Courage," an account of war dogs' heroics.

"Dogs actually saved tons of lives," Zachery said. "And they can smell two miles away."

Burnam was a dog handler when he went to Vietnam in 1965 at the age of 19. Spending 24 hours a day with Clipper, an 85-pound German shepherd, the canine and human formed a tight bond fighting the enemy together.
(More: Citizen-Times.com News Source)
2002 © The Asheville Citizen-Times.

Actually, a dog doesn’t have to be two miles away to smell. I just prefer them to be two miles away when they smell...

;^)
Dan