Always Faithful
A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII
by Capt. William W. Putney, D.V.M, U.S.M.C. (Ret.)
Hardcover with dust jacket in very good condition with minor edge wear. The former owner's name if on the front end page but there is no other writing or highlighting. The price has been clipped from the DJ flap.
224 pages, copyright 2001, ISBN 0743201981, Free Press Publishing
From the DJ flap:
Twenty-three-year-old Bill Putney enlisted in the Marines in 1943 in
search of military glory. Instead, Putney, a licensed veterinarian, was
relegated to the Dog Corps.
Putney became the Commanding Officer of
the 3rd War Dog Platoon, and later the chief veterinarian and C.O. of
the War Dog Training School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. At Lejeune
Putney helped train America's dogs for war in the Pacific. He later led
them into combat in the invasion of Guam in 1944, the first liberation
of American soil in World War II.
Always Faithful is the story
of the dogs that fought in Guam and across the islands of the Pacific, a
celebration of the four-legged soldiers that Putney both commanded and
followed. It is a tale of immense courage, but also of incredible
sacrifice.
On Guam, as on islands such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa,
the Japanese were infamously tenacious, refusing to surrender as long as
there was a hole left to crawl into. Rooting out the enemy was an
awful, painstaking job. To this task, Putney's dogs were well suited.
Used for scouting, attack, carrying messages, detecting mines, and also
as guards, the war dogs were so well trained that they could locate
nonmetallic mines that had been buried for months deep underground;
their hearing was so precise they could detect enemy trip wires by
listening to them "sing" in the breeze.
Their record in action was
perfect. More than 550 patrols on the island of Guam were led by dogs;
not one patrol was ambushed. But for this success, the dogs, always out
in front, paid a terrible price. Although Putney worked feverishly as
veterinarian and C.O. to keep the dogs alive, many were lost.
After
the war, Putney returned home only to discover that the dogs he had
served with were being put to sleep. These dogs were ex-household pets,
recruited from civilians with the promise that they would someday be
returned. Outraged, Putney fought for the dogs' right to go home. He
won, and headed the overwhelmingly successful program to "detrain" the
dogs so they could return to their families. Alas, quickly learned, the
lesson was quickly forgotten. The dogs of Korea and Vietnam did not come
home. Then, in the final days of his administration, President Clinton
signed into law a bill that allows military handlers to bring home the
dogs with which they work. Once again, Putney was at the front of the
charge.
For anyone who has ever read Old Yeller, or the books of
Jack London, here is a real-life story, never before told, that beats
any fiction. At once wistful tribute and stirring adventure, Always
Faithful describes what may be the greatest man-dog effort of all time.
It will both astound and move you.
Shipping: $3.42 Media Mail
