4 Military Dogs To Remember On Memorial Day

Honoring these heroes today and always 🇺🇸

Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock.com
Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock.com

While we love family dogs for giving us endless amounts of love, cuddles and funny moments, military dogs are working pups who serve as integral members to the armed forces.

Heroes in their own right, military dogs are trained to sniff out explosives, find fallen soldiers, act as messengers and even warn their teams of potential attacks.

Over the years, military dogs have proven their bravery and loyalty time and time again.

4 military dogs to remember

To celebrate Memorial Day, we wanted to take a moment to remember some of the most famous military dogs and their heroic stories.

Sergeant Stubby

Stubby: Terrier Hero of Georgetown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

America’s most famous war dog, Stubby was a street dog in Connecticut when he came across some soldiers training for World War I. He was taken along for their deployment to France and helped save his division in a number of ways, including warning his team of bombs, locating and standing by injured soldiers until they were saved, and even finding and detaining a German spy.

He was presented with the gold medal by the Humane Education Society in a White House ceremony and met Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Warren G. Harding.

Smoky

Aphillcsa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

You probably don’t think of a Yorkshire Terrier when you think of a military dog, but Smoky was just that. This 4-pound pup served in World War II after she was found by an American soldier in the New Guinea jungle and sold to Corporal William A. Wynne.

She stayed with Corporal Wynne for the next two years of war. During that time, she was credited with 12 combat missions, awarded eight battle stars and helped engineers build an airbase by helping to run wire through 70-foot pipes.

Lucca

"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement." | Cpl. Jennifer Pirante, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A German shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix, Lucca served for six years in the Marine Corps, deploying twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. Trained to detect explosives, Lucca participated in over 400 missions, with one claiming her leg when a nearby explosive device was set off while she was hunting for another one.

She was granted the Dickin Medal by the PDSA and gifted an unofficial Purple Heart plaque by a fellow Marine who had also received the medal.

Sallie Ann Jarrett

Carptrash at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A Staffordshire terrier, Sallie was the mascot to the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. She was in tons of different battles, including the infamous Battle of Gettysburg. At one point, Sallie went missing for approximately three days and was finally found guarding wounded and dead soldiers.

Sallie was tragically killed in battle and was later commemorated in 1890 by a bronze statue erected in Gettysburg that’s still there today.

While we unfortunately can’t name every single hero military dog, we want to take this time to thank and remember each one whose valiant efforts have done so much for their human companions — on and off the battlefield.