Thanks to the efforts of the Australian War Animal Memorial (AWAMO) the 11 tracker dogs that were left behind at the conclusion of the war will have their names displayed on a commemorative certificate at the Australian consulate Vietnam.
AWAMO President Nigel Allsopp himself an ex- NZ Military Working Dog handler and current serving Queensland Police Dog Handler of over 26 years experience has been trying to help a couple of Vietnam Veteran groups to get a war dog memorial in Vietnam for the 11 dogs left behind.
Over that last year AWAMO has been talking to the Embassies in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City as well as DFAT here to try and get a bronze plaque there.
Alas the Vietnam government say no to all foreign military memorials but thanks to some assistance from the Defence Attaché Vietnam & Laos Colonel Darren kerr, and Consul-General Ms Lanyon, AWAMO was given permission to design a certificate and poem to honour them. These are on display in the foyer of the Australian Consulate.
The President of AWAMO hopes it may go some way into heeling some feelings some dog handlers have we have spoken to. Several have expressed to me that leaving there four legged mates behind still upsets them today. We hope this first step leads to greater things to honour them, it also gives any Veterans visiting Vietnam a physical item and place in-situ to pay respect too. Ex- handlers have said to me no one knows any exact burial places for the dogs so this in some way may help to be a focal point for them.
AWAMO will continue to establish war animal memorials both in Australia and internationally to honour all those animals that did not return. AWAMOs other International project was the establishment of a war animal memorial at Kokoda this year and the WW1 war animal memorial at Pozières, France in July- 2017.
Story behind the memorial
Following the successful use of tracker dogs during the Malayan Emergency and with Australia’s troop commitment to the conflict in South Vietnam imminent, in 1965 the Australian Army began a training program at the Tracking Wing of the Infantry Centre, Ingleburn, near Sydney, New South Wales. The dogs, all black labrador or labrador cross breeds, were sourced from public donations and dog pounds. Trained to follow a scent, usually at speed, these dogs were to become the core of the Combat Tracker Teams that were used from 1967 until the last combat troops were withdrawn in late 1971.
Each Tracker Team, consisting of (although there were variations) a tracker dog and handler, coverman (machine gunner), team commander (visual tracker), signaller, visual tracker and a rifleman, operated on standby out of Nui Dat or the battalion fire support base. Usually called out to follow up enemy tracks or locate suspected enemy hideouts after a contact, the teams would be airlifted by helicopter into the area of operation. Once on the ground, the tracker dog would be put on to the scent of retreating enemy. This meant that the Tracker Team would lead actual fighting elements towards the enemy – one of the most dangerous jobs in any war, requiring both excellent scouting skills as well as absolute confidence in the tracker dog’s ability to sense the enemy before actual contact was made.
The dog would follow the scent until a location was found, at which time he would indicate in a ‘point’ facing the suspected enemy. The handler and his dog would then fall back while the rest of the section searched the area, often finding wounded enemy or recently occupied bunker systems that would otherwise have been missed. Apart from their success in locating enemy and their support systems, the dogs saved the lives of their handlers and team members on many occasions. Although not trained to detect mines, the dogs were intelligent and sufficiently well trained to do so.
Eleven tracker dogs were deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War Caesar, Cassius, Janus, Julian, Juno, Justin, Marcian, Marcus, Milo, Tiber, Trajan.
