For months, Mike Voorhees spent months navigating the jungles of Vietnam. He was an Army dog handler and used the animals in combat. When the war was over, he returned safely to the United States and changed careers. After what he saw in the jungle, he wanted to be a chaplain. But during his time in Vietnam, Voorhees witnessed what happened to some 5,000 dogs that the military sent overseas to serve in the war against Communism.
And now he is speaking out to help memorialize the trained members of the military.
“I have one distinction no other pastor can say. I can say Satan saved my life at least three times,” Voorhees told USA Today.
Voorhees had a special relationship with Satan, who was a military-trained German shepherd. The dog worked as a scout in Vietnam for several years. Before he died of tick disease, Satan saved many lives including his handler Voorhees’s.
Because Satan and other military dogs provided a great service in the Vietnam War, which as until now been unsung, Voorhees will provide the invocation at the Highground Veterans Memorial this weekend when the military unveils its new memorial to the military dogs who served in combat.
“I’m so grateful that the Highground is doing this. I’m just overwhelmed with gladness and joy that finally the dogs are getting the recognition that they much deserved,” Voorhees said.
For more than a century, the United States military has been using trained dogs. In Vietnam, the military used 5,000 dogs as guard animals and scouts. Satan was one of many who served the United States military in the jungles of Vietnam.
While soldiers finished their tours and rotated back to the United States, the dogs never got a break from combat. They would simply get assigned a new handler and remain in the hostile territory where their lives were constantly in danger.
After the Vietnam War ended, the dogs were considered excess equipment and were abandoned. The government needlessly euthanized many of their trained dogs and gave the rest to the Vietnamese to do with what they wished.
When dog handlers like Voorhees heard that the military was abandoning thousands of dogs, they were outraged. The animals could have been transferred to the police force inside the United States or used to fight the drug issues that were rising in the 1970s.
Thankfully, the memorial in Wisconsin will pay respects to the animals who sacrificed their lives for America in the Vietnam War.
Sculptor Michael Martino created the piece. A committee of veterans selected him for the memorial after he submitted sketches and samples. In the sculpture, he put a boonie hat on the soldier and gave the man two canteens because of handlers carrier water for themselves and their dog.
“I had the soldier kind of crouching down and one leg in front of the other, so there’s forward motion while controlling the dog. They’re bonded at the hip,” Martino described. “The idea was the teamwork and closeness of the soldier and dog. It’s kind of an inseparable bond.”
Voorhees couldn’t agree more.