He was a mongrel from death row. He was saved and conscripted to serve his country. He asked for nothing but we asked him to give everything. To the soldier, the Vietnam War was like all wars – about mateship and loss.’

(Peter Haran, Vietnam War veteran, handler of Australian Tracker dog, Caesar, and author of Trackers: The Untold Story of the Australian Dogs of War)

Chapter 1

It’s one of life’s little secrets, the bravery of animals in conflict.

Animals have accompanied man into battle since war was first waged. Over two thousand years ago Hannibal took war elephants, soldiers and supplies over the Alps. The giant animals negotiated narrow snow-covered mountain passes, risking life and limb to face the mighty Roman army. Centuries before that, the Ancient Egyptians recorded in their intricate paintings how they proceeded into battle with hundreds of horses pulling chariots, men holding hungry lions straining at the leash and falconers with trained hawks poised to do harm. The animals were there to play their part in the many military confrontations fought to secure supremacy.

Since those times, many stories have been told of the bears, camels, cats, dolphins, monkeys, mules, pigeons, rats and other creatures that have served with the Armed Forces during both world wars and beyond. Some were trained to perform specific tasks, like the dolphins deployed to detect underwater explosives, the pigeons released to deliver vital messages, mules laden with valuable supplies and rats sent running in tunnels to lay communication cables on the front line. Many others were present as mascots; the bears, cats and canaries were not trained to perform any role in particular but provided heartfelt companionship, warmth and humour, and helped create an incredible morale. Many animals have fulfilled this role, but perhaps none more universally and consistently than the dog.

The five stories featured in this book represent the devotion and unquestioning loyalty of the canine companion in the darkest days of war. From the life-saving actions of a Second World War Army mascot under fire to the undoubted trust shared between the Tracker dog and his handler during the war in Vietnam. Man’s best friend is a constant in an uncertain environment and a welcome friend. They are a testament to companionship and to partnership when lives depend on them.

Dogs continue to prove themselves to be fearlessly loyal in all theatres of war, from the hidden depths of jungle warfare in Vietnam and Malaya to the guard and patrol duties of a desert dog in Iraq or Afghanistan. Unlike the horses of the First World War dragged down in the mud of Flanders’ fields, the dog’s speed and agility has always made him an asset on any battlefield. Intelligent and obedient, the dog could be the perfect messenger, able to skip over the trenches or through a minefield faster than any man. Not only are they more successful at such tasks than a human but they, although it hurts to say it, are also far more dispensable. That has always been and will continue to be a fact of wartime life. If a dog detects a landmine he is unlikely to be harmed and his actions will protect all around him. A man is unlikely to be so lucky.

Whether dropped by parachute into enemy country, helicoptered in and out of war zones, or transported in armoured vehicles, dogs have shown their versatility in war. Dogs do what’s required of them and their keen sense of loyalty keeps them faithful to their duties and their military masters. Considering that the majority of the dogs recruited for service in both world wars were pet dogs donated for war service, their sacrifice was immeasurable. They were loaned to the War Office, trained for duty and distributed to the Armed Forces after 12 weeks’ training. The dogs then served their country, and if they survived they were returned to their owner. These dogs took this all in their stride and the lucky ones returned to life as a fireside pet in peacetime. But for every treasured family pet to be returned home safely, there were countless others who died alongside their comrades. And for all these canine heroes, there were young soldiers, sailors and airmen who had faced horror and death and who had seen those around them lost forever, who had taken immense comfort and support from these brave, devoted companions.

The war dog is not just a feature of conflicts past. Dogs are still used in contemporary warfare and have seen service in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Guard and patrol dogs remain an essential element of life on any military base at home and overseas but the role of the Arms and Explosives Search dog is one that has recently come to the fore. Trained to detect and locate weapons, explosives and bomb-making equipment, these dogs are life-savers on a daily basis. They protect the life of their handler and save the lives of military and civilian personnel with each successful ‘find’. Dogs may still be listed as ‘equipment’ but no machine and no man can match the skill of a trained search dog. Wartime strategies and hardware may come and go but the skill of a war dog remains constant and irreplaceable.

Within the ranks, the war dog is regarded as nothing less than a fellow ‘soldier’, a colleague and a companion. Over the years Service dogs and mascot dogs have been decorated for their life-saving bravery in conflict. Many have lost their lives in saving others and their fellow soldiers have deemed it vital to recognize their incredible service and sacrifice to mankind.

For these animals to give so much when they are innocent in the ways of the world and war deserves recognition. These are just five stories of many, and all are awe inspiring and heart warming in equal measure. Maybe even the dogs would ask for them to be told, and they deserve to be remembered – for all time.

Chapter 2 Caesar – A Digger and a Dog

They say you should never go back. But I guess that depends on what you’ve left behind. For Vietnam War veteran Peter Haran it was the memory of touching death every day, the bond shared with men who lived the same nightmares and, above all, an irrepressible love for a dog called Caesar.

On 16 February 2008 Peter joined fellow veterans of the Australian Forces to pay their respects to the men who had fought and died in the war in Vietnam, from 1966 to 1972. It was a scorching day, reminiscent of the many days he had spent not yards from the same spot as a young digger (soldier) at the Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat, southern Vietnam. An old soldier recounts the events of 21 July 1969, the day man first walked on the moon, the day a young lieutenant walked over an M16 ‘jumping jack’ mine, blowing away his leg and sending deadly fragments of metal searing into the 30-man-strong platoon. This was the spot. This was his memory. These were the tears fought back for almost forty years. For Peter Haran the journey back and the sharing of memories was not only intensely emotional and incredibly healing, it was the time and the place to remember a war dog that was a big part of his life and who saved that life a thousand times over.

Spring 1966. A handsome, self-assured young man strode through the gates of the Infantry Training Centre in Ingleburn, New South Wales. Tall, sinewy and tanned with severely cropped fair hair and a natural military bearing, this 18-year-old looked every inch a soldier, proud in his khaki and ready for the world to take him on. Peter Haran had completed his six months of Army training and was looking to take his career into a specialist area. Through a corner of the perimeter fence it was possible to catch a glimpse of the Tracking Wing – the specialist school for training dogs and handlers for the task of detecting and seeking out the enemy in combat. A good Tracker dog hears and smells the enemy before they can be seen, detects landmines and tripwires ahead of any man, and gives chase at a speed to strike fear into the pursued.

Peter had often watched the dogs being put through their paces and had decided to enrol as a handler as soon as he could. He had been a dog lover since childhood and, thanks to his father, dogs played an important role in Haran family life, even before they moved to Australia from Zimbabwe. So it wasn’t any wonder that the opportunity to combine his military career and his love of dogs was too good for Peter to resist. On the day of his interview with the second-in-command of the Tracking Wing, Warrant Officer Carter, Peter wanted to give it his best shot. This was his big chance to gain a place on the dog handler’s training programme and what started as a short chat with Carter ended with Peter being told to report for duty the following day.

Delighted with his success, Peter turned to leave, only to feel that he was being watched. Just a few feet away in the shade of a tree sat a black Labrador cross. Fresh from his training session the dog sat gently panting, his glossy coat shining in the afternoon sun. Staring straight ahead, the dog had the young soldier firmly in his gaze. Peter stared back, all the time thinking how proud he would be to have a dog like that in his charge. Suddenly the dog stood up and moved to his handler’s heel. As they walked together towards the kennel block the dog looked back at Peter, who noticed the animal’s intense, velvety brown eyes. It was a look that Peter was to translate as ‘I’ll be seeing you later.’

It seemed that the long-legged black Labrador knew something that Peter didn’t. In the meantime there was plenty of work to do. Peter and the eight other trainees had three weeks to convince Carter and his superior, Lieutenant French, that they were up to the job. The first week was spent away from the dogs, confined to a classroom learning about the capabilities of the dogs, the responsibilities of the visual Tracker (six of the nine men on the course were visual Trackers) and the necessary skills of the dog handler. Peter just wanted to be matched with a dog to get down to the work. From what he had observed looking through the fence, the training was conducted mostly outdoors with man and dog working together, getting to know each other and working as a coherent team. It was not sitting behind a desk. It was only later, when Peter was doing the job in Vietnam, that the advice of the trainer was to echo in his head many, many times over. He was told: obedience is a life-saver.

To be a member of the Combat Tracking Team was, he discovered, not just learning how to handle a dog physically; it was also to do with interpreting the dog’s reactions, the terrain they were working in and reading the signs correctly. It was about living life on the end of a 20-foot leash, following an intelligent dog, running where he runs for as long as it takes to capture or corner the enemy. Lives depended on the Tracker dog’s actions and the handler’s interpretation. It’s the partnership that holds the key to life or death, and the level of trust. Knowing that a dog will lock on to one scent and will follow that scent means trusting the dog to do exactly that. If the dog ‘points’ to indicate the enemy’s presence then it’s not to be ignored. If a dog can follow a simple instruction to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ when its life and everyone else’s around depends on it, then it’s a partnership.

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