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The LADY who almost became a USMC war dog


Eric Queen
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Robert L. Skidmore joined the Marines in 1922 and was on active duty until 1936. In 1936 he was placed on inactive duty until a few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor (rejoining active duty on Jan 2nd, 1942)

Lady Skidmore.jpg

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In 1943 he decided to donate both of his female dobermans to the USMC "Devil Dog" program. This is the official appreciation certificate for LADY

Lady 2.jpg

 

Mrs. Skidmore with Lady circa 1943

Lady 1.jpg

 

Lady's Marine serial number was 133

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Trained in Obedience and Guard Duty. I would assume Tracking and Attack also but not entered.

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She was promoted to PFC on October 15, 1943

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She was assigned to the 3rd War Dog Platoon under Lt. Bill Putney. He mentions her in his book "Always Faithful" An interesting story about how she escaped while at camp Pendleton and their attempts to get her back.

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2

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Putney writes that he never did know what happened to her. The unit shipped out for the pacific on Feb. 14, 1944

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He was correct though. Lady did not drown in the river that night. She must have wandered back into camp shortly after they shipped out. Eight (8) days after the unit shipped out she was declared "unsuitable for combat dog work and returned to former owner"

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But she did get an Honorable Discharge

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She returned home to the Skidmore family safe and sound. Good thing as busting out of her crate probably saved her life. The 2nd (under Taylor) and 3rd War Dog Platoons lost 25 dogs (KIA) on Guam.

Lady 3.jpg

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Wow...what an artifact! Lucky to survive the war and be returned...it's my understanding that, despite the promise to return the dogs, many were deemed unsuitable for return following their service in the war and put down

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vintageproductions

Eric- Have you read War Animals?

 

I'm about half way through it right now, and the war dog section, esp. the Marine Corps is really interesting. Esp how many dogs that did get to go back to their owners after the war.

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Thanks for all the comments. Happy that some found her story interesting.

 

Not as many were put down as you might think. Most would have been if the Marine Corps brass had their way (to avoid liability) but Putney convinced them otherwise. He developed the "de-training" program, and it worked.

 

Of the 559 dogs in Marine Corps possession at the end of the war only 19 were destroyed. 15 of those for health reasons. All the rest were returned to civilian life (sometimes with original owners, sometimes with the handlers if the owners did not want them back)

 

29 dogs were KIA, 5 were MIA, 5 died at sea and another 19 died in the pacific of other causes.

 

Bob, Robin is a friend of mine. Hopefully you will have a chance to read her first book "Sgt. Reckless" if you haven't already.

 

I met her through the Marine Raider Association (I am a life member). She contacted them about trying to find someone from the 1st Marine War Dog Platoon (under Henderson) which was attached to the Raiders. They sent her to me and I put her in contact with my friend Homer F. who is probably the last surviving member of that unit (only 50 to start with). He contributed to her book "War Animals" and she did a little Op Ed on him for Fox News (below)

 

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/veterans-day-75-years-later-wwii-marine-corps-war-dog-handler-still-remembers-his-dogs

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Has anyone ever seen one of the "Devil Dog" appreciation documents before? It was a first for me. Thanks.

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Has anyone ever seen one of the "Devil Dog" appreciation documents before? It was a first for me. Thanks.

first for me, too

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Eric,

 

A really great group and a true rarity. Congratulations on the acquisition! I also LOVE the way you write the story on the items that you share.

 

Well done!

 

Allan

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Thanks Allan and all for the additional comments. I appreciate it. This was Skidmore's other dog, Karloff.

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Karloff and one of her pups made their way into the newspaper at some point.

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This is interesting. The original document which Skidmore needed to fill out and sign to donate Karloff to the Devil Dog program.

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Karloff's appreciation document

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Serial number 170

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Ultimately it would seem that Karloff was "physically and temperamentally unsuited for war dog work". and, like Lady, was returned to the Skidmores. I wish the record gave more information as to what exactly this meant. I wonder if being an AKC registered show dog, and being trained for shows, played a role in her being rejected.

Karloff 8.jpg

 

In all, the Marine Corps rejected 295 dogs and returned them to their families. This number obviously includes both Lady and Karloff. Lady almost made it though. I think she just had enough of being locked in that crate.

Karloff 9.jpg

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  • 3 years later...
Eric Queen

Update:

 

I believe I was mistaken in my initial assessment of Lady's time in service. After further research the Lady which Capt. Putney's refers to in his book was not the Lady donated by Maj. Skidmore. 

 

The Lady in Capt. Putney's book as actually a German Shepherd obtained from a breeder in Hollywood, CA obtained by Putney as a replacement while the unit was at Camp Pendleton prior to moving out to the South Pacific. 

 

"My" Lady made it through the majority of the War Dog training program at New River but was ultimately rejected prior to going overseas. 

 

I did learn something valuable regarding the discharge documents. The Honorable Discharges for "reject" dogs were typed (dogs who served overseas were hand written), issued prior to 1946 (dogs who served overseas were issued discharges in 1946 after the one year of "detraining"), and were issued from The War Dog Training School/Company ( dogs who served overseas were issued discharges issued from Washington, DC) 

 

Here is another "reject" dog discharge which recently sold on eBay. 

WD 1.jpg

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