R.I.P. Pfc. DUKE. US Marine War Dog

[Eric Queen]

A forum friend (thank you Kevin) alerted me that this little grouping came up on eBay a few weeks ago. It consists of a nice original portrait photo of a German Shepherd named DUKE and the original certificate the owner (Clarke Settles of Braintree, MA) received when he donated him to the Marine Corps "Devil Dog" program on June 1st 1944. The piece were found at an estate sale in MA and are still in the original matching 1940's frames. 

[Eric Queen]

DUKE was given serial number 406 and was trained as a Messenger Dog. As with all Messenger dogs DUKE was also assigned two (2) handlers. Both from North Carolina. Pvt. Horace M. Cox and Pvt. James S. Harper. 

[Eric Queen]

Newspaper clipping from January 1944 prior to deploying to the South Pacific. Cox and Harper are front row far right with Duke in between them. 

[Eric Queen]

Cox, Harper and DUKE were part of the 6th Marine War Dog Platoon and participated in the assault on Iwo Jima from the first day of the battle. February 19, 1945

[Eric Queen]

More

[Eric Queen]

After Iwo, Cox, Harper and DUKE were sent to Guam to assist with the mopping up operations there, arriving on April 14th.

[Eric Queen]

Sadly, DUKE was Killed In Action less than a month later on May 11th. 

[Eric Queen]

After DUKE as killed and the fighting was over, Cox was assigned another dog which had already been with the unit. A Doberman Scout Dog named BART. Cox and BART returned to the states together and Cox adopted BART. Here is an interesting article about it where he references DUKE getting killed also. 

[BILL THE PATCH]

Where's the rest of story, ? 

[Eric Queen]

The rest of the story..............