I didnt know that about the Marine Corps

This article was in the local paper today and I thot I would share.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

"In a famous photographic image from World War II, a tired U.S. Marine covers himself with camouflage and catches a few winks of shut-eye in a foxhole. A rucksack and his rifle lie nearby, on the lip of the foxhole. While he sleeps, a Doberman pinscher sits beside him, ears at the alert, protecting his handler.

The Marine is Pvt. Rez Hester, the dog is Butch, and their outfit is the 7th War Dog Platoon attached to the 25th Regiment of the 4th Marine Division.

The scene is after the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Hester, born a twin (his brother was Ras) to Ned and Martha Hester on April Fool’s Day 1924, was a strapping youth who grew up on Rural View Road in southern Alamance County and was one of the thousands of men who stormed that Pacific Island, 7,000 miles from home, in February 1945.

According to an official cutline on the back of the photo, a passing combat photographer noticed the scene and captured it on film. “Within a few days the photograph was on newspaper front pages and inside magazines throughout the United States.”

Hester’s nephew, Chris Cox, shared the original photo, which can be viewed on thousands of websites.

“Sometimes the photo will say the dog is guarding his dead master,” Cox says. Instead, he said, the photographer staged the scene for dramatic effect.

Hester survived the war and came back to live in Liberty with his wife, Elsie, and son, Pat, and daughter, Susan. He worked for Sands Vending Co. in Greensboro. He passed away in the early 1990s.

According to some Internet research, Camp Lejeune was the home of the war Dog Training School, where dogs began their training with the rank of private; war dogs actually could out-rank their handlers. Seven War  Dog Platoons were trained at Camp Lejeune.

The War Dog Platoons were the brainchild of Marine Col. Keller E. Rockey, who came up with the idea in 1942. Before that, dogs were used as gate guardians, prowling camp boundaries, watching for trespassers. He envisioned a unit, a dog and a man as a single combat unit trained to fight together.

By the end of 1942, Lt. Gen. Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the Marine Corps, had initiated the War Dog Training program and in early 1944, the first War Dog training school grew to 50 men and dogs. By the end of the war, there were more than 1,000 dogs serving stateside and overseas in all Marine Corps divisions.

During World War II, approximately 75 percent of dogs used during combat were Doberman pinschers. The Doberman Pinscher Club of America helped in training. About 25 percent of the other dogs were German shepherds, with some Belgian sheepdogs, malamutes, Siberian huskies, mastiffs, bouviers, labradors, rottweilers and retrievers.

During their 14-week training program, the dogs were schooled in scouting, pointing for patrols, and monitoring for infiltration or mass attack. They carried messages through enemy lines, delivered blood plasma and found wounded soldiers. The men and dogs ate, trained and fought together. There was never an ambush of Marines where dogs were on watch.

Initially used in the Pacific, the animals spotted positions and were often targeted by the enemy. There were many instances of dogs saving lives of their handlers or an entire outfit.

In August 1945, the War Dog Platoons were disbanded. Many of the dogs were retrained for civilian life and sent back to their families, while several remained with their handlers. There were 1,047 dogs enlisted during the war, with 465 serving in combat. Twenty-five dogs died during service in the Pacific during the war.

The first War Dog Memorial, a life-size bronze of a Doberman pinscher, was unveiled on  the U. S. Naval Base on Guam during the 50th anniversary of the liberation of that island. 

According to Cox, his uncle never pursued any serious work with dogs after the war, unless he had a pet or two."

I found this so interesting because I love history, and especially when it comes to the Marine Corps of course lol.  I hope you all had a great day!!  :)