Always Faithful, A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII, by Captain William W. Putney tells the story of the dogs that fought in Guam and the other Pacific Islands. The dogs were used for scouting, attacks, carrying messages, detecting mines, and guarding. The dogs scouted in front of more than 550 patrols on the island of Guam. Not one patrol was ambushed, but 25 dogs died in service. As Captain Putney writes in his book:
“The sacrifices of these dogs were recognized by everyone of us that served in the 2nd and 3rd War Dog Platoons. They died; we lived.”
At the end of the war, the men discovered that the dogs were going to be put to sleep. They convinced the government that the dogs could be retrained and either returned to their families, or re-homed.
To our disgrace, the military dogs of the Korean and Vietnam wars were not brought home, but President Clinton signed a bill that now allows military handlers to bring home their partners in battle.
For more information about the military dogs see http://www.vet.utk.edu/wardog/background.shtml. And if you want to help bring home the dogs of Afghanistan see http://www.nationalreview.com/article/386953/dont-abandon-our-dogs-war-jonah-goldberg and https://www.facebook.com/SoldierDogs.