N.J. Marine Looks to Honor Dogs of War

CAMDEN, N.J. December 4, 2001 — A former Marine is leading a statewide campaign to honor the scout, tracker, sentry, tunnel and water dogs who served in Vietnam. Ron Aiello and his group want to raise as much as $80,000 for a bronze sculpture of a soldier and a dog which will be erected at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Holmdel. Group members of the United States War Dogs Association Inc., Chapter 1, of the Vietnam Dog Handlers Association/ Northeast Region have raised about $11,000 already.

"It will be the first official state war dog memorial," Aiello, 57, of Burlington Township, stated.

While in the Marines, Aiello worked with a scout dog named Stormy who led a patrol through a village near Da Nang. The dog was trained to detect the enemy, bombs or any traps.

"You never second-guessed your dog," Aiello said. "Your dog was always right."

Only 190 of the 4,000 dogs that served in Vietnam made it back to the United States.

"After all they did for us, and all the lives they saved, we thought they would come home and be put up for adoption," Aiello said.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News