Veteran honors one of 4,000 war dogs euthanized after Vietnam War

A traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall holds thousands of names of people who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War.

It spent the weekend in Southwest Florida, but veteran Terry Kehoe says there are names missing.

We found him sitting in front of the wall holding this homemade sign for “Prince.”

Prince was a scout dog who detected bombs and enemy fighters. Kehoe says after Prince’s service he was euthanized along with 4,000 other scout dogs.

“I had him for 9 months and we walked point for the infantry,” Kehoe said.

That means every day, every mission, Kehoe and Prince risked their lives to lead their unit through the Vietnamese jungle. “He kept me alive,” he said.

In the air, in the field, and at the base. In the middle of a war – a soldier and a scout dog became best friends.

“I wish this was a picture today, that would be nice,” Kehoe said. “I’m fortunate my name is not on this wall so I can look back on the memories.”

The photo he held up is the last picture they took ever together.

With a half-smile, Kehoe didn’t know he was leaving Prince and just about every war dog behind to die, “They were euthanized at the end because they were excess equipment.”

4,000 war dogs served in Vietnam and a large majority of them never came home.

His emotions welled up as he recalled that moment, “I just needed more time to… excuse me… I just needed more time to say goodbye to him. And that’s a very difficult thing cause I said goodbye to Prince in Vietnam, but I didn’t realize he was going to meet that fate. So I really never got a proper goodbye.”

So Kehoe sits in the grass, oblivious to the crowds. He does what it takes to give his partner a proper goodbye – 49 years later.

“I would tell him that I love him… miss him… I’d love to cuddle him right now. It would be… I’d like to pet him. That would be nice.” 50 years later — that bond is still as strong as ever.