1st . Lt. George Lynn, Jr. and his dog, Laddie.  early in 1944. Laddie

was nine months old in the photos. 1st . Lt. Lynn, Jr. was stationed in

Chicago at the University of Chicago, training medical students to

become medics. Laddie was his personal compaion. Laddie was trained by

Lt. Lynn, Jr. to do a building  searches, and he used Laddie for that

purpose when he had to do the rounds at night. During the time he was

stationed in Chicago, Lt. Lynn, Jr. became friends with an Army “canine

recruiter” for “Dogs for Defense”.  After much soul searching, Laddie

was loaned to “Dogs for Defense” and went to the Remount Station in

Front Royal, Virginia as a possible war dog.

 

Just before Lt. Lynn, Jr. shipped out to the Pacific, he went to Front

Royal to see Laddie who was just finishing his training. He was told

when he got there that he couldn’t see the dog, but Lt. Lynn, Jr. had a

very forceful personality and in the end they let him visit with his

dog.  Lt. Lynn, Jr.  spent the rest of the war with the 1113 Engineer

Construction Group in New Guinea, the Philippines and Okinawa and

returned home with a purple heart.

 

After the war, Lt. Lynn, Jr. continued his interest in German Shepherds

and in fact bred and showed them. Soon after the war while visiting a

local German Shepherd Kennel, he ran into his friend from Chicago – the

Dogs for Defense guy. He was still looking for dogs to be loaned to the

military. He remembered Laddie and said that he had distinguished

himself very well during the war. Laddie also was shipped to the Pacific

theater and used to lay wire. He survived the war and was used

afterwards to guard the quarters of the commanding officer of a base in

the Pacific – the black and cream shepherd named Laddie who had a kink

in his tail. Lt. Lynn, Jr. never was able to learn of Laddie’s fate

after that. Good boy, Laddie.

 

Sharon Lynn

Daughter of Lt. Lynn, Jr.