K9 Combat Trackers Present for Veterans Day

Buchanan American Legion Post 51 will once again be hosting special programs this November in honor of Veterans Day. This year, the legion is bringing in five Vietnam K9 Combat Trackers to talk about their secret missions during the Vietnam War.

The North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong referred to the Combat Trackers as "ghost teams and devil dogs" and put a bounty on thhem. Each trained tracker team was made up of five men and their Labrador retrievers. Their mission was to track the enemy, gather intelligence and retrieve missing U.S. soldiers and pilots.

Susan Merritt will also be on hand. She is the author of the book, "Seek On!", which details the work of the U.S. Army K9 Combat Tracker teams, a unit of trained trackers and their dogs whose existence was a guarded secret for three decades or more. Her husband, Frank, was one of the original Combat Trackers and she set out to tell their little known story.

People attending the two presentations set for Nov. 10 and 11 in Buchanan will learn about the endurance training and guerilla tactics the Combat Trackers received and learned before going to Vietnam, the reasons for the secrecy surrounding their teams and hear from the men themselves about their wartime experiences.

Public programs are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Buchanan High School, 401 W. Chicago St. and for Friday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. at the Buchanan American Legion, 403 E. Front St.