Cheyenne platoon adopted two puppies during 1967. Sergeant Bob DeLaughter, a
man with a commanding presence and authoritative voice who everyone
respected and admired, had a real soft spot for puppy dogs. During a mission
in a Bong Son village, Bob "rescued" a black dog and justified his action by
stating that “this is one dog they are not going to eat". The dog was
treated like a member of Bravo Company and allowed free run of our area. He
had a penchant for crawling into one of our lieutenants shelter at night and
chewing on his feet. As a result Bob was told to put the dog on a leash.
Over the years, Bob and I have talked a lot about our black dog and although
we both agreed that we lost him during a firefight, we could never agree on
whether he had a name.
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In the fall of 1967, a white puppy arrived at our company area in a sling
load of gear delivered by Huey. Bob immediately took charge of the pup but
refused to give him a name. Eventually after being pressed that the pup
needed a name, Bob finally caved in and called him Sarge. As I recall
everyone loved Sarge, and Bob even made a small raft for Sarge to float over
rivers and tributaries. I sent a letter to my Aunt in Shelbina, Missouri,
requesting that she bake some homemade dog biscuits for Sarge. The package
arrived and since everyone believed that goodies from home should be shared,
it was torn into and distributed to everyone but poor little Sarge. Someone
even remarked what a good cook my Aunt was. Occasionally we had some beer to
drink and Sarge became a real connoisseur. One night someone gave Sarge lots
of
whiskey instead of beer and that nearly killed him. |
Sarge
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It looked like it was
all over for little Sarge and Bob was told that his
dog was dead. Bob found
Sarge and although still alive, he was as |
drunk as a skunk. Bob claimed that
Sarge walked backwards for a week after this drinking binge, however, I
believe it was much less than a week. |
With the passage of time Sarge became experienced in airmobile operations
and participated in many combat assaults. We were very fond of our dogs and
they loved the C-Rations that we didn’t like, such as ham and lima beans.
Unfortunately, we lost Sarge while on a mission in Bong Son. We were pulled
out in a hurry and couldn’t find him before we left with the choppers.
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Bob Delaughter with Sarge on raft
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Bob Delaughter with Sarge
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(Prepared by Ray Bono with contributions from Robert L. DeLaughter)
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