They are two heroes , both Pennsylvanians, both Vietnam combat veterans. Both are pointing dog professionals. One is a Marine, one is Army. They both saw much combat, and that has had its inevitable consequences, physical and mental.
The Army Vet was awarded three Purple Hearts for combat wounds. After the third he was assigned to General Westmoreland's headquarters staff. He had served as a machine gunner, and for gallant service in combat been awarded the Silver Star. On his return to the States he won first in the Shooting Dog Quail Futurity with an entry of more than one hundred.
The Marine became a professional fire fighter on return to the States. Why that choice? " I guess I was looking for something that might give me the adrenalin rush combat had," he recently told me.
" When you attend firefighter school they let first in the class pick his firehouse. I first attended the school in Fairfax County, Virginia and picked the firehouse with the most calls. Then I moved closer home to Harrisburg and attended their fire school. I repeated as first and got to pick a fire house in a ghetto that really was busy," he says with a grin. He served as a professional firefighter until deciding to try his hand as bird dog professional.
He worked first with Clair Gross, then Tom and Peter Flanigan, then Fred Bevan in Georgia.
For a time he worked on both sides at Dixie, for Gene Brown on the Georgia side and Miss Geraldine on the Florida Side. He worked for Butch Houston and broke Silky Sullivan and placed him Top Qualifier in the Continental. Then he managed Wiregrass Plantation at Albany for the Thomas Vails of Cleveland Plain Dealer fame.
In his native Pennsylvania he became a friend and protege of Gerald Tracy , as did his pal the machine gunner. "He wanted to help us any way he could, would have us scout when George wasn't available, sometimes had us enter and handle a dog from his string," the Marine says of Gerald.
The Marine moved to AKC competition and won many championships there. Today he manages Cedar Grove Plantation at Clarksville, Virginia for Will Pannill and continues to take dogs for the public to western Montana for summer training.
The Army machine gunner is suffering from cancer brought on by Agent Orange. His name is Henry Caruso Jr. His Marine friend and comrade in arms is Jim Heckert. Veterans Day a fitting time to remember their sacrifices and thank them for their service.
Tom Word is a lawyer who represents individuals about managing their assets and for amusement writes fiction and non-fiction about bird dogs and humans obsessed with them.
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