Meet Our Heroes
Kurt
The Dog Who Went First
1944 | World War II | Guam
In July 1944, United States Marines landed on the island of Guam.
They did not go alone.
Moving with them were teams of specially trained Marine war dogs and their handlers.
The dogs served as scouts and sentries. Their hearing and sense of smell could warn Marines of dangers hidden in terrain where an enemy could be nearby but impossible to see.
Among those dogs was a 65-pound Doberman Pinscher named Kurt.
His handler was Private First Class Allen S. Jacobson.
Together, they went into battle with the 21st Marines.
The War Dogs of Guam
America's military war-dog program had expanded rapidly during World War II.
Dogs were trained for specialized jobs. Scout dogs learned to move ahead with patrols and silently alert their handlers to the presence of people or danger.
On Guam, that ability mattered.
The island's dense vegetation provided concealment for Japanese forces. Marine war-dog teams searched for hidden troops, warned of ambushes, checked caves and fortified positions, and guarded Marines at night.
Kurt's job was not to fight the enemy.
His job was to find them before they found the Marines.
On the second day of the battle, that is exactly what he did.
The Warning
Kurt and Jacobson were moving ahead of Marines climbing above the Asan Point beachhead.
Approximately 250 Marines were behind them.
Then Kurt stopped.
He alerted.
Hidden in the jungle ahead was a large Japanese force.
Kurt had detected them.
His warning gave the Marines notice of the danger before they walked into it.
The National Park Service credits Kurt's warning with likely saving the lives of 250 Marines.
But the enemy now knew they had been discovered.
Fire came toward the dog team.
Kurt and Jacobson were both hit.
Jacobson suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and shoulders.
Kurt was gravely wounded.
Get Kurt Back
Despite his own wounds, Jacobson refused medical treatment until Kurt had been carried to the rear.
Corporal Kurt, wounded on Guam, being transported by jeep for treatment. Official U.S. Marine Corps photograph.
Kurt was taken to Captain William W. Putney, a veterinarian and commander of the 3rd War Dog Platoon.
The damage to Kurt's back was severe.
Putney tried to save him.
Kurt survived for several hours.
But his wounds were too great.
During the night, Kurt died.
Putney later remembered what happened after the dog he had tried to save was gone:
“I was so tired I put my head on him and went to sleep.”
Kurt became the first Marine war dog to die during the Battle of Guam.
He would not be the last.
Twenty-Five
For 21 days, Marines and their war dogs fought across Guam.
The dogs scouted ahead.
They guarded positions.
They searched places where Marines could not safely see what waited ahead.
By the end of the fighting, 25 Marine war dogs had died on Guam.
Twenty more had been wounded.
Kurt was the first of them to fall.
But before he did, one alert from one dog had shown exactly what a trained war-dog team could mean to the Marines following behind him.
Kurt had found the danger first.
And approximately 250 Marines had been warned.
They Did Not Forget
The war ended.
The Marines came home.
But the dogs who died on Guam remained part of the story.
William Putney never forgot them.
Decades after the battle, he helped lead an effort to create a permanent memorial honoring the Marine war dogs who had died on Guam.
In 1994, fifty years after the battle, the Always Faithful memorial was unveiled.
The names of the 25 Marine war dogs who died on Guam were placed on the memorial.
Always Faithful — Kurt's bronze likeness above the names of the Marine war dogs who died on Guam.
And above those names stands a life-size bronze Doberman.
The dog chosen to represent them was Kurt.
The first of the Marine war dogs to die on Guam had become the dog chosen to remember them all.
Still On Watch
Kurt went ashore on Guam as a scout dog.
His job was simple to describe and extraordinarily difficult to perform:
Go ahead.
Find the danger.
Warn the Marines behind you.
On the second day of battle, Kurt did exactly that.
His warning is credited with likely saving the lives of 250 Marines.
It cost him his own.
Today, his bronze likeness stands above the names of the Marine war dogs who died on Guam.
The scout dog is out front once again.
Still on duty.
Still watching over his pack.
His Legacy
Kurt
Doberman Pinscher | 65 pounds
Marine Scout Dog
21st Marines
Handler: PFC Allen S. Jacobson
Served: World War II
Battle: Guam | July 1944
Role: Scout Dog
Credited: Warning approximately 250 Marines of concealed Japanese forces
Killed: Battle of Guam | July 1944
Remembered: Always Faithful | Marine War Dog Memorial | Guam
He went ahead so others could come home.