Honoring Animals that Serve

There are several projects that have expanded our work honoring our four-legged and winged heroes substantially: MEDALS, MONUMENTS and a MUSEUM.

MEDALS

On November 14, 2019, we initiated the new Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery where we honored 8 animals that have served our country in war and in peacetime. Click here to learn more about these incredible war heroes. 

Our second ceremony took place on March 9, 2022. on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.  We honored three dogs with our Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery,  and three dogs received our new  Animals in War & Peace Distinguished Service Medal.  Click here to see more  on our 2022 Ceremony. 

Our next ceremony is set for March 8, 2023 on Capitol Hill, Washington , DC where we will honor one pigeon, one horse and four dogs. 

RESOLUTION:  We are working with Members of Congress to make these medals Congressionally-mandated awards. House Resolution 935 (H.Res 935) dropped on February 18, 2022 with 12 Members of Congress signing on as co-sponsors. This resolution recognizes and thanks service animals and their handlers who serve the United States in times of war and peace and supports the creation of an annual process to nominate animals for the Medal of Bravery and Distinguished Service Medal. 

Our next resolution will drop in February 2024.

MONUMENTS

Staff Sergeant Reckless:  For the last ten years, our DBA The Sgt. Reckless Memorial Fund has raised money for the incredible horse that was a US Marine who served during the Korean War as an ammunitions carrier. Reckless was so courageous in Korea that she was promoted to Staff Sergeant by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and listed as one of America’s All Time Greatest Heroes in Life Magazine. We have placed SIX monuments to SSgt Reckless: 1) the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, VA; 2) Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California where Reckless lived out her days and is buried. We also placed a memorial marker near her grave at Camp Pendleton, CA; 3) the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY; 4) is at a horse farm in Barrington Hills, IL that pairs veterans with PTSD with horses;  5) the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, TX; and 6) the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, FL. 

This monument serves not only to honor all animals (horses, mules, dogs) that have served our country in times of war – whether as mascots for our service men, or ammunitions carriers, like Sgt. Reckless - but all of those incredible men who served alongside Reckless in Korea and Camp Pendleton. She is an ambassador for all of those that served in the Forgotten War of Korea. 

To learn more about Sgt. Reckless, click here.

MWD Lucca K458: Through our DBA Animals in War & Peace/International War Animals Museum we are doing the same for a monument to the Marine Corps K-9 Lucca K-458, who served four tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq and went on over 400 patrols looking for IEDs, explosives, insurgents, etc.. Lucca now stands proudly at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, TX, and we are working to place it at MCB Camp Pendleton where Lucca did some training and then recovered from her wounds there.

Click here to learn more about Lucca's monument and story.

MUSEUM

The International Animals in War & Peace Museum will be the first of its kind in the world. Filled with galleries, displays, interactive exhibits, events, statues and artifacts relating to war service animals, the museum will become a destination for people young and old to experience and appreciate the role animals have played in military history throughout the world. Many of their stories will also be told through creative and novel exhibits, including old film footage for a meaningful media experience. 

Click here to learn more.