Vietnam vet continues service by protecting stray dogs

Nov. 10—Earlier this week, when Town Creek resident Gene Hart, a veteran, heard a litter of dogs was being neglected near his home, he accepted it as his mission to help them.

Because of him, the dogs now have food and fresh water every day.

When he adopts a stray dog in his community, it takes the 78-year-old Vietnam veteran back to the times when he looked after his soldiers as a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines.

"If I didn't have these dogs, I don't think I'd be here," Hart said. "Who knows, the dogs I have now could have had a relative who was over there with us. They took care of us, so why can't we take care of their offspring?"

Canines to Hart are more than domestic pets, a lesson he learned while fighting in the jungles of Vietnam.

"They were soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, just the same as we were. Only, they had four legs," Hart said. "And they would give their life for you."

In Vietnam, U.S. troops used dogs for sentry duty, tunnel detection and as trackers. They could alert their handlers to hidden dangers, such as snipers and trip wires, and could detect hidden enemy troops.

Hart was born in 1945 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, known for being the 16th century birthplace of playwright William Shakespeare. Hart's father was a soldier in the U.S. Army and was stationed there in World War II during the Blitz, an intense German bombing campaign against Britain in 1940 and 1941.

"He met my mother and here I am," Hart said. "She was full-blooded English and grew up in south London."

After the war, the family relocated to Paris, Tennessee, where Hart grew up. Hart wanted to follow in his father and uncle's footsteps and enlisted in the U.S. military in 1964. He was dispatched to the Dominican Republic the following year to aid the country in fighting rebel forces in a civil war.

"I saw my first dead body there," Hart said. "We were in a Land Rover approaching a checkpoint and a soldier was standing not too far from me. I heard this crack and all of the sudden he was on the ground. That could have been me."

From 1966 to 1967 and in his second tour from 1970-71, Hart fought in the I Corps region of South Vietnam, right on the border of North Vietnam. He achieved the rank of sergeant and had over 230 soldiers under his command at one point.

"The toughest thing was sending one of them out because you never knew what was going to happen," Hart said.

An even tougher challenge, according to Hart, was coming home after the war and witnessing the public's cold reception of Vietnam veterans.

"We go over there to fight one war and come home to fight another," Hart said. "Today, people go to the airports and thank soldiers for their service. Back then, people would spit on us. They would say, 'Why didn't you stay over there?'"

Hart said he spent 14 years drifting through the United States and working various jobs, just trying to "see where I belong."

"I met someone in Nashville who I started doing construction jobs for, and I relocated to Town Creek, Alabama, to do the same type of work," Hart said. "I met my wife Judy down here. She died in 2019."

Hart began adopting stray dogs 12 years ago when a man reached out to him to take care of an adult female pit bull who had just given birth.

"He asked if I could take a dog and eight puppies," Hart said. "When the puppies were weaned, I took the mother to the vet and had her spayed."

Hart said when he tried to return the mother to the owner, but he no longer wanted her because she could no longer give birth. Hart assured the pit bull, named Turino, that she would always have a home.

"She's probably laid back in my recliner right now," Hart laughed.

Hart has fed and paid for veterinarian care for dozens of dogs since then and has given several away to good homes. He now has his sights on giving dogs to veterans through a nonprofit organization called Working Dogs for Vets in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, which trains them to be support dogs for veterans.

Just as Hart takes comfort from his dogs, other veterans do as well, said the founder of Working Dogs for Vets.

"These dogs not only impact the veterans but their families because they get their life back," said Ken Knabenshue. "All of the sudden, Dad is going out of the house and doing stuff with his kids again."

Working Dogs for Vets began 14 years ago and Knabenshue said they are currently training 3,400 dogs.

Hart has four other dogs he is currently nurturing, including a male terrier mutt named Gunner, who Hart refers to as "my basketball with legs."