Carla Clark | For The Republic Sonny Clark holding Wazungu, from left front, Jeremiah Branson holding MLinzi, Sam Ruzga holding Tusker, Zach Green holding Jonesy and Devyn Parr holding Tiifu, Angelique Williams, standing at left, and Niki Dawson pose for a photograph during the Paws of War, Help A Vet, Save A Pet, event held at Hampton Inn, Shelbyville, Ind., Wednesday, April 3, 2024.
SHELBYVILLE – Two months after five Hoosier soldiers returned to their families after serving in Africa, their best friends also traveled nearly 8,000 miles to follow the soldiers home.
Five dogs that were largely raised by Indiana National Guardsmen stationed in Kenya were brought to the Hampton Inn in Shelbyville Wednesday to be reunited with the soldiers through a nonprofit called “Paws of War.”
Since 2014, the New York-based organization has brought more than 300 dogs and cats to the U.S. that were rescued by American troops serving overseas.
The guardsmen, who train in Seymour, said their relationship with the canines goes back to the day when they first arrived at their airfield base in the east African country in February 2023.
An adult male dog immediately took a liking to the Hoosier soldiers, and would occasionally accompany them on patrols, according to Staff Sgt. Carl “Sonny” Clark of Cloverdale. The soldiers named their new canine friend Sancha.
“I’d wake up, start on a run, and Sancha would go with me,” Clark said.“He was kind of like our mascot the first three or four months we were there.”
Eventually, the soldiers learned the dog had sired an unborn litter of puppies, he said. But before the puppies were born, Sancha was hit by a vehicle at the airfield and was killed, the soldiers said.
After the puppies arrived, the mother was apparently overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for her litter and ran away, Spc. Devyn Parr of Ninevah said. While the soldiers did what they could, their duties kept them from properly caring for the pups, Parr said. The puppies often ate what they could find and eventually became sick and malnourished, he said.
“Most of us didn’t think they were going to make it,” said Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Branson of Shelbyville.
“But then, Paws of War stepped in and and provided nutrition and medical care for the puppies,” Parr said. “Don’t ask me how they found out about them. I don’t know.”
While the Hoosier soldiers did what they could to care for the small dogs, the puppies returned the favor by alleviating much of the guardsmens’ homesickness during their deployment, Clark said.
“A lot of us left pets at home, along with our families,” he said. “Hanging out with these little guys gave us something to look forward to.”
“When you are far from home and you see a dog or cat, it just brings feelings of normalcy and comfort,” Branson added.
It was exactly one year after their arrival in Africa that the five guardsmen received their orders to return home.
While Spc. Samuel Ruzga said members of his unit was excited last February about returning home, the Schererville resident said it was also bittersweet because they had to abandon the dogs loved.
It was Clark who contacted Paws of War’s headquarters in Nesconset, New York, to inquire about bringing the dogs to Indiana to be adopted by the soldiers,Ruzga said.
Easier said than done. Angelique Williams, a transporter and veterinary specialist for Paws of War, says it took several weeks of wading through red tape before the governments in both counties agreed to transport the canines from Africa.
Once the dogs arrived in New York, Williams and co-worker Niki Dawson drove them for 13 hours before they reached Shelbyville, she said.
Tusker, who is Ruzga’s dog, froze as a room full of cameras, reporters, well-wishers and small children turned their attention on him at a news conference about the return of the puppies.
But when Staff Sgt. Zach Green was reunited with his dog, Jonesy, it only took his 2-year-old twins, Ember and Warner, a few moments to break the ice and make Jonesy warm up to his environment. When Tusker saw Jonesy getting attention, he relaxed and rolled over on his back to receive a belly rub.
Clark and his wife also have twins. The 3-year-olds, River and Lilly, anxiously waited in a motel meeting room to see their new family pet, Wazu, for the first time.
“They have been begging for a dog ever since I was deployed,” Clark said.
Parr and his pet, Tiifu, as well as Branson and his canine buddy, Mlinzi, appeared serene and happy while sitting on the floor as their dogs kept joyfully jumping up and licking their faces.
Besides being treated to lunch and snacks, the soldiers and their families were also provided with a large gift bag containing pet toys, dog food, leashes and their medical records, Williams said. Boxes were set in front of the bags that contained a pet bed, she said.
The dogs were brought to Indiana through the “War-Torn Pups & Cats” program, one of several services provided by Paws of War. Another program provides crucial veterinary care for the pets of veterans and first responders, including many who are disabled and living on low fixed incomes.
Their “Mission Well Done” program provides working dogs who are retired with loving forever homes. Paws of War also sponsors specified training to dogs to help mitigate post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans.
They also have the “Helping Heroes” program that provides fencing, food and whatever a veteran needs to take care of a pet, as well as a companion animals service with dogs and cats rescued from shelters or neglect situations around the world.
More information on the nonprofit is available online at pawsofwar.org.
