A to Z Challenge 2024

 

A to Z Challenge 2024

                                                        Leuk

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This year my blog posts for the April 2024 Challenge will be about the recipients of the Dickin Medal, which you can read about here. They are in alphabetical, not chronological order, within the different letters.

L

Leuk  2013-2019

Leuk, a Belgian Malinois, was born on 20^th September, 2013 and joined the K9 division of the élite French Special Forces Commando Kieffer unit almost two years later. He had been trained both to detect explosives and as an attack dog. Leuk displayed a particular skill in following drones to locate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

                Leuk wearing special head gear to protect his ears and eyes

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In March 2019, Leuk and his handler were engaged on a four-month tour of duty in Mali, West Africa. (The Mali War, between the north and south of the country has been ongoing in the former French colony since 2012.) In recognition of his extraordinary expertise, he was nicknamed Leuk la Chance (Lucky Leuk).

In an operation involving jihadist insurgents, the area surrounding their camp was set ablaze. Leuk ran through the flames and a hail of bullets from automatic weapons to clear out two militants. He attacked one of them, which created a diversion, enabling his team to move in and take control. His encounter with them lasted seven minutes.

                                                       Leuk, napping.
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A short while later, during the same mission, Leuk tracked down four more insurgents. Again, he diverted the jihadists so that his team could proceed. Finally, he was seeking out IEDs when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, exposing another concealed armed insurgent. This one, it is said, ‘he bit firmly, allowing the unit to capture him before anyone was harmed.’

It was for these actions, ‘for his unstinting bravery and lifesaving devotion to duty’, that he was awarded the Dickin Medal, in a private ceremony in Brittany, in 2021. At the same time, a memorial to all the dogs who had died in the service of the French Navy was unveiled. He is the first French military dog to have been given the Dickin Medal.

In May 2019, Leuk uncovered another enemy position but was shot dead in the process.

When Leuk’s body was returned to France, his human comrades formed a guard of honour as they would for any fallen soldier, and his body was covered with the French Tricolour.

 

     Lucca  2003/4-2018

Lucca on the day she received her DM

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Lucca was a German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois cross-bred bitch who worked with the United States Marine Corps for six years.  She was born in the Netherlands and taken to Israel to train with an American team for six months, after which she travelled to the States for further training in desert conditions. 

She joined the Marine Corps when she was two years old and was assigned to Sergeant (now Master Sergeant) Chris Willingham. Her job as a specialised search dog was to detect explosives and she worked with the Marines for six years. She was exceptional in that she was able to work off-lead far distant from her handler in the most dangerous situations.

Lucca had two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. She carried out more than 400 missions and under her watch no troops were ever injured. She is documented as finding explosives, ammunition and insurgents at least 40 times.  However, she was not just a protection dog – she did much to raise the morale of the troops with whom she worked. They may not have known her handler’s name but they all knew Lucca by name.

Chris Willingham had to relinquish his handling of Lucca when he was deployed elsewhere. He chose his replacement carefully, and Corporal Juan Rodriguez took over handling duties. While on patrol in Helmand, in 2012, Lucca indicated she had discovered a 30-pound IED, and as she continued her search, another IED exploded underneath her and she lost her left front leg. She was casevaced to Germany for surgery and rehabilitation and ten days after the explosion which nearly killed her, she was walking again. 

Military retirement later that year saw her returning to the States to live with Chris Willingham and his family, with whom she enjoyed five years living a ‘normal’ dog’s life.

Lucca taking part in a road challenge

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In 2016, she was awarded the DM, the first US Marine Corps dog to receive the honour. She was also unofficially given a Purple Heart and ribbons.

In January 2018, aged 14, Lucca died and was buried in the Michigan War Dog Memorial in South Lyon, Michigan. In 2019, she was posthumously awarded the ‘Animals in War and Peace Medal of Bravery.’

 

Lucky

I can find no record of Lucky’s birth and death. He and three other German Shepherds were intensively trained by the Royal Air Force Police dog unit as an élite anti-terrorist tracker and detection team. During the Malayan Emergency of 1949-1952, Lucky, Bobbie, Jasper and Lassie were used in the Malaysian jungle to track Communist guerillas.

At different times, Lucky and his dog team were attached to the Malay Police, the Coldstream Guards, the Royal Scots Guards and the Gurkhas. The dogs were credited with capturing hundreds of Communist terrorists and relieving the local populace of the threat of death at the hands of the insurgents.

Lucky served for three years and was the sole survivor of the four. He continued working as a military dog until his retirement. He was awarded the DM posthumously in February 2007. 

His handler, Corporal Bevan Austin Stapleton, received the medal on Lucky’s behalf and on behalf of the other three dogs, and said, ‘Every minute of every day in the jungle we trusted our lives to those four dogs, and they never let us down. Lucky was the only one of the team to survive our time in the Malayan jungle and I’m so proud of the old dog today. I owe my life to him.’