Our speaker on Wednesday was Johnny Mayo. A native of Columbia, SC, Johnny was drafted into the US Army in 1969. He served as a scout dog handler in his tour of duty in Vietnam. He served as a point man with two German Shepherds, assigned to the 39th Scout Dog Platoon., 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Air Medal.
Johnny has helped lobby for a War Dog Postal Commemorative Stamp. In 2002, he was featured in Oliver North’s “War Stories”. In 2001, he assembled an educational display for a local air show that would be the beginning of an exhibit sharing the details of service of our country’s military working dogs, past and present.
After 13 years of traveling with the exhibit known as the War Dog Wall, Johnny’s final chapter of service to the military working dogs is his tribute to the K9s of the military by building a world class War Dog Monument in the SC Veterans Memorial Park in Columbia, SC. The first meeting in March 2011 started the process as the park’s architect and several park commission members asked Johnny to take the point once again and lead the way in building a world class monument to the military K9s, past to present.
For more information about Johnny’s book, Bucks Heros, please visit http://www.bucksheroes.com– And a link to an article about the memorial Johnny is helping build: http://www.thestate.com/2014/01/31/3238941/war-dogs-to-be-memorialized-in.html
