America’s Forgotten Heroes
America’s Forgotten Heroes recounts the partnerships between U.S. soldiers and their military dogs in Vietnam, where the animals saved lives daily yet almost none returned home. America’s Forgotten Heroes follows American soldiers paired with canine partners through the steamy, deadly jungles of Vietnam. The teams worked detection and security missions that protected U.S. troops under constant threat. Handlers relied on the dogs’ senses to locate booby traps, ambushes, and enemy movement before casualties mounted. Combat conditions were extreme, and the animals performed under fire alongside their human partners. After the war ended, policy left the vast majority of these dogs behind rather than repatriating them. The podcast gathers the resulting stories of service, separation, and loss that still affect the surviving handlers. Episodes trace how individual soldier-dog teams operated da