 Memorials
to Fallen K-9s 2004 page 28 The F.A.S.T. Co. donates sets of memorial cards to all partners I need your help to inform me of such losses. |
Dept. addresses available for those who want to send condolences to officers. See below
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| (late entry) In Loving Memory of K-9 SONJA July 10, 1989 - July 6, 2003  Partner: Ron Moser Housing Authority of Louisville, Louisville Police Department, the Metro Narcotics Unit, the DEA, FBI, Indiana Drug Task Force, Kentucky State Police, Texas Narcotics Task Force and the US Postal Service, Jefferson County Public Schools Police Dept. 
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Sonja was a Belgian Malinois
born in Belgium in July 10, 1989. She had obedience and police
training in Holland and completed her drug detection training at Global
Training Academy in Somerset, Texas. In February 1991 I was a Narcotics Special Investigator with the Housing Authority of Louisville. When it was decided our unit would purchase a drug detection dog, I volunteered to be the canine handler. I was sent to Global Training Academy, where I was matched up with K-9 Sonja. According to the former director of HUD, Jack Kempf, Sonja was the first narcotics detection dog for a Housing Authority in the U. S. She was introduced to the Housing Authority employees by Mayor Jerry Abramson, where it was written in the paper Sonja gave him her sniff of approval. She was used when search warrants were served, for authorized searches, traffic stops with probable cause, and chases while someone tried to throw away the evidence while running or driving away. We worked 8 hour shifts and were on call 24 hours a day. In addition, we worked with the city’s police department, the Metro Narcotics Unit, the DEA, FBI, Indiana Drug Task Force, Kentucky State Police, Texas Narcotics Task Force and the US Postal Service. I received many commendation letters from these agencies praising her amazing abilities. Sonja was feared by dopers. She located $38,700,000 in drugs, $9,000,000 in money and seized property and put 1500 people in jail. Her largest hit was 127 kilos of cocaine and 2,000 lbs. of marijuana in two trucks in San Antonio, TX. Sonja was the first narcotics dog to search community corrections facilities in Louisville. In 1994 I purchased Sonja from the Housing Authority of Louisville for $5,500.00. She and I began drug sweeps of the Jefferson County Public Schools. During her career, she searched over a million lockers and thousands of cars. She was highly social and made many friends in the schools. She was always willing to go to work. Her gentle loving nature and accuracy in detecting drugs made her many fans. She was highly respected in State and Federal courts and was never challenged. In 1996 the U. S. Attorneys’ Office for the Western District and the US Postal Inspectors nominated Sonja for an Award of Honor by the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers’ Association. She was chosen for the award. On June 7, 2003 Sonja had a stroke. On July 6, 2003 she passed away in her sleep, just 4 days from her 14th birthday. I miss her waking me up when my cell phone rings, ready to get into the truck. Sonja was one in a trillion. She will live in our hearts forever. Ron Moser Photos of K9s @ WTC     |
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| (Late entry) In Loving Memory of K-9 BANDIT January ? 2004 Partner: Senior Officer Derrick Davis Atlanta Police Dept. 675 Ponce DeLeon Ave. Atlanta, GA 30308 404 817 6900 |
Funeral for K-9 Legend Atlanta police Department will host a funeral for "K-9 Bandit", retired Georgia Animal Hall of Fame Narcotics K-9, at the Oak Crest Pet Cemetery, 2691 Harbins Rd. Dacula, GA on Friday January 16, 2004 at 2:00 P.M. Bandit, 14 year old Belgian Malinois was inducted into the Georgia Animal Hall of Fame in 2000 by the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association. During his seven year career, 68 kilos of cocaine and 502 grams of heroin. He responded to more than 817 calls for service and participated in 53 K-9 presentations for Atlanta youth at local area schools. Bandit is the only Atlanta Police K-9 that has received the prestigious recognition of induction into the Animal Hall of Fame. Since retiring in 2000 Bandit has been in the care of his former handler and partner, Senior Police Officer Derrick Davis. For additional information, contact Officer Davis at 678 794 8965. |
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| In Loving Memory of K-9 DEZO September 9, 2004   Partner: Phil Andryshak Surfside Police Department 811 Pine Drive Surfside Beach, SC 29575 843.913.6348 The memorial service is Monday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. Public is invited. A local music show, Legends, 301 Hwy. 17 South, Surfside Beach, SC, has donated the use of their auditorium and singers for the memorial service. Working dogs from several states will attend. The police chaplain will be taking part in the service also. Dezo will be buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Conway, SC. There will be TV, radio and newspapers covering the event. You could check www.myrtlebeachherald.com & www.myrtlebeachonline.com . *the Krauses will be with you Mon. in spirit.
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The Service - 9/13/04 We have gathered together today to honor the memory of K-9 Officer Dezo. We have come to pay tribute to his service and to remember his contribution to law enforcement. We are also gathered here today to say thank you to all of you who serve and protect the public. I have been a Baptist minister for nearly 20 years. A couple of months ago I began working as a Family Services Counselor at Hillcrest Cemetery where Dezo will be laid to rest later today. Several days ago my manager, J.W. Russ, received a call from a female officer explaining Dezo’s circumstances and asking about space in our pet cemetery. As the conversation progressed, the officer asked J.W. about a service to honor Dezo’s service. She asked if J.W. knew a minister who would be willing to conduct a service for Dezo. He told the officer that he had a minister on staff at Hillcrest who just might be willing to help. J.W. knew I love animals. He told her I had three horses, a billy goat, five hermit crabs, a cat, a wife, and two children. He assured her I would be willing to help. When J.W. hung up the phone, he asked me if I would be willing to help with the service for a dog. I told him that conducting a service for a dog would be an insult to my ordination and how dare he even ask. He asked if I thought the Presbyterian minister would have any trouble performing the service. I told him that I was certain a Presbyterian preacher would perform a dog’s funeral. When J.W. asked me if I thought $500 was an appropriate honorarium, I just asked him one question, “Why didn’t you tell me Dezo was Baptist?” I began to gain experience in ministry and in cemetery work at a very early age. As a young boy, I would bury my hunting dogs and other pets when they died. I would dig the grave, say a prayer, quote some scripture, sing Amazing Grace, and cry a little bit. I am experienced with dog funerals. Today, however, we are having much more than a “dog funeral”. Today we are remembering a fallen officer and a friend. You have already heard stories and seen video describing Dezo’s accomplishments and abilities. As Phil and I talked a few days ago, he told me a story about Dezo’s training very early in their relationship. In fact, it was so early in their relationship that Phil’s patrol car had not yet been fitted with a K-9 kennel in the back seat. After working with Dezo, the trainer asked Phil to put Dezo in the car while he worked with another dog. After a few minutes, the trainer realized there was a problem and suggested that Phil go get Dezo. Phil said that when he looked up at his car it was rocking. When his eyes connected with Dezo’s, the car stopped rocking. Phil said he could see the white foam from his headliner falling like snow on Dezo. Dezo always wanted to be in on the action. At our first meeting, Phil gave me Dezo’s profile which listed all of Dezo’s accomplishments you have heard about today. When he finally got to the end of the list, I asked Phil, “Why wasn’t Dezo a member of the union?” That list sounded like much more than any one team should have accomplished. Phil and Dezo went everywhere together. One person tried to tell me that you rarely saw them apart. What she actually said was that you could hardly tell them apart. I told her that it wasn’t difficult for me; Dezo was a longhaired Shepherd. At our second meeting, Phil told me that his first night home without Dezo was very difficult. He could hardly sleep. Finally, he had an idea. He asked Suzanne to sleep by his bed so he could occasionally reach down and pat her on the head. He said he slept like a baby after that. Today’s service brings different memories and emotions to each one of us. I am reminded of this past Friday afternoon as I stood in the office at Hillcrest looking out of the window as officer after officer drove by to a funeral service for Officer George W. Merritt. If you attended Officer Merritt’s service, would you stand please? You may be seated. I am reminded of a service I attended just a couple of months ago for three Horry County officers who had died in the line of duty: Dennis James Lyden, Henry O’Dell Stalvey, Jr., and John Ronald Floyd. If you attended that memorial service or worked with any four of these officers I mentioned, would you stand please? You may be seated. I remember the call, 18 years ago tomorrow, that came in the middle of the night to tell me that my uncle, Henry O’Dell Stalvey, Jr. had been killed in an automobile accident as he responded to a call. As a family member, I want to thank all of you who helped plan such a wonderful tribute to these officers. I hope today is one small way I can say thank you as we honor Phil and Dezo and all of you who put your lives on the line for people like me every day. I salute each and every one of you. God’s word tells us that “there are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than family.” (Ps. 18:24) I am certain that Phil would tell you that Dezo was a true friend. I recently spoke with a life-long friend of mine, who has been a law enforcement officer for many years. He spoke of relationships that can only be formed between people who have been in life threatening situations together. He spoke of spending 14 hours with someone in a car on a stake-out. He spoke of his son who calls a former partner of his Uncle. As I thought about Dezo’s name, I thought of several characteristics represented by the letters of his name. These characteristics are true for officers everywhere. The “D” in Dezo’s name reminds us that an officer must be disciplined and dedicated. Not only must officers be physically disciplined, but they must also be mentally disciplined. An officer must know how to hold his or her emotions when the average person might strike back at someone or be incapacitated by fear. Dezo was disciplined and dedicated. He trained hard. He won or placed near the top in nearly every competition he entered. He was always ready to serve. The “E” in Dezo’s name reminds us of the energy and enthusiasm an officer must bring to the position. There must be a love for the job and the people one serves. It is not likely that this enthusiasm and energy will be generated by the figures on a check stub on pay-day. One of the first traits Phil saw in Dezo was his drive to hunt. In fact, Dezo was so enthusiastic and energetic that Phil was a bit hesitant to choose him. Dezo proved to be very capable and always ready. The “Z” in Dezo’s name reminds us that an officer must be “zeroed-in”. Hearing the words “zeroed-in” after completing time at a firing range tells an officer that his or her sidearm is properly sighted. This gives the officer assurance that the weapon is at top performance and will be effective when used. Law enforcement officers must be intensely focused as the lives of fellow officers and civilians depend on the officer being “zeroed-in”. Dezo was “zeroed-in”. He was focused and at top performance. He was ready to serve. The “O” in Dezo’s name reminds us that he was an officer. What does it mean to be an officer? It means that one has received special training and should be respected and honored. The term implies that one will protect and serve others even if the life of the officer is required to do so. Officers protect and serve others. An officer’s needs and wants are placed beneath the needs of others. The Bible says in Proverbs 17:17 that “a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” An officer must be ready at all times for adversity and difficult circumstances. Dezo was an officer who stood by his partner, protected his community, and was ready in every difficult situation. In the gospel of John, Jesus is recorded as having said there is no greater love than someone who is willing to lay down his or her life for a friend. Every day officers put their lives on the line for others. Dezo put his life on the line also. Today we remember his contributions to law enforcement. We pray for Phil, his family, and all fellow officers. Today we salute a fallen brother. Rest in peace, Dezo. **************************** May we pray: Dear Lord, Thank you for this day that we can come together to support our law enforcement officers. I thank you for the sacrifice that each one of them has made and does make every day to keep our communities safe. We pray today that you would protect them as they serve. We pray for their safety as they drive and as they perform their duties. We pray for their families who so often live with anxiety and fear. We thank you for spouses and children who support and love our officers. Today especially, dear Lord, we thank you for the contributions of one particular officer, Officer K-9 Dezo. We thank you for his service and accomplishments. We thank you for his sacrifice. We pray for Phil, his family, and the officers who knew Dezo personally. Give them comfort today as they grieve this great loss. Help them to remember good times that they have had together. May many stories be told that begin with words like, “Do you remember the time that Dezo . . . .” Help them to laugh and cry and share together. And now, Lord, as we leave this place to go to Dezo’s final resting place, we pray for safety as we travel and your mercies as we live. Help us each one to serve you fully every day. Help us to live together in harmony and to seek to do your will. In Your Holy Name we pray, AMEN. by: Lindsey Inman Family Services Counselor Hillest Cemetery ************  Surfside Beach sergeant Phil Andryshak touches the casket of his canine partner, Dezo, on Monday at Hillcrest Cemetery during a graveside service for his partner of the past six years. Dezo died last week after an illness. RANDALL HILL/The Sun News  North Myrtle Beach canine officer Jorge (left) watches the funeral procession of Dezo. About 75 well-wishers attended the funeral, including many area canine units. RANDALL HILL/The Sun News 
Beach Officer Ray Atwood attends to his canine partner, Bravo, at the memorial service. RANDALL HILL/The Sun News  Flowers shaped like a doggie bone sit near Dezo's casket. RANDALL HILL/The Sun News |
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| In Loving Memory of K-9 PANZER September 9, 2004   Partner: Trooper Matt Zarrella Rhode Island State Police 311 Danielson Pike Scituate, RI 02857-1907 401-444-1065 More information and photos of K9s finding, click on remains in Vietnam  Human Remains Recovery Dogs join the search for missing Americans on the 72nd mission in Vietnam  General Redmann recognizes Human Remains Dog Handler, Rhode Island State Trooper Matt Zarella (middle) and Dog Team Veterinarian, Dr. John Turco (left), after returning from their debut mission in Vietnam.
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Working dozens of searches involved in
eight MIA cases, Zarrella said the dogs, 13-year-old Panzer and
1-year-old Maximus, performed admirably. "I thought they did
very
well for what was asked in such a short time frame,'' he said. When Zarrella joined
the
Rhode Island State Police, there was no K-9 unit, and no particular
organizational interest in starting one. He had asked about developing
a K-9 team while in the police academy but found no one willing to
pursue the idea. Not long after he graduated from the academy and began
work as a police officer, a triple homicide presented Rhode Island law
enforcement with a problem - no bodies. The problem became an
opportunity for Zarrella. "We were borrowing
search-and-rescue dogs from other states,'' Zarrella said. "They
couldn't find anything, either. Then one day a woman out walking her
pet in the same area found the bodies. Her dog was scratching at
something on the ground. She called the police. They dug. They found
the bodies. I was so upset over that I said, 'Okay, that's it. We're
going to have our own K-9 program if I have to do it myself.' '' And he did have to do
it
himself. He began
with his own
dog, a
130-pound Swiss Mountain Dog named Hannibal, Zarrella's family pet. He
went to Connecticut, where retired state police officer Andy Rebmann
trained dogs. Rebmann led the Connecticut State Police K-9 program for
20 years. In Zarrella's estimation, he was the best in the
country. After examining Hannibal,
Rebmann agreed to take them on, working with Zarrella one on one
whenever Zarrella could find time to drive to Connecticut for training.
With the training complete and Hannibal certified as a search dog,
Zarrella went to his superiors. "They said, 'Okay, whatever,' '' Zarrella said. "But I wasn't back a week when a kid went missing in a remote part of the state. He was missing for two days. They asked if I wanted to take a shot. Hannibal found the kid in 40 minutes. He was still alive.'' The story made the front pages of local newspapers. Suddenly, Zarrella was in the K-9 business. He went back to Rebmann in Connecticut to train Hannibal to be a cadaver search dog. "That was the big thing for me,'' Zarrella said. "It meant we could find buried bodies, disarticulated remains, dismemberments, blood spatters at crime scenes, and - though I didn't realize it at the time - MIAs in Vietnam.'' In the summer of 2002, now working with his veteran dog, Panzer, a German Shepherd donated to the state police, and his newest dog, Maximus, a German Shepherd pup six months old when Zarrella rescued him from the dog pound, the state police officer picked up a phone message from a military colonel in Hawaii. "So I call,'' Zarrella said. "He says they're looking for advice on how to put a dog team together to travel to Vietnam to look for human remains. We're not talking about a body that's been in the ground for six months or a year, nice and neat in its own grave. We're talking about 30-year-old graves, more than likely disturbed in some way.'' Zarrella advised JTF-FA for three months, providing logistical and training overviews for an effort never before attempted in the search for MIA remains in Vietnam. One day in a conversation with a civilian official from CILHI (Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii), as Zarrella laid out the history of cadaver search dogs, he made an offer. "I said, 'Look, if you're looking for a dog handler, I'm your guy,' '' Zarrella said, laughing at the memory of it. "I tried to be humbly funny about it. I don't like to boast about anything. But Vietnam? And I'm a former Marine? If they were going to send anybody, I wanted to be the one to go.'' In October, JTF-FA made the formal request. Zarrella rushed to finish Max's training and certification. It was imperative that he take both dogs to insure that even if one were injured, he would still be able to carry on with the work. In February, he left for two weeks of training in Hawaii. Then it was on to Vietnam. Working out of Saigon, he and the dogs made dozens of searches involving eight separate cases, one an aircraft crash, the others reportedly individual burial sites. Each morning he and the dogs traveled by helicopter to the sites. Working in environments that went from heavy jungle to open rice paddy, Zarrella and JTF-FA team members met with Vietnamese witnesses, mapped out search areas, and began work. If the dog alerted, Zarrella reported it to the team and anthropologists dug test pits. Soon he discovered the test pits needed to be expanded. "The way they were going about it was wrong,'' he said. "The dog alerts to the strongest odor. A lot of times the scent accumulates down-slope from the body or downstream from the body. The dog doesn't always alert at the grave source. They dug in the areas where the dogs alerted, but they weren't finding anything. They finally learned that they had to dig a larger area. It's possible the bones are gone, but the scent remained in the soil for years. They decided to leave the bigger digs for the R&E [Recovery and Excavation] teams. So we flagged and mapped those areas.'' The first site proved the most promising, though the evidence they found still must be tested. In 1966, a fighter jet took ground fire near Hon Dat, a rural area in the southernmost province, Kien Giang. A witness told local authorities that he had retrieved and buried body parts. "We had an alert in the back of his house,'' Zarrella said. "Within 10 meters of the alert, they dug down 6 inches and found bone fragments. They said they found life support equipment that was on the pilot's body, too - a zipper to a flight suit, that sort of thing. But they still have to run tests on the bones to see if they're human.'' Zarrella hopes to return to Vietnam for more searches. He is confident the dogs will perform well and that the second time will be smoother than the first, since he, the dogs, and the Vietnamese had come to come to terms with one another. The Vietnamese were wary of the dogs, Zarrella said; and he was not too comfortable with the Vietnamese at first. He had joined the Marine Corps five years after the end of the Vietnam War. There were many Vietnam veterans in the Corps, and he said they made it clear to him that the Vietnamese weren't the best people to be around. "Then suddenly, I find myself in Vietnam, shaking their hands, working alongside them, looking for Americans who died there,'' he said. "It was trying for me at first. I had not prepared myself for that. I was so busy getting the dogs ready that I hadn't thought much about how I'd feel. After a couple of weeks, I started to relax and so did the Vietnamese.'' The diplomats, as it turned out, were Panzer and Max, quietly building bridges. "The dogs were the great ice breaker,'' Zarrella said. "The Vietnamese were nervous around them at first. They didn't know how to approach them, didn't know how to be around them. But then they relaxed. They're people, too, and the war's long over. They were cordial. Some of the senior officials took the dogs by the leash and went over to their friends. The dogs didn't care who they were with. The dogs held no grudges. They didn't care what you looked like. It only makes sense. We humans are too weak. We are weak creatures. We hold too many prejudices, even when we try not to. The dogs don't come with our complications. They don't ask anything but love in the end, and they work as hard as they can for you.'' Visit The VVA Veteran archives to locate back issues. E-mail us at TheVeteran@vva.org submitted by Jim Cortina |