K-9 Veterans Day: Remembering Sgt. 1st Class ‘Brutusz’

By Kim McDarison

On Sunday, March 12, Wisconsin will celebrate K-9 Veterans Day. 

As has been the tradition since 2015, when the state adopted a proclamation acknowledging the national observance, the ceremony honoring the service of K-9 teams of all variety will be held at the American Legion Banquet Center, 201 S. Water St., E., in Fort Atkinson. 

The observance will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. 

As also is tradition, dogs who have served and passed away over the course of the year are recognized and honored during a slide presentation. 

This year, Kennel Club of Fort Atkinson treasurer and organizer of the K-9 Veterans Day observance in Wisconsin Mabel Schumacher said, among dogs who will be recognized Sunday for their passage across the “Rainbow Bridge,” is “Brutusz,” a German Shepherd dog that, since his retirement as a U.S. Army patrol, explosives and handler protection dog in 2018, has lived in the care of John Meeks, the executive director of the United States War Dogs Association Chapter 3. Meeks lives in Indiana and has been a regular attendee, along with Brutusz, and a speaker at the Wisconsin K-9 Veterans Day annual observance. 

In a recent telephone interview, Meeks said he has attended Wisconsin’s statewide observance three times. Sunday will mark his fourth time attending the observance. He will be traveling with his wife, Birdie. His former traveling companion, Sgt. 1st Class Brutusz, retired, died on Dec. 6, 2022. He was 11. 

Brutusz was no stranger to Fort Atkinson. In 2020, he was among war dogs attending a wreath-laying ceremony held at the War Dog Memorial in Fort Atkinson’s McCoy Park, and last year, he sat quietly in the first row at the American Legion Banquet Center in Fort Atkinson with observance attendee Rick Hong while Meeks spoke about the history of war dogs, and his own experience as a handler in Vietnam.  

Meeks served in Vietnam in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division as a K-9 scout dog handler. He worked with two dogs. The first was “Artus,” whom he credited with saving his life several times. He was killed in action Dec. 11, 1970. A second dog, a female German Shepherd, was left behind in Vietnam after Meeks shipped out. Meeks said many K-9s serving in Vietnam were left behind after U.S. forces exited the country. While a small fraction made it back to the United States, he said, most were abandoned, euthanized or given to the South Vietnamese military police. 

Who was Sgt. Brutusz? 

Meeks reflected recently on the life he shared with Brutusz, and the K-9’s military career. 

Brutusz was born April 3, 2011. He began his military training in September of 2012, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, which, Meeks said, is the main training facility for military dogs serving in all branches of the military. 

While in the service, Brutusz served with the 520th Military Police detachment in Hawaii. 

“They mainly did search work for bombs in Hawaii. When (former President Barack) Obama or other dignitaries arrived in Hawaii, the military worked with the local and federal agencies to do searches and security work,” Meeks said. 

Brutusz also was trained as a crowd control dog, he noted. 

Towards the end of his career, between 2017 and 2018, Brutusz was deployed to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. During his time there he checked vehicles that were coming onto a military compound, Meeks said, adding that he believed Brutusz checked some 5,000 vehicles that year. 

By the time Brutusz retired, he had earned the rank of sergeant first class. 

In the military, Meeks said, a dog is given a rank that is one rank higher than its handler. The practice is in place to guarantee that handlers never mistreat their dogs. Handlers engaging in such behavior risk being brought up on charges of assaulting a superior officer, Meeks noted.  

Adopting a military dog 

Meeks noted that Brutusz was not the first military dog he adopted. 

In 2012, he said, he was introduced to U.S. Army Military Working Dog Program manager Sergeant Major Viridiana Lavalle, whom, he said, is the featured speaker this year at Wisconsin’s K-9 Veterans Day observance on Sunday.

At the time, Lavalle was the kennel master at a military installation called Bagran Airfield in Afghanistan, Meeks said. 

She was in charge of 70-80 dogs, Meeks recalled, and he began sending her contributions to help support the dogs. 

Later, Meeks noted, Lavalle visited Benton Harbor, Mich., to attend a program called “Lest We Forget,” and the two met and traveled to Fort Campbell, near the Kentucky-Tennessee border, where Lavalle was working to certify dogs. 

Having developed a friendship, Meeks said, when he wanted to adopt a retired military dog, he asked Lavalle for help. 

His first dog was a German Shepherd named “Abel,” who had been trained as a “drug dog,” Meeks said, but, he noted, the dog only lived with him in retirement for one year.   

After Abel’s death, Meeks sought help from Lavalle to adopt another dog. When Brutusz became available for adoption, she notified Meeks and he flew to Hawaii where he participated in a ceremony know as the “passing of the leash.” 

“At that time when they handed me the leash, Brutusz was officially retired,” Meeks said. 

While Meeks and Brutusz were new to one-another, Meeks said they made fast friends, bonding almost immediately. 

Meeks said he felt that the bond was in place even before the pair flew home to Indiana. 

Life in retirement 

Beginning his retirement at the age of 7, Meeks said he and Brutusz kept a busy schedule. 

Together, he and Brutusz traveled by car to 81 War Dog-related events. 

“We traveled thousands of miles. The farthest destinations were both in Wisconsin: Madison and Fort Atkinson,” Meeks said, adding that the retired K-9 team also made trips, as representatives of the War Dogs Association, to Michigan, Ohio, and within their home state of Indiana. 

“He was great at traveling. He liked to look out the back like he used to do in a patrol car,” Meeks said of Brutusz.  

“He was great with people —people loved him. He went with me to all of my fundraisers and my speaking engagements and presentations. He was just great because he was a chick and children magnet. He was a great ambassador for military working dogs. People couldn’t believe he was an attack and apprehend dog. He was very docile,” Meeks said.

Brutusz had no trouble transitioning to retired life, Meeks said, noting that Brutusz shared his home with two canine companions, both civilian rescue dogs, and Meeks, and his wife. The couple has recently lost all three dogs, Meeks said, noting that between October of 2022 and February of this year, all three dogs advanced in age and died. 

Brutusz had dysplasia. He would occasionally “bunny hop” when he ran, and over time, the condition grew worse, Meeks noted. 

Near the end of his life, Meeks said: “He could hardly get up, and when he did, he cried.”  

A new adoption 

“If things go according to plan, I will be picking up a new dog in San Antonio on March 21,” Meeks said, adding that the new dog, “Kuro,” is a 4-year-old black German Shepherd, whom Meeks described as “the spitting image of Brutusz.” 

Kuro has been serving as a dog used to train military K-9 handlers. With no immediate plan made by the military to deploy him, he has become available for adoption. 

Describing his excitement to meet Kuro, Meeks said: “I wish I was leaving for there yesterday. We’ve had an empty house for a while.” 

He added: “When I walked with Brutusz, it took me back 50 years to when I was with Artus. I was so proud to be a dog handler.” 

On Saturday, June 3, he said, he will take Brutusz’s remains to South Lyons, Michigan, to a military dog cemetery, where he will be laid to rest. 

On Sunday, as is the tradition, the tone of the War Dogs bell will ring out for each working dog lost between March 2022 and March 2023. 

Brutusz will be among those honored and remembered. 

A story about this year’s K-9 Veterans Day observance is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/u-s-working-dog-program-manager-is-k-9-veterans-day-speaker/.