Article on a Navy Dog given a Military burial - Page 1

The nearly paralyzed veteran had breathed his last the day before and was buried on Oct. 15, 1953, as a Navy bugler played taps in one of the city’s most unusual military funerals.

Prince, a 131/2-year-old German shepherd, served his country from Oct. 3, 1943, to Feb. 15, 1946, and deserved a proper military funeral, said his owner, Mrs. J.E. Cassell of Columbus.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Wayne E. Pomfrey, with his hat in his hand, stood nearby with a few men from the Port Columbus Naval Air Station as Prince’s casket was lowered into the ground at Brown Pet Cemetery on Sawyer Road, next to Port Columbus.

“Sailors have told me war dogs sometimes are like forgotten heroes. That’s why I called the commander. He agreed the Navy should honor Prince,” Mrs. Cassell said.

Mrs. Cassell said she thought that Prince had served as a scout dog in the South Pacific.

Before his discharge, the Navy retrained him for civilian life. Fangs sharpened for routing enemies were filed down and made dull, The Columbus Citizen reported.

Mrs. Cassell said the big brown-and-tan dog always held sailors in high regard. He would howl and wag his tail whenever he saw a Navy uniform. She said he didn’t pay much attention to Army uniforms.

She wept at the funeral, which also was attended by her husband — a Columbus Division of Fire captain — and their two teenage sons.

Mrs. Cassell said Prince had stopped eating days before, and was nearly paralyzed and in pain when she asked a veterinarian to put him down.

She recalled at the funeral that Prince would often crawl around the yard with her boys, as he had been taught to do in the service. “Little children mauled him, but he never seemed to mind,” she said. “The whole neighborhood will miss him.”