~ 720th Military Police Battalion Vietnam History Project ~
Andy The Bloodhound

 This Page Last Updated    21 February 2018
18th MP
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  If you have any comments, information, stories or photographs to add, please use the Email Link above to notify Tom Watson the History Project Manager.
1967     The Company Needed a Mascot
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        The Name "Bloodhounds" was coined during the command of CPT (COL Ret.) Arnold "Arnie" Daxe, Jr. September 1967 to February 1968. The process began during the time frame of September 1967 through November 1967.

         CPT Daxe held a contest and came up with the name "Bloodhounds" after reviewing all of the many submissions. He thought the name was the most  fitting for a military police company.

        After the name selection process CPT Daxe then applied for official recognition of the name from the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry in Washington, D.C. Being a numbered company (615th) they still carried their historical military lineage, unlike the letter companies, A, B, C of the 720th MP Battalion.

Editors Note: In 1972 the Army began deactivating all military police Army Level battalion letter companies and HQ & HQ Detachments. The HQ&HQ Detachments became cellular and the letter companies were deactivated and replaced with newly activated numbered companies.

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        The official request was passed through channels and approved by the Secretary of the Army, Honorable Stanley Resor. After receiving notification CPT Daxe went looking for someone with a level of artistic ability to draw a caricature of a Bloodhound for their mascot.

        He located a Specialist at the 18th MP Brigade HQ Detachment who submitted a drawing of what the new company mascot and guidon should look like. The company approved the design with few modifications.

        CPT Daxe then sent the drawing to his father who lived in New York City. His father took the drawing to Annin & Company, one of the biggest flag makers in the U.S. (they are still in business), and within a few months a beautiful guidon with the Bloodhound logo was sent to them in Vietnam.

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        It was promptly displayed in its proper place outside the 615th MP Company Orderly Room.

        The sketch was also used for signs attached to the Orderly Room and barracks. The photograph below shows the one attached just above the doorway, outside of the 615th MP Company Headquarters Orderly Room.

        CPT Daxe now only needed a Bloodhound puppy from state-side to complete the mascot mission.

Note: The original guidon is displayed at each Battalion reunion. It was donated to the Reunion Association by CPT Frederick W. Honerkamp, III.
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  Wanted: The identity of the MP that submitted the name "Bloodhounds," and the name of the Specialist from 18th Brigade that authored the drawing used for the guidon, please notify the History Project Manager via the Email Link above.
1968     The Bloodhound's Now Needed a Bloodhound

     The company First Sergeant, Alfred Sutton, with a little help from a number of individuals, a 12 year old boy in North Carolina, a newspaper columnist, and a dog kennel owner from Michigan - obtained an English Bloodhound pup.

      The supply channel to obtain one (1) each, Bloodhound, English, began after the approval for the nickname of the Bloodhounds from the Department of The Army.

       The company First Sergeant sought help in obtaining a puppy mascot. The friend of First Sergeant Sutton, Charles Craven, then a columnist with the Raleigh News and Observer of North Carolina, published the request.

        A chain reaction spanning two states and 12,000 miles followed.

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        A 12-year-old boy with a bloodhound pup of his own read the letter from the 615th MP's. Tony Langdon of Angier, North Carolina, contacted the kennel owner in Michigan where his parents had purchased their dog. The kennel owner, Lewis Layton of Three Oaks, Michigan, promised and delivered a live mascot to the 615th MP Company.

         One problem remained, the 615th MP Company and its new mascot were still 11,000 miles apart. It was learned that a new shipment of sentry dogs were being readied to be sent from the United States to Thailand.

         The necessary arrangements were made to ship the puppy along with the sentry dogs. Once he arrived in Thailand, transportation for the puppy to Vietnam was arranged by the U.S. Army Provost Marshal of U.S. Forces Thailand, and the problem was solved.

Andy arrives in Vietnam
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What Happened To Andy In Late 1968 ?

        Andy’s stay with the company was an extraordinary career due to the fact that he was treated like a soldier by the MPs of the 615th.

        When Andy first joined the company in 1968 he was given the honorary commission of Captain, however, in December 1968 an embarrassing incident occurred. Andy went AWOL, and upon his return to military control he had to face disciplinary action. Andy was reduced in rank to Second Lieutenant and restricted for 14 days. Six months of good behavior satisfied the 615th that he had learned his lesson and the honorary railroad tracks of Captain were restored.

       That was the story given to the 18th MP Brigade Newspaper The Roundup, and printed in the March 1972 issue.
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     However, we now have several different stories of what happened to Andy in 1968. One version by SP/4 Richard G. "Dick" Kubichek, Sr., 615th MP Company, November 1968-November 1969, is Andy was "dog-napped" by an engineer company who took him up north. He was rescued in short order and returned to the company.

     Another according to SGT Randall R. Stults, 615th MP Company, 720th MP Battalion, February 1967-December 1968, Andy was found dead, the suspected cause was poisoning. He was replaced as the company mascot by CPT Frederick Honorkamp's scout dog, a German Shepherd he named Lady. SP/4 Stults was the CO's driver and used to also drive "Lady" around.

     With the many photographs submitted by the company veterans we know that Andy was alive and active at the company from 1968 through 1973.

     Finally, according SFC Earl H. "Bud" Shott (SMG Ret.), 560th & 615th MP Company & 178th MP Detachment (PMO), September 1972-April 1973, the mascot file given to the U.S. Consular officer in Da Nang in March 1973 identified the bloodhound they delivered as the original Andy obtained by the company in 1968, which would dispel the story about his death.
     The controversy continues, and the History Project is interested in finding out the true story of what happened to Andy in 1968.
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1972     Andy & the Company deploy to Da Nang

20 November The 615th MP Company started its move north from Long Binh Post to its new home in Da Nang in Military Region I (I Corps). Andy became a close companion to 1SG Anderson and stayed in his billet.

< Left   Unauthorized Pocket Patch worn by members of the 615th MP Company in 1972.

1973     With the Company ready for stand-down, Andy is adopted by the U.S. Consulate Officer

March "SSG Arthur R. Rivera and SP/4 Bruce E. Burnham took Andy along with his K9 201 file to the U.S. Consulate in Da Nang and personally delivered them to the residing diplomat who promised to care for him. Members of the 615th MP Company visited Andy occasionally until the unit departed Da Nang on 27 March 1973. Andy was in frail condition due to age, but seemed content in his new home in the consulate. I seriously doubt he survived after the takeover by the North Vietnamese Army."  SFC Earl H. "Bud" Shott, Jr. 615th MP Company, 1972-1973.
April 1975 Andy was the last casualty from the 615th MP Company in the Vietnam War and is carried by this website on the 615th Vietnam Era Honor Roll as "unaccounted for."
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