On this day in 1942, according to military.com, the US K9 Corps was founded.

But, it wasn’t until 1987, when a Vietnam veteran named Joseph White, began work to establish March 13th as K9 Veterans Day.

According to tailsofhopefoundation.org, White wanted to honor all military and civilian national security and service canines. His passion may be attributed to working as a Military Working Dog (MWD) handler.

The Tails of Hope Foundation notes that New Jersey was the first state in America to pass K9 Veterans Day legislation. According to them, fourteen additional states have chosen to officially observe this day.

According to ChicagoNow “K9 Veterans Day is intended to cover both military dogs as well as police dogs.” Customs dogs, border patrol dogs, and other working dogs also have a mission to protect the homeland and people within it.

Further, the K9 Veterans organization says that dogs “have bled, suffered, and died while serving in all our wars, to include the war on terror, and they have done so in ways that do us all proud.”

We salute all K9 Veterans today.