Photo of injured military dog with Purple Heart goes viral
A photo of an injured military dog recuperating with a purple heart on his collar at a hospital in Washington, D.C. has gone viral.
The photo, posted last week by the 89th Military Police Brigade, shows the dog, Rocky, recovering at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. According to the post, Rocky and his handler, Specialist Andrew Brown, were injured by an IED explosion last week while serving in Afghanistan. Both are recuperating in the same room.
"Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they recover during the holiday season," the post reads.
One of our Military Working Dogs, Rocky, and his handler were injured this week during operations in Afghanistan. Rocky...
Posted by 89th Military Police Brigade on Wednesday, December 9, 2015
The photo has more than 100,000 likes and 130,000 shares.
In a subsequent post, the 89th Military Police Brigade reported that both Brown and Rocky are "doing well."
SPC Brown and Rocky are both doing well after being treated for injuries they suffered from an IED blast earlier this...
Posted by 89th Military Police Brigade on Friday, December 11, 2015
According to the American Kennel Club, the first dog to receive the Purple Heart was a mixed-breed canine named Chips in 1942. Time Magazine reported that Chips was honored for "singlehandedly wiping out a machine-gun nest in Italy." However, the magazine reported that following protests, the military ruled that no more dogs would receive the Purple Heart.