Sometimes the smallest things can mean the world to person -- simple hello or a smile to cheer someone up, or a photo of a treasured stuffed animal.
For one young boy, this became a reality.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Campbell, battalion senior warrant officer, 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, led a team to recover an aircraft at Fort Polk, Louisiana, but gained a new mission after the soldiers checked into their hotel March 8 and started setting up a roll-away bed. “Normally a roll-away bed is just white sheets and a tan blanket,” Campbell said, so when I opened it up and saw red, I thought, ‘This does not look very promising. Wait! It’s a stuffed animal.’”
New Companion
The red-haired dog with green ears had one promising thing on its chest: a label with a name and number on it. The next morning, Campbell headed to Texas for recovery equipment with a new companion by his side.
“I called the number, and his mother answered. I told her we had in our possession one Clifford the Big Red Dog with green paws,” Campbell said. “She flipped out and said that her son, Bryan, would be crazy about having it back.”
On the other end of the line was Elaine Palmer, mother to Bryan, who lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.
“We talked about Bryan -- that he is 10 and he likes to have Dawg when he sleeps,” Elaine said.
Bryan named his stuffed animal Dawg after his family gave it to him when he was just 3 years old, Palmer said.
The boy’s mother explained that her family had used the hotel during Christmas while visiting her father-in-law. Bryan slept on the roll-away bed that night, but in the chaos of packing on Christmas morning, Dawg was lost inside the bed.
Campbell decided that because Bryan is 10 years old and a Cub Scout that he should do a little more than just mail Dawg back.
Dawg’s Aerial Adventures
“I told her that he was going to be in our possession for a while. I told her that when we got back I [would] mail him back,” Campbell said. “So we started taking pictures with Dawg on our cross-country trip. I put Dawg on the aircraft, then we took group pictures with him. Finally, I decided that I would take him on the aircraft for a flight with me.”
Campbell thought there was more that he could do for Bryan. He met with Army Lt. Col. Daryl von Hagel, commander of the 603rd ASB, who also has a 10-year-old son. After the meeting, Campbell prepared Dawg for his journey home accompanied by a commander’s coin from von Hagel, a certificate of appreciation for Bryan and a medal for Dawg.
“It was kind of silly, but was fun. We gave the dog an Army Achievement Medal for his meritorious service as our mascot,” Campbell said. “I enlisted him in the Army as Private Dawg, and that is what we are: the Bulldawgs of Bravo Company.”
While Dawg was on his journey, Palmer said, she would receive pictures from Campbell, but he never told her about the medals or certificate. Meanwhile, she added, she never told Bryan that Dawg had been found or that he was on his way home.
Three months had passed since Bryan had seen his stuffed friend of eight years. All hope of seeing him again was gone. Or so he thought.
A Special Surprise
“Lo and behold, on Saturday, before Easter, a package arrived addressed to Bryan,” Palmer said. “Bryan was completely overwhelmed. He was speechless. He was just totally taken by surprise that Dawg had gone on such adventures.”
“I am surprised by how he got home,” Bryan said. “I like that he was in the military, I never thought he would be. It just surprised me.”
Finally, Palmer could show her son the pictures of Dawg’s journey with Campbell and the flight he took in an AH-64D Apache helicopter over Savannah, Georgia.
“My favorite picture was with him on the night flight,” Bryan said.
Palmer called Campbell because Bryan wanted to thank him for returning Dawg. He had no idea what his mother and the Apache pilot were up to.
After Dawg’s medal was pinned onto his chest, it was Bryan’s turn to take a photo with Dawg and send it to Campbell. Bryan could not wait to share the experience with his friends, his mother said. He gathered Dawg’s medals and his awards so he could show his class.
“He was just so excited and had to show his classmates. I hope he doesn’t leave anything,” Palmer said jokingly.
Campbell has small children of his own, and he explained that he wanted to give back a little and have fun with it.
“We are just trying to show this young man that we care,” Campbell said. “For everything that everyone else does for the military, we just want to show that the Army appreciates it. We just thought we would do something nice for him. Now he has something to remember us by.”
Palmer expressed her gratitude about Campbell and everything that he did to return Dawg. “He went above and beyond. I am so touched by the compassion and the professionalism of Campbell. He is such a wonderful guy,” she said.