WEBVTT - The Mercy Run 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.760 You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:16.439 Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaronmankey. Nothing had prepared 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.000 the soldiers for the jungles thick with foliage, deadly snakes, 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.919 and land mines. The enemy planted trip wires and waited 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.480 in tunnels. No amount of technology seemed enough to gain 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.880 an edge, so they relied on something else to find 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:35.040 and alert them to hidden dangers. Dogs. Between four and 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.160 five thousand US military canines served in the Vietnam War. 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:42.880 The military accredits the dogs for saving at least ten 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.800 thousand lives. For perspective, picture the Vietnam Memorial Wall, with 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.280 its some fifty eight thousand names etched in nearly five 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.440 feet of marble, standing ten feet high at its peak. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:59.400 Now imagine an additional ten thousand names. Dogs did what 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.200 technolog g could not. In addition to sniffing out danger 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.920 and weapon stashes, they doubled as trackers and sentry guards, 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.160 and aided soldiers in taking down armed men. Dogs even 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.319 smelled enemy soldiers breath through reeds as they lay in 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.959 wait beneath river waters. The canines endured the heat and 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.520 enemy fire, but not for fame or money. They worked 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.360 for the love and praise of their handlers. Most of 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.000 the dogs bonded so tightly with the soldiers that they 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.000 often stayed by their fallen bodies, to their own detriment. 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.520 Military canines were so good at their jobs that they 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:38.080 became targets Enemy forces earned rewards for a handler's service 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.840 patch or a dog's tattooed ear. About three hundred and 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.200 fifty canines and two hundred and sixty handlers were killed 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.880 in action. A countless more were injured. In the morning 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.360 of December four of nineteen sixty six, twenty two year 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:56.440 old airmen Bob Thronberg smiled at Nemo, his German shepherd. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:01.120 You're a good boy, Throneberg told him. At home, families 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.360 prepared for the holidays, unaware that the base Throneberg and 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.960 others were stationed at had been under assault from a 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.920 barrage of mortar fire. Throneberg and Nemo set out on 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.400 patrol among the chaos of medics and soldiers, searching for 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.360 the injured in piles of rubble. The thick heat was 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.799 nearly unbearable for man and beast. Nemo trotted off ahead 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.480 for several yards when he detected an armed man ahead 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:28.800 of him, a Throneberg shot the enemy soldier. At three am, 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:34.000 Nemo detected another Vietnamese guerrilla, and Throneberg sent Nemo after him. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:38.600 A gunfire erupted, hitting both Nemo and Throneberg. Though hurt, 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.880 Nemo continued to fight while Throneberg called for backup. Thronberg 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.320 managed to shoot the second guerrilla before collapsing, and Nemo 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.280 returned to him. He whined as he lay across him, 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:55.480 protecting him until backup arrived. Good boy, Thronberg said. When 0:02:55.560 --> 0:03:00.320 help arrived, Nemo cried as medics took Thronberg away. Both 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.680 received medical treatment. Later, the two were reunited at the 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:07.639 base hospital. It was a brief reunion. The Throneberg was 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.720 airlifted to Japan for further treatment. He never saw Nemo again. 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.440 Throneberg recovered. He received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.440 though he credited Nemo as the hero. That day, he 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.560 and Nemo had taken out two enemies soldiers. All told, 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.280 Canine forces took out a dozen guerrillas that night. Nemo 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.120 also recovered from his wounds, though he lost an eye. 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.560 He was five years old when the military retired him. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:38.200 He received no medals, no awards. However, Nemo did receive 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.000 something much rarer for canine soldiers. He was returned to 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.800 the Department of Defense Dog Center, where he lived to 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.760 be eleven. Others were not as fortunate. When the US 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.680 left Vietnam, handlers wanted to bring their dogs home, most 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.800 were denied. The military euthanized some dogs and abandoned others. 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.200 Only two hundred of over four thousand canines returned home. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.360 In the year two thousand, President Clinton signed Robbie's Law, 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:09.160 named after a brave canine that, like other dogs, fought 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.280 in wars that were not theirs. But with this law, 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.600 the military could no longer consider dogs as equipment and 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.159 euthanized them after their life of service. It also allowed 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.000 their handlers to adopt them. Nemo and Robbie were very 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.719 good dogs who saved lives, but they weren't the only ones. 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:39.919 I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. Their lineage dates 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:43.920 back thousands of years. Part of the Spitz family of dogs, 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.039 the Siberian husky became an integral part of the chip 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.680 Shee people's survival in the harsh Siberian landscape during the 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.760 day the dogs pulled sleds. At night, they slept with 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.080 their families and kept them warm. Innuit people has also 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.440 kept the dogs and took them when they migrated to 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.280 the North americ An Arctic. Able to withstand temperatures most 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:08.839 animals and other dogs cannot, the Siberian husky made survival possible. Still, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.760 the breed remained unknown for those in the American West 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:16.920 until the Alaskan Gold Rush of eight sled dogs became essential, 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:21.600 especially in remote Gnome, Alaska, just a hundred and sixty 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.960 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Nome winters are cold, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:29.159 dark and isolated. In October of that year, the last 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.240 supplies arrived by boat. In November, ice prevented ships from 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:37.400 approaching the port, leaving residents on their own. Neither horse 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.200 nor mule could make the journey along the Ideental Rod 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.880 Trail during the long winter months, Nome residents needed sled 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.440 dogs to make the trip to larger towns for supplies. 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.840 The dogs also helped pass the time. In the early 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.359 nineteen hundreds, sled dog racing became a popular sport for 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.920 Alaskan colonists. Of The driver, also known as a musher, 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.520 wrote a sled pulled by several dogs. The first All 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:04.200 Alaska Sweepstakes race took place in nineteen o seven. By 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.720 nineteen o nine, Norwegian born Leonard Seppola had made a 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.200 name for himself in racing and breeding the best sled dogs. 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.480 In nineteen ten, the winners at a course record was 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:18.240 some of Seppola's smaller scrappy dogs, bred mostly of stock 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.240 from Siberia. Typically, a trip from Nana, Alaska, to Nome 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.920 took thirty days, the fastest records set first sled team 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:30.440 took nine and though airplanes replaced many sled dog teams 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.920 in other Alaskan towns during the nineteen twenties, in Gnome, 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.640 dogs were still a way of life for Indigenous and 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:41.200 European people's alike, delivering mail supplies and traveling to shops 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:45.120 and businesses. When the snow came and I settled, the 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.640 people of Nome were on their own until the spring 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.960 thaw in nineteen twenty four was particularly cold and harsh, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:57.159 and gnomes only doctor Curtis Welsh was uneasy. It started 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.719 when a boy came in with labored breathing and the sore. 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.880 Though Welsh did everything possible, the boy died. The next day. 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:08.039 Within days, other children arrived with the same symptoms. Soon, 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.920 both young and old were coming down with the illness 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.240 Welsh dreaded diphtheria. The Welsh had stockpiled what he thought 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.480 the town might need, but he couldn't plan for everything. 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.720 The disease can be fatal if not treated. In time, 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.280 bacteria settles in the lungs, where it produces toxins. Those 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.800 toxins caused the death of respiratory tissue. As the dead 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:34.520 tissue accumulates, the airway becomes clogged, making breathing difficult. Other 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:39.280 complications involving the kidney and heart may also occur. Essentially, 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:45.040 diphtheria kills by poisoning and asphyxiation. Children were bounced at risk, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:49.040 generally killing one in ten affected. Today, we have a 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.800 vaccine that has all but eliminated the illness. However, back 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:57.360 in the nineteen twenties, the disease reached epidemic proportions. There 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:01.040 was a cure, though, and anti talks and seram to 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.800 create it. Horses were given increased levels of diphtheria toxins, 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.680 to which they built up anti toxins. Then laboratories made 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:13.440 seram from the horse's blood. However, Nome didn't have laboratories 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:17.000 or access to many horses, and though doctor Welch had 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.640 some anti toxin on hand, it had expired with no 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.720 immunity to the disease. Diphtherorius spread through the town like wildfire. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:29.720 Without fresh anti toxin, Doctor Welsh estimated a one fatality 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.760 rate based on the cases so far. He called an 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.640 emergency meeting with Mayor George Maynard. The two quickly set 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.560 up a quarantine as a temporary measure to slow down 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.400 the spread of the disease while they put out a 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:46.360 call for anti toxin. Fortunately, Anchorage had enough serum. Unfortunately, 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.440 Anchorage was a thousand miles away. Time was running out 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.280 for the people in Nome. The disease was highly contagious 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:58.440 and death often occurred just days after infection. Welsh and 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.000 Maynard needed to find a way to get the serum 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.640 and quickly. Glasgow's governor made it possible to transport the 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.000 serum from Anchorage to Nanana by rail. The ice made 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.800 delivering the serum the rest of the way by boat impossible. 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.640 Planes had open cockpits and water cooled engines at the time, 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.960 making the trip by air a suicide mission. The town 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.560 survival came down to the sled dogs, but this time 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.079 they wouldn't have thirty days or even nine to make 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:35.000 the trip. The call went out asking for help from 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.320 every sled team along the idea rod trail from Nanana 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.200 to Rome that have to set up relay teams between 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.120 the two points to beat the clock. It wouldn't be easy. 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.840 The teams would mostly be running in the dark. Daylight 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.840 during Arctic winters is scarce. In addition, the serum had 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.240 to be kept from freezing, a near impossible feat considering 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.000 it was January, and even if they managed to keep 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.280 the serum stable, it had a shelf life of just 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.679 six days, requiring the dogs to make the trip three 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.760 days faster than the record run. They needed the best 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:11.120 drivers and the fastest dogs. A ragtag group of natives 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.400 and settlers signed up like their dogs. The men were 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:18.560 healthy and fit, and all of them were young, except one, 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.760 forty two year old Leonard Seppola. Though he had the experience, 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.120 his age put him past the prime for such a 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:30.880 grueling undertaking. His lead dog, Togo, was also aging at twelve. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.840 The journey would likely kill him, but both man and 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.520 dog had a vested steak in the matter. Seppola had 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.200 a young daughter and a solid commitment to the town. 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.079 Togo had an equally strong commitment to Seppola, a devotion 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.079 had had since he was a puppy. Seppola had taken 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.120 a little longer to commit to such a bond. Togo 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.000 had been born the only pup in the litter. His 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.120 dark brown coat and piercing blue eyes might have stolen 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:01.720 anyone else's heart, but Togo was small and initially unhealthy, 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.800 and as far as Seppla was concerned, looks didn't get 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.680 the job done, and he had little interest in the pup, 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.960 so he gave Togo away, but Togo refused to belong 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.559 to anyone else. He jumped through a window and, remarkably 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.440 for such a young puppy, found his way home. Resigned 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.959 to keeping Togo, Seppola put him in a pen when 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.720 he took the other dogs out to train. Togo had 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.440 other ideas. He dug under or climbed over every pen, 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.480 then raced off to find Seppola and the team, often 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.400 causing havoc when he did. Too young to harness. Sepola 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.880 did his best to keep Togo from escaping, but nothing worked. Finally, 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.480 when Togo was eight months old and had managed to 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.800 escape and find the team again, Sepola harnessed him up 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.480 with the rest of the team. Got first day, Togo 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:51.640 ran seventy five miles on break. Sepola continued moving Togo 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:53.840 closer to the front. By the end of the day, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.560 he had become the lead dog. In a short time, 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:01.760 Seppola had the best lead dog had ever owned. Togo stamina, intelligence, 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:06.840 and devotion to Seppola became legendary and known so With 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.000 so many lives in the balance, Seppola had to choose 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.760 twenty of his best dogs for the journey. He had 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.600 a younger dog named Bolto, but felt the dog didn't 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.959 have what it takes to make the treacherous journey had 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:21.760 been assigned a Seppla lent Bolto to another musher to 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.440 make the best time. Each team was assigned at thirty 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.680 miles stretch, all except Seppola and Togo. The two would 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.600 have to make an incredible ninety one mile run over 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.040 the trail's most hazardous terrain. They made their way to 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.680 a cabin near the rendezvous point and waited as the 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:43.640 train pulled into Nanana. The weather worsened, A blinding snowstorm formed, 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.880 and temperatures dropped to sixty degrees below zero fahrenheit. While 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.960 every driver knew they needed to be fast, they also 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.520 knew that if they ran their dogs too fast, their 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.960 lungs would frost and the dogs would dive exposure. Winds howled, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.040 and the snow came down hard. Bill Shannon and his 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.200 team pulled away from the train station. The Great Mercy 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.280 Run had begun. Shannon ended up taking on fifty two 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.280 miles of the run in the worst of the weather. 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.640 He arrived at the transfer point and suffering from hypothermia, 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.920 his face black with frost bite. Four of his dogs died. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.920 The temperature warmed slightly, though the next driver and team 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:25.840 still encountered gale force winds and blinding snow, and drivers 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.880 and dogs persisted handing off the seram to the next team. 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.760 The driver who passed the seram to Seppola told him 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.720 cases of diphtheria had risen and warned him that a 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.120 storm was headed his way. Seppola got his team ready 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.439 and set out in temperatures of negative thirty degrees fahrenheit 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.760 with a wind chill of negative eighty five. By the 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.560 time they stopped for rest at a roadhouse, Togo had 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.240 led the team eighty four miles. The dogs were exhausted, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.360 and they settled in for some rest. The winds kicked 0:13:55.440 --> 0:14:06.280 up outside, reminding Seppola they couldn't rest for long. M 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.280 With just six hours of sleep, they set out again, 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.280 the storm raging around them. Seppela had a choice to make. 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.760 If he took a short cut, he'd save forty two miles, 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.920 but that short cut would take him and the team 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.560 across the sound. In the past, other teams had risked 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.520 the ice and poor weather, only to find themselves stranded 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.240 on the ice floating out to sea, and on a 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:36.040 previous journey, the unthinkable had happened to them. When Seppola 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.320 and the team had found themselves stranded on the ice, 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.400 he had unharnessed Togo and tossed him onto a larger block, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:46.040 Hoping Togo understood what he needed him to do. Pulled Togo, pull, 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.000 and Togo had the ice Seppola and the team were 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.880 stranded on drew close enough to drive the team across. Now, 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.240 Seppola had a decision and take the long way and 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.680 save himself and the team, but risked the Sarah expiring 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.520 or risk their lives. Seppola looked at the team and 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.960 met with Togo's ice blue eyes. They've done it before, 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.640 they'd do it again. Togo and the team took off 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.960 across the ice, sliding and skittering. They were now in 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.600 a race for their lives, though they didn't know it, 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:21.640 the storm had started to break up the ice on 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.920 the Norton Sound. By the time Seppla heard the ice 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.480 cracking around them, they couldn't turn around. He urged Togo 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.000 to keep running, to keep moving the team forward so 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.400 they wouldn't panic, and Togo instinctively steered them away from 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:37.600 the danger and led the team to shore. Once they 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.440 were safely away from ice and firmly back on land, 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.000 they found an inuit iglu, where Seppla fed the team 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.560 and slept. The shortcut had saved them an entire day. 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:51.480 They rested a few hours and set out again. Houses 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.040 and rest stops dotted the snow drifts along the way. 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.960 A telegram had been sent to tell the drivers to 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.040 stop at them frequently to rest and get warm, but 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.320 Seppola never received the messages. He and Togo pushed on 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.960 toward a ridge line across the north summit of what's 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:11.040 now called Anali Mountain. Seppola and Togo had experience on 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.400 such trails, which was why they had been selected to 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.120 cross the mountain, but they'd never done it in weather 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.000 like this. There were no trees to block the wind, 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.080 the way up and down was steep, and the ridge 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:26.200 was narrow. If they lost their footing, they'd perish. There 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:28.520 were touch and go moments on their descent when the 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.320 team slid down the mountain. Seppola relied on Togo to 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.680 keep the team from danger or going too fast. By 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.480 the time they made it to the rendezvous point, the 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:41.280 team was exhausted and twelve year old Togo had given 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.160 it everything he had left. Seppola handed off the serum 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:49.720 to the next driver, Charlie Olson. On February one, after 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.560 his run, Olsen handed off the serum to gunner Casson, 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.920 who had put Bolto on his team. Casson and Balto 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.880 faced near whiteout conditions. Balto helped keep the team on 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.480 course until an eighty mile an hour wind toppled the sled, 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.200 throwing Cassin, the dogs and the serum into the snow. 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:10.439 Casson removed his gloves and frantically searched for the fur 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.160 wrapped package with his bare hands. He found him right 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.879 at the sled and pushed on to the next meeting point, 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.520 where the last team would take the serum into town. 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:25.480 Except they weren't there. There's controversy at this point in 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.360 the history. Some say Casson wanted to be the one 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.399 to bring the serum into Gnome. Others say that with 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.720 the clock ticking and the storm raging, he couldn't afford 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.520 to wait. Either way, Casson pushed on, making it to 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.520 Gnome on February second. A hero's welcome greeted him and 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:47.000 the team. Casson, exhausted and relieved, handed the serum to 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:50.120 doctor Welch. He staggered to the front of the team, 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:55.200 hugged Bolto, and collapsed. Welsh administered the serum to the sick. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.840 No more cases were reported, and the town was saved. 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.520 Welsh had enough to treat everyone who needed help, with 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.960 just two doses to spare. The drivers and their teams 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.840 returned home again to rest and recover. The Great Mercy 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.800 Run was over. They had beaten the odds. A hundred 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.880 and fifty sled dogs made the run. They traveled six 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.840 hundred and seventy four miles in five and a half days, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.280 shattering the old record of nine A few of the 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:26.159 dogs died giving their lives to save human life, and 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.679 Togo was not one of them. After a much deserved rest, 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:41.400 he and Seppla returned home. The Great Mercy Run had 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.480 captivated the country during those five and a half days. 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:48.320 People everywhere anxiously awaited reports on the dog's journey, and 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:52.240 newspapers splashed updates on the front page. Radio stations gave 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.760 them by the hour. Americans were on the edge of 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.040 their seats when the New York Times reported that a 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:01.560 major blizzard struck as the dogs approached Nome, and celebrations 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.400 erupted when the seram made it and the town was saved. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.880 President Calvin Coolidge presented every musher with the letter of recognition, 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.680 and even the Senate took notice, and stopping their work 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.000 long enough to honor the men and their dogs who 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.639 had braved horrender its conditions to save the lives of 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.879 thousands of people. People couldn't get enough of the story, 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:22.800 and though twenty men and a hundred and fifty dogs 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.960 had participated, one stood out above all others. Balto, Gunnar 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.440 Casson and Balto had been the ones to arrive in 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.199 Nome with the serum. A. Seppeler knew the team that 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:35.600 made the trip into town would be the most celebrated. 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.120 He didn't care so much for himself, but he did 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.840 for Togo. A Balto was a great dog. All the 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.920 dogs were, but it had been twelve year old Togo 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:49.560 who had taken on the roughest, most dangerous terrain. A 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.840 six year old Bolto ran an incredible fifty three miles 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.359 at twice his age. Togo had traveled two hundred and 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.440 sixty one miles, over a third of the six hundred 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.240 and seventy four our mile run. It had been Togo 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.119 that traveled the ridgeline and across the ice, and Seppola's 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.880 decision to go across the sound saved an entire day. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:14.440 Had he chosen the initial path, that Sarah would have expired. Books, movies, magazines, 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:19.120 and papers wanted to hear Balto's story, though Balto symbolized 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:23.240 the race he and Casson towards the States. Balto was 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.720 president at the unveiling of his statue in New York 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:30.479 Central Park, but after a while Casson grew homesick, Balto 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:32.640 and the other dogs weren't with him when he finally 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:37.040 returned to Alaska. It's unclear why the poor Balto and 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.720 the team were shipped across the country as part of 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:43.359 the vaudeville circuit, until George Kimball, who was organizing a 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.200 children's campaign, came across the heroic canine at a side show. 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.600 Balto and the other dogs had been chained living in 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.640 deplorable conditions, and Kimball rescued the dogs and found them 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.000 a permanent home at the Cleveland Zoo. Balto lived the 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.719 rest of his life there until he died in nineteen 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:04.000 thirty three, and Togo and Seppola toured for a while 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.879 as well. They even went back to sled racing in 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:11.240 Maine and easily bested the local dogs, but Togo was 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:15.280 growing older and Seppola retired him, Agreeing to a breeding 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:20.600 program in Maine. Togo sired many litters, Seppola reached his 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.359 dream of the perfect sled dog separate from Siberian huskies. 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:29.560 Togo's line became a separate breed, the Seppola Siberian. Seppela 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.760 returned to Alaska, but continued to visit his beloved dog. 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:35.920 Togo passed away a few years later, at the age 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.680 of sixteen. He died having lived his retirement and comfort 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:44.000 well cared for and deeply loved. Leonard Seppela died in 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.960 nineteen sixty seven at the age of eighty nine. Zeppola 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:52.440 said he had never had a dog with more intelligence, courage, stamina, 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:57.679 or loyalty than Togo, but his story and heroism faded 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:02.520 from history. Decades later, historians uncovered the story and helped 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:06.000 shine a light on Togo as the true hero. In 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:10.639 twenty nineteen, a Sepalss Siberian named Diesel portrayed Togo in 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.760 Disney's adaptation of The Seram Run. As it turns out, 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:16.800 Diesel was an easy choice for the studio. He not 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:20.120 only resembled Togo, but he was also his great grandson 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:25.359 fourteen generations back. There's more to this story. Stick around 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:27.760 after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:44.080 Working dogs are a relatively common sight, either trained as 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.639 police dogs or to aid people with disabilities or illnesses. 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:52.159 Dogs truly have become human kind's best friend, and in 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:56.080 September of two thousand one, America became familiar with two 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:59.880 other types of working dogs, search and rescue and SIR 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.199 and recovery. After the attack on the Twin Towers on 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:07.280 September eleven, three hundred dogs and their handlers converged on 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:11.440 Ground zero. Search and rescue dogs have been used for decades, 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:15.080 from locating people lost in snowstorms and the wilderness, to 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:19.400 national disasters like Hurricane Katrina and incidents like the Oklahoma 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.240 City bombing. Still few Americans knew the scope of what 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:25.720 it meant to be a dog or handler for search 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:29.120 and rescue. But at Ground Zero, people glued to their 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:32.360 televisions had never seen anything like it. After the horror 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:36.239 of watching the building's collapse, people falling from buildings and 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:40.720 runnings so covered through the streets, others ran toward the buildings, 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:45.320 and in the aftermath, rescue workers continued to shift through 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:48.440 the rubble in the hopes of finding human life. Dogs 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:52.879 climbed over concrete, glass and unstable debris to detect life below. 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:56.920 Twenty seven hours after the buildings had collapsed, a rescue 0:23:56.920 --> 0:24:00.760 dog found the last survivor days lay there. The search 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.879 and rescue teams made way for dogs trained in search 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:07.959 and recovery The search proved difficult for the cadaver dogs, 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:12.119 as it turns out, finding body after body is psychologically 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:16.600 taxing for them too. To combat the dog's depression, handlers 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:20.679 created mock fines so the dogs found some living people. 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:26.879 Denise Corliss was one of those handlers. Corliss, volunteer firefighter 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:30.320 with the Sci Faire Fire Department in Texas, arrived with 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:34.560 two year old Brittany, a Golden Retriever. Corliss had been 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:37.160 training with Brittany since the pup was just eight months old. 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:41.960 The pair had completed female Certification. Nine eleven was Brittany's 0:24:42.000 --> 0:24:46.920 first assignment. While Brittany took her job seriously sniffing through 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:49.760 and climbing over rubble for twelve hours a day for 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:53.160 nearly two solid weeks, she had a softer side too. 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:56.080 Of finding so many bodies took its toll on the 0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:01.200 rescue workers, and Brittany also discouraged sought out firefighters who 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:05.160 just needed a hug and a wet nose. Soon, rescue 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:08.280