The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic. - Henry Ward Beecher

In 1952, my family was living in the historic Frank P. Stubbs home at 916  Riverside Dr. in Monroe, Louisiana.  I started to the first grade that year at nearby Georgia Tucker Elementary School.   The school was built in 1920 on land donated by Col. Stubbs in honor of his mother, Georgia Tucker Stubbs.  I can still picture the school in my mind as though I was there yesterday.  The first day of school another  student grabbed my treasured little Indian beaded belt and broke the threads, scattering tiny colored beads into the sand beneath an ancient oak on the playground.

Within weeks I'd have a much more unsettling  experience at school.   My father took me to the school's Halloween carnival where  one grade's  idea of fun nearly scared me to death - little chairs were arranged  in a circle around the classroom,  all lights were turned out and in the darkness  someone rattled a heavy chain while reading a gruesome story that involved some poor soul being dismembered.   The "fun" involved  "body parts" being  passed around the room.   At six, I didn't understand that the eyes were peeled grapes and the heart was a piece of raw beef liver and I didn't hang around long enough to discuss it - I had a major meltdown that resulted in the lights having to be turned on so Daddy and I could leave.

I don't know when, how many years later it was, before I found myself trying to remember something else I associated with Georgia Tucker school.  I thought it had to do with a dog but I couldn't remember my family owning a dog at that time.  The occasional times I wondered about a dog made so little sense that I never could get enough of a grasp on an actual fact to pursue it.   Somewhere along the way I learned that the mascot for Georgia Tucker Elementary School was a Husky.  Was that all I was remembering?  

Around 2005,  I was looking for information regarding the beautiful old wisteria draped home I'd lived in as a child, built in 1853.  My husband and I drove  to Monroe assuming we would  find the old house with the thought in mind that it might have been relocated and restored, which sadly proved to be  untrue - it had been demolished not too long after my family moved away.    Georgia Tucker Elementary School was still there so I turned my attention to finding out more about its history...and that's when the lost dog was found.   He was a "Byrd" dog!

Before  Admiral Richard E. Byrd led his famous polar expedition to Antartica in 1928-1930,  he carefully assembled a team of dogs to pull the dogsleds.   The dog Admiral Byrd handpicked to lead the sled team was a pure white, Husky-mix named Unalaska who was born in 1923 in Canada.  

When Admiral Byrd's small crew returned to the U.S. in 1930, they were hailed as heroes, the  first Americans to successfully reach the South Pole by airplane.     The team, including the dogs that had pulled the heavy sleds across the ice,   set out on a triumphant tour across  the U.S. that led them to Monroe in December, 1930.   Children everywhere where fascinated by  the dogs and Unalaska was adored by all.

On January 3, 1931, Unalaska and his mate, Lady, were being exercised in Forsythe Park on Riverside Drive when both dogs ran across the street toward the levee.  Their handler called them back but only Lady made it back safely, Unalaska was hit by a car and killed instantly.  

Unalaska's death instantly became national news.  The decision was made to bury the fallen explorer  in Monroe  on the grounds of the American Legion  Hall at  Forsythe Park.  His body was embalmed by a local funeral home and placed in a white velvet casket lined with pink silk cushions.   Local Boy Scouts formed an honor guard as thousands of people came to pay their respects to the beloved dog.  Unalaska's handler spoke at the funeral and then the casket was buried between two big World War I guns.  An evergreen tree was planted at the grave and the American Legion flag was lowered to half-mast as a token of respect.

The following summer there was another service held for Unalaska.  Children from across the U.S. had donated money to buy a gravestone and three little children actually led the ceremony to unveil the Indiana limestone marker that weighed seven hundred pounds.   This didn't sit well at all with many in the veteran community, rumbles of dissent had been heard ever since the original  funeral that no dog, even if it had been involved in exploring Antarctica, should be buried on grounds set aside for war veterans.

The morning after the grave marker was dedicated, it disappeared.  It  would have taken heavy equipment to move it.   It was thought the marker had been broken before being moved and rumors suggested  it was dumped a couple of blocks away in the Ouachita River.    At first it was feared the casket had also been taken but it was still there...but not for long.

Children from the nearby Georgia Tucker Elementary School raised enough money for a new marker and Unalaska's remains were removed from the American Legion property and reburied at the school, which was only a few blocks away.   Georgia Tucker was closed as a public school in 1999 but Unalaska's grave is still there today, 81 years later,  marked by a stone that bears his likeness with the inscription, "Unalaska, a husky of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, South Pole Expedition, buried here January, 1931."