To help celebrate America’s birthday Rin Tin Tin paid a visit to the residents of the Claremore Veteran’s Center on the Fourth of July.

Rin Tin Tin spent about two hours at the functioning memorial to Oklahoma’s wartime veterans greeting each of the residents, family members, staff and live-in mascot, Clyde, a one-year-old Labrador Retriever mix.

While there, Rin Tin Tin also offered a friendly hello to resident cat Gus.

Traveling from room-to-room Rin Tin Tin offered high-fives to the some 40 residents for their service to America.

When he saw the 90 pound sable German Shepherd Dog, one WWII POW said, “That is the kind of dog who kept me in my cell when I was a prisoner of war.”

Rin Tin Tin’s trainer Debra Hnath, of Claremore, responded by saying, “Oh no, it was this kind of dog, a Rin Tin Tin line descendant, who was in California during WWII training dogs for our side.”

She continued to explain that at the onset of WWII Duncan and Rin Tin Tin III trained some 5,000 dogs for the war effort at Camp Hahn, Calif.

One highlight of the event was the exchange between two residents who had a friendly dispute over which thought Rin Tin Tin was the prettiest.

One said, “The beauty is in the head, and he has one beautiful head.”

The other resident retorted, “He is the most beautiful dog I have ever seen.”

According to Claremore Veteran’s Center Administrator Cindy Adams the residents of the center were thrilled to meet the 10th generation line descendant of the original Rin Tin Tin who was found in France by Cpl. Lee Duncan in 1918 just before the end of WWI.

One resident asked Hnath, “How can Rin Tin Tin still be alive in 2008?”

She responded by saying, “The 90-year-old bloodline was maintained by Duncan until 1957 then passed to current breeder Daphne Hereford’s family in Texas 51 years ago.

For more information about Rin Tin Tin visit the Web site at www.RinTinTin.com.