Category: Animals in WWII

 

 

The archipelago of Palau in the western Pacific Ocean is 550 miles (890 kilometers) east of the Philippines.  It consists of volcanic and coral islands and a large barrier reef which encircles nearly all of the archipelago.

After the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898), Spain in 1899 sold Palau to Germany.  In 1914 control of Palau passed to Japan.  

Only two of the Palau islands, Peleliu and Angaur, would be occupied by the Americans in WWII.  Koror, the capital of Palau, on the island of Koror remained in Japanese control until the end of WWII.

Peleliu, a platform coralline island, 6.56 square miles, was the location of a brutal battle between the United States (US) Marine 1st Division, the US Army 81st Infantry Division, and Imperial Japanese forces during Operation Stalemate II (September 15 – November 27, 1944).  The Japanese had made the island into a defensive fortress.

[Operation Stalemate II.  The operation to secure the Palau islands was intended to stop the Japanese from attacking US Army General Douglas MacArthur’s western flank as he fought to liberate the Philippines from Japanese control.]

Other American units involved in the Peleliu battle were the 11th Marine Regiment, Artillery; 12th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion; 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion; 3rd Armored Amphibian Tractor Battalion; Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) 6 and 7; and the 4th, 5th, and 6th Marine War Dog Platoons.

 

 

The fight for Peleliu was predicted to last a few days.  The island was declared secure after 74 days of fighting.

The invasion of Peleliu was an American victory with a exceedingly high casualty rate; US casualties totaled almost 1,800 killed in action (KIA) and over 8,000 wounded or missing.  Japanese losses were over 10,000 KIA.

 

THE BATTLE OF PELELIU.

Peleliu island was a maze of rocky ramparts, hills, crags, jungles, and caves.  The Japanese had built a strong defense of the island. There was a system of over 500 caves and tunnels which allowed Japanese soldiers to move undetected between areas of combat.

Important in the lead-up to the invasion was a plan using Navy UDTs, also known as “frogmen.”  

In an article by Toni L. Carrell, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Principal Investigator, Ships of Exploration and Discovery Research, “… unless the amphibious craft could get over the reef; avoid the mines; navigate the concrete anti-boat obstacles, the coral heads, and boulders; and land on shore, it (the invasion) was doomed to failure. … UDT reconnaissance was integral to all planning.

 

 

In the run up to the Peleliu operation, UDT 10 scouted the invasion beaches in USS [United States Ship] Burrfish. The information gathered in August 1944 revealed an array of concrete tetrahedrons, a double row of wooden posts 75 yards from shore, barbed wire, horned mines and, importantly, in some areas the reef was awash with barely two feet of water at low tide. Three days before D-Day, UDTs 6 and 7 deployed along the invasion beaches to destroy obstacles, but more critically, to blast wide ramps into the coral for the amphibious craft. Not only was their mission dangerous and in broad daylight, naval fire support from offshore flew overhead and periodic sniper and machine gun fire from shore targeted the unarmed swimmers in the shallow lagoon. The night before the assault, UDTs crawled ashore to demolish rock cribs, posts, barbed wire, concrete cubes, and set buoys off the reef to mark the newly blasted passageways.”

Carrell also describes the amphibious assault plan to capture Peleliu, “The new plan involved five imaginary parallel lines offshore where various elements of the task force could stage with their ships and troops before the assault. Farthest out at 18,000 yards were the big ships and transports. Next came the LSTs (landing ship transports) carrying the troops in LVTs (landing vehicle tracked) in their cavernous holds. At 6,000 yards from shore, the LSTs opened their bow doors and the small LVTs (sometimes called amtracs) embarked. The fourth line was 4,000 yards from shore, still 30 minutes travel time to the beach. This was the rendezvous line for all of the assault waves to form groups opposite their designated beaches. The final line before the reef was at 2,000 yards and 15 minutes from shore, where the amtracs returned after carrying the assault waves to the beach and where the next groups of men and supplies transferred from small boats to the amtracs. When the troop-carrying amphibious fleet reached the last line at 1,000 yards, they were on their own to cross the reef and get to shore.

Stewarding the small fleet at each line were submarine chasers, patrol craft, and Higgins boats, hoisting signaling flags, forming up the waves, and in constant radio contact. Preceding the first waves of personnel were armored LVT(A)s (amphibian tanks) armed with machine guns and howitzers, to neutralize beach defenses and support the landings. LCI(G) (landing craft, infantry, gunboats) armed with rockets stood offshore at the 1,000-yard line and raked defensive positions and provided covering fire for the LVT(A)s. Overhead, naval gunfire pummeled the island and aircraft bombed and strafed. The landing was a complex maneuver requiring precise timing and coordination.”

After days of US heavy naval and aerial bombardment of Peleliu the 1st Marine Division began landing on the beaches of the island at 0830 (military time) on September 15, 1944.  The 1st Marine Regiment landed on beaches White 1 and 2; the 5th Marine Regiment landed on beaches Orange 1 and 2; and the 7th Marine Regiment landed on beach Orange 3.

 

 

The airfield on the southern part of Peleliu (see map at the start of this story) was captured within the first week.  Marine F4U Corsair fighter planes then used it to fly close air support missions.  They were “so close” to the action that pilots didn’t raise their landing gear while airborne; a military operational mission (also known as a sortie) could be flown in a matter of 30 minutes from take-off to landing.

The Umurbrogol Mountain and ridge lines were particularly dangerous for the Marines in combat; narrow valleys and peaks, sinkholes, steep coral hills, and straight drops down the ridges along with hard surfaces which prevented the digging of foxholes took their toll on men KIA and wounded.  This combat sector on Peleliu became known as “Bloody Nose Ridge.”

 

THE STORIES OF THREE MEN WHO SURVIVED THE BATTLE OF PELELIU.

Joe W. Clapper, 1st Marine Division. Oral History interview for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, on August 28, 2010.  He was interviewed at the 1st Marine Division Association Reunion in San Antonio, Texas.

 

 

 

Joe W. Clapper was born March 22, 1924, in Jonesboro, Indiana.  His family would later move to Kalamazoo, Michigan.  After graduating from high school in June 1942, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve.

After training in San Diego and Camp Elliott, California, Joe sailed on a Liberty ship to Melbourne, Australia.  He was assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, as a replacement.

While in Melbourne Joe said the Marines had training exercises at the cricket grounds.  [Today it is the site of the Australian Open tennis tournament.]  He, as many WWII US service members commented, liked the friendly Australians.

From Melbourne the 1st Marines went to Goodenough Island off New Guinea.  Upon leaving Melbourne the stevedores were on strike, so the Marines had to load their own ships.

On December 26, 1943, the 1st Marines came ashore and saw action at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, as part of Operation Cartwheel (1943 – 1944).  An important objective of Cartwheel was to neutralize a major Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain.

 

 

In April 1944 the 1st Marine Division left New Britain and went to Pavuvu Island in the Russell Islands to rest and train for the assault on Peleliu.  The Russell Islands are comprised of two small islands Pavuvu and Banika, as well as several islets, which are northwest of Guadalcanal and part of the Solomon Islands chain.

The Battle of Peleliu began on September 15, 1944.  Joe, in his interview, said reveille, the military wake up call, was at 1 am.  The ship served steak and eggs that morning.  And then began the transfer of the men from the larger ships (the process described earlier in this story) to the beaches.

When Joe landed on White beach in the first assault wave as Japanese machine gun fire raked the beach and sand was flying through the air,  he said, “It was like trying to run between raindrops.” 

Near the end of the first day of battle Joe’s life was saved by a young Marine.  It had been discovered that the Marine was 15 years old. The paperwork to send him back to the US had not been completed, so J. M. Morsy (exact name inaudible in the interview) from Harlan County, Kentucky, went on the Peleliu operation.  Joe called him “Junior.”  Junior had yelled at Joe, “look out Joe, a Jap.”  Joe said he turned to look after the warning and was looking into the rifle barrel of a Japanese soldier.  Junior killed the soldier.  Joe in  his interview was still very grateful that Junior, who should not have been there, had saved his life.

On the second day of the battle Joe saw a good friend of his die.  Fortune Orlando Rosenkrans, III, from Pennsylvania, nicknamed “Rosie,” was fatally shot in the chest, and the bullet “blew his lung out” his back.  Joe still carries that image of “Rosie” with him.

On that same day after “Rosie” died, Joe was hit by a bullet in the left upper chest area.  A US Navy Corpsman put a bandage on the wound, and Joe was evacuated to the beach and transferred to a hospital ship offshore.  Joe commented in his interview that the beach was “carpeted” with dead Marines.

Joe Clapper’s next battle would be the Battle of Okinawa (April 1 – June 22, 1945.)

By war’s end Joe received three Purple Hearts: one Purple Heart for his wound at Peleliu and two Purple Hearts for wounds received on Okinawa (one wounding from shrapnel, and then another wound from Japanese machine-gun fire.)

Joe Clapper passed away January 31, 2019.

 

John W. Bailey, Jr., US Navy Corpsman, 1st Marine Division.  Oral History interview for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, on August 28, 2010.  He was interviewed at the 1st Marine Division Association Reunion in San Antonio, Texas.

 

 

John W. Bailey, Jr., was born May 31, 1925, in Goodson, Missouri. When he was nine years old the family moved to Santa Paula, California.  He wanted to join the US Navy after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, and at 17 1/2 years old John persuaded his father to sign the paperwork permitting him to enlist under the required age by the military.  In his interview John recalled his father saying to him at the time, “I feel just like I’m signing your death warrant.”

John enlisted in the US Navy on January 7, 1943.  He was selected for medical training as a US Navy Corpsman.  In September 1943 he shipped out from San Diego, California.  The ship docked at the island of New Caledonia, approximately 750 miles (1,210 kilometers) east of Australia, which was the location of a US Marine replacement battalion.  Later John and other replacements would sail to Australia where he was assigned to the 1st Marine Division.  [The US Marine Corps does not have a medical component and uses the medical resources of the US Navy.]

After the 1st Marine Division left New Britain they went to Pavuvu (as noted in the Joe Clapper story above).  Pavuvu with a large coconut plantation on the island had been deserted by the natives when the war began.  The Marines needed to construct island infrastructure and their own base.  But they fought another kind of enemy on the island — rats and land crabs.  John said it was difficult to sleep at night with rats and crabs running through the tents and over its inhabitants, sometimes nibbling on the ears of the Marines. The Marines had contests to see who could kill the most rats; the winner got a bottle of alcohol.  As the tale goes Marines would sometimes steal dead rats from each other to ensure a win.  In Marine language “Pavuvu” became a 6-letter bad word.  

The Marines did leave Pavuvu with a good memory; legendary comedian Bob Hope, representing the United Service Organizations (USO), put on a show for them in August 1944.  

 

 

The next stop for the 1st Marines was Peleliu on September 15, 1944. 

US Navy Corpsman John Bailey landed on White beach that day with the 1st Marine Regiment led by Marine Colonel Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller.

“Forty-five days and 1,000 nights” was John’s answer when asked how long he was on Peleliu.  He spoke of the Battle of Peleliu in what he called “the horror of all battles.”  The following are some of John’s memories of the battle:

John estimated that the temperature on the island could get as high as 115 – 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pre-landing bombing and further combat decimated most of the trees and foliage that could have provided some shade and cover and concealment when fighting.  

Dehydration was a significant issue.  Some metal barrels previously filled with gasoline had been brought ashore containing water that was undrinkable.  Sunburn and blisters were common in the hot and humid climate; men’s eyes would sometimes swell shut.

Patches of sharp coral could be deadly; some men died of flying shards of coral that flew through the air after the ground was hit with bombs and artillery barrages.

When not out with the Marines as a Corpsman, John worked with the Graves Registration Service units finding, identifying, and burying bodies in a temporary cemetery constructed on the island.  It became very important to him to be able to identify bodies so that the families of the dead Marines would know what happened to their loved ones.

John said they could not begin the gathering of the dead Marines for three to four days after the battle began because of the intense and constant fighting.  Bodies in that climate after two days could be unrecoverable due to decomposition.

And then there was the “SMELL” of the island because of American and Japanese dead bodies along with the island being used as what John called “one big toilet.”  Marine pilots told him they could “smell” the island flying over it.

John Bailey wrote a book, “Islands of Death, Islands of Victory,” published in 2002 based on his memories and experiences on Peleliu as well as other battle sites.  In the book he wrote:

“There was a saying:  A Marine who had served on Peleliu died and went to heaven.  When St. Peter opened the gate the Marine saluted and said, ‘Another Marine reporting sir, I have already served my time in Hell.’  Of such a place was Peleliu.”

After Peleliu the 1st Marine Division returned to Pavuvu and began to train for the Battle of Okinawa.

John Bailey passed away June 26, 2020.

 

William Taylor Stitt, Seabee, Construction Maintenance Battalion Unit #571.  Oral History interview for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, on July 6, 2011.  He was interviewed at his home in San Antonio, Texas.

 

 

 

[A brief history of the Seabees in WWII.  The nickname “Seabee” is based upon a heterograph of the first letters of the words Construction Battalion “C B.”  Two of its mottos are “We build, We Fight” and “Can Do.”

The US Navy Construction Battalion(s), better known as Seabees, were established in 1942 in response to a need in WWII to build and maintain bases and airfields, pave roadways, and they took on multiple other construction projects around the world in all theaters of war.  The work was varied and also involved constructing caskets and making crosses and Star of David grave markers for the temporary cemeteries.  During WWII they constructed over 400 bases.

These are but a very few of the locations the Seabees saw action during WWII:  (1) Galapagos Islands, Ecuador — outfitted a seaplane base,  (2) Morocco — constructed military facilities in Casablanca after landing with American forces during Operation Torch November 1942, (3) Normandy, France, June 6, 1944 — went ashore with the US Army Engineers to destroy barriers and obstacles put in place by the Germans, (4) assisted US General George S. Patton’s troops in crossing the Rhine River at Oppenheim, Germany, March 22, 1945 [One Seabee crew ferried Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Rhine on an inspection tour.], (5) Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands — first Seabee crew to build under combat conditions when rebuilding a strategic airfield now called Henderson Field, and (6) Tinian Island, Mariana Islands — after the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) arrived at Tinian with the first atomic bomb later dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, the Seabees helped unload the ship and store the components awaiting assembly; on the August 6 mission, the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay took off from Tinian’s North Field built by the Seabees.

There was heroism, and a price paid by the Seabees in WWII.  The Seabees earned 33 Silver Stars and five Navy Crosses.  Eighteen officers and 272 enlisted men would be KIA.  And construction accidents resulted in more than 500 Seabee deaths.]

William Taylor Stitt, known as “Taylor,” was born June 26, 1915, in Williamsville, Illinois, a small town near Springfield, Illinois.  In August 1943 he would enlist in the Seabees.

After training in the US, Taylor was assigned to Construction Maintenance Battalion Unit #571.  They travelled from Gulfport, Mississippi, through the Panama Canal, and landed on Banika, Russell Islands.  They were based there until they left for Peleliu in September 1944.

With the bombing, strafing, and the pitched battle on Peleliu, the Seabees did not land until about five days after the fighting began. Then they set to work repairing airstrips, working on roads, repairing a battered Japanese administration building for use by the Marines, constructed ammunition storage huts, and worked on infrastructure to support the troops.

There were Japanese snipers on the island.  When driving a weapons carrier Taylor noticed a sniper bullet in the clock of the vehicle after he reached his destination.  

There were 16 huts of Seabee Construction Maintenance Battalion Unit 571 on the island.  They were still based on the island when WWII ended. Taylor was in Hut 1.

 

 

Taylor and his friend, Harold Groh (pictured above) from Mankato, Minnesota, would later “hitch” a ride after the war ended on the plane of a USO troop that put on a show on Peleliu.  Getting as far as Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, and not finding another flight to the US, Taylor and Harold sailed back to California on the USS Missouri.

One last story.  On Peleliu Taylor encountered a Marine friend of his from Springfield.  His friend, George, told Taylor, “If I live through the war, I’m going to invent a coffee machine.”  In 1957 George R. Bunn founded the  Bunn-O-Matic Corporation.

Taylor Stitt passed away on February 14, 2012.

 

Artist Tom Lea as a combat correspondent on Peleliu with the 1st Marine Division in 1944 would paint an image expressing what he saw.  Tom called it the 2000 Yard Stare.

 

 

Eight Marines received the Medal of Honor in the Battle of Peleliu:

• Captain Everett P. Pope
• First Lieutenant Carlton R. Rouh
• Corporal Lewis K. Bausell  (Posthumous)
• Private First Class Arthur J. Jackson
• Private First Class Richard E. Kraus (Posthumous)
• Private First Class John D. New  (Posthumous)
• Private First Class Wesley Phelps (Posthumous)
• Private First Class Charles H. Roan  (Posthumous)

 

Peleliu is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places as the Peleliu Battlefield and has been designated a US National Historic Landmark.

 

 

 

Thank you to the families of Joe Clapper, John Bailey, and Taylor Stitt for their help in researching this story and for permission to use the photographs.  Their oral history interviews are in the Archives of the National Museum of the Pacific War.

 

 

 

 

 

[The WWII New Guinea Campaign in the Pacific Theater of Operations lasted from January 1942 until August 1945.  In 1942 Japan invaded the Australian Territory of New Guinea (January 23) and the Territory of Papua (July 21) and overran western New Guinea, part of The Netherlands East Indies, in late March of that year. The Japanese occupation of New Guinea, north of Australia (see map below), was a strategic threat to the Allies and to Australia.]

On September 5, 1943, the Allies began an airborne operation to capture Nadzab, New Guinea.  It had an important airfield which became a major Allied air base in New Guinea.  The operation began with a parachute drop by the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the US Army and the Australian Army 2/4th Field Regiment.  An overland route to Nadzab was taken by the Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and B Company Papuan Infantry Battalion.  After capturing and preparing the airfield an Allied transport plane landed the next day.

This story about Smoky and William “Bill” Wynne begins in New Guinea in 1944.  Smoky’s travels with Bill during the war took her from New Guinea, to Australia, to Biak Island, to the Philippines, Okinawa, and Korea.  When WWII ended Bill “smuggled” her back to the United States (US) (more on that later).

Follow Smoky and Bill’s WWII journey on the map below.

 

 

Bill Wynne was drafted in 1943.  He trained with the US Army Air Force (USAAF) as a aerial photographer and attended mapping school.  Bill’s unit left for Australia on a Liberty ship in December 1943 and arrived in Brisbane, Australia, later that month.  On December 21, 1943, Bill with hundreds of other soldiers left Australia on the Steamship (SS) Contessa, an ironclad wooden ship, which transported them to New Guinea.  He was assigned to the aerial photography laboratory of the Fifth USAAF, 26th Photographic Reconnaissance (Photo Recon) Squadron, Hollandia Airfield Complex at Nadzab, New Guinea.  In April 1944 Bill was selected to fly combat as a aerial photographer.

[During WWII the 26th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron moved from Australia to New Guinea; to Mokmer Airfield, Biak Island, The Netherlands East Indies; Lingayen Airfield, Luzon, Philippines; Kadena Airfield, Okinawa; and Kimpo Airfield, Korea.

Photo Recon planes, unescorted with no armament for protection, photographed Japanese military installations, coastal defenses, harbor facilities, and airfields to provide vital information for the planning of Allied operations.

Reconnaissance aircraft were nicknamed “Spies in the Sky.”]

In March 1944 Bill Wynne’s tentmate, Ed Downey, was driving on a primitive jungle road near Hollandia when his Jeep broke down.  As he worked under the hood he heard a strange noise coming from the surrounding jungle.  While investigating the sound he found a little dog scratching in the dirt at the bottom of a foxhole.  He brought the dog back to the base and gave her to Hollandia Airfield mechanic, Sergeant Dare.  When Bill visited Dare and saw the dog, he offered him two Australian pounds for the dog.  Dare replied Bill could have the dog for three Australian pounds.  Bill was debating with himself how he would care for the dog in that environment, and he left.  The next day Sergeant Dare, carrying the dog with him, went to the photo lab where Bill was working and offered to sell the tiny dog to Bill for two Australian pounds, the equivalent of $6.44 in US dollars at that time.  Dare said he needed the money to get back into a poker game.  This time Bill, an ardent dog lover, said yes.  Bill decided to call her Smoky.  And so began a lifelong “partnership” between Bill Wynne and a dog named Smoky.

Taking care of a dog during wartime and in a jungle environment like New Guinea was challenging.  After adopting Smoky, Bill would give her daily baths in his helmet to keep her free of ticks and other insects.  With no dog food to feed the dog, he discovered Smoky liked bacon, ham, eggs, and bully beef (canned hash).  

But many at the Hollandia base continued to wonder where the dog came from, and how did she get there.

Whenever Bill talked to Smoky, she got very excited.  He tried out several words and names to see how she responded; names/words such as Sport, Rover, Christmas all got her excited and turning in circles.  Bill started teaching her commands and tricks; she was very smart and learned quickly.  Bill and Smoky began putting on shows for people at the base.  He took the dog with him most everywhere, and they became a team.

In 1944 a military publication Yanks Down Under had a contest to select “The Best Mascot of the Southwest Pacific Area.”  Smoky won! This recognition would be very helpful later. 

In July Bill woke up with a 105 degree fever.  He was taken to the US 233rd Field Hospital in Nadzab.  He was diagnosed with dengue fever (a mosquito-borne tropical disease).  While in the hospital Bill’s friends smuggled Smoky in, and they presented Bill with the announcement of Smoky’s contest win.  A few nurses discovered Smoky; Smoky won them over, and they asked to take her on rounds to “cheer up” the patients.  But the hospital commanding officer had to give his permission.  [The commander was Dr. Charles W. Mayo. His family was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.]  Dr. Mayo saw how the dog brought smiles to all who saw and interacted with her; her fame as the newly crowned “best mascot” was helpful also.  While Bill was hospitalized, the nurses would pick up Smoky (who was allowed to sleep in Bill’s bed) every morning to go on rounds and would return her to Bill’s bed at the end of the day. 

After Bill was discharged from the hospital, his squadron doctor, Dr. Beryl D. Rosenburg, offered him some recuperative leave in Brisbane — with Smoky, of course.

While in Brisbane, Bill was asked by Barbara Wood Smith, Assistant Field Director, with the American Red Cross to take Smoky to the US Navy 109th Fleet Hospital to visit the patients. This was the first hospital where they put on a planned show; they performed in eight wards that day to the delight of all the patients and hospital staff. Barbara also asked if Bill and Smoky would visit the patients at the Brisbane US Army 42nd General Hospital.  They performed in 12 wards there.  The little dog brought smiles and joy to her audiences of injured, wounded, homesick, and war-weary troops.  

In September 1944 Barbara Wood Smith wrote a thank you letter to Cpl. (Corporal) “Smoky” on American Red Cross stationery:

Dear Cpl. Smoky:

It has been several weeks now since you visited our hospital and I suspect that by now you and Bill are back at work.  You should certainly feel a nice warm glow of satisfaction at all the pleasure you brought to the patients here at our hospital.  They enjoyed your visit so much and are still talking about you.  Some of them are boys who have lain in bed for months and have gotten very tired of looking at nothing but four walls and other sailors.  We all know that laughter is something that helps people get better and you certainly administered enough of it here to improve the health of any number of our boys.

May we congratulate you for being that almost unheard of combination — a lady artiste without temperament! You entertained in eight wards that one afternoon and seemed just as full of energy and just as obliging at the end of your tour as at the beginning.  The boys particularly liked your “dead dog” act and the way you jumped up and streaked after Bill when he gave you the word.  We think that you’re a wonderful morale builder and we hope that you’ll have the opportunity to entertain a lot more boys later on, go back to Bill’s home in Cleveland and carry on the good work there.

There’s always a welcome for you here, where you and Bill will be pleasantly remembered.

Sincerely, and with thanks from all of us,

Barbara Wood Smith

Assistant Field Director

[American Red Cross letter dated September 19, 1944, © Smoky War Dog LLC]

After two weeks in Australia,  Bill returned to his squadron which had moved to Biak Island after its capture from the Japanese.

[The Battle of Biak (see location on map above, just north of New Guinea) May 27 – August 17, 1944, was an Allied victory and resulted in the capture of a strategic airfield from the Japanese.  The airfield was renamed Mokmer Airfield.  It was of vital importance as the Allies prepared for the invasion of the Philippines.]

On September 16, 1944, Bill accepted an assignment that would take him out of the photo lab and into the air flying with the 3rd Emergency Rescue Squadron looking for downed pilots.  On his first mission he flew in a Stinson L-5 Sentinel. The small plane crew was a pilot and a photographer. The aircraft sometimes flew 50 feet above the ground as they surveyed battle sites.  They found a crash site, circled it three times, saw that the plane had dived into the ground, and a tree had ripped off the cockpit.  Bill took photos as proof of the crash and that there were no survivors.

 

 

When Bill returned from his first mission and the dangers of this type of flying were revealed to his friends, they asked Bill who would get Smoky if he never came back.

On Bill’s second and future missions he (and Smoky) flew in a PBY Catalina.  The usual Catalina crew was comprised of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, engineer-mechanic, radio operator, and two medics.  Bill and Smoky were crew additions.  Bill explained that Smoky was a mascot and would bring them good luck; the crew had no problem with Smoky.  Smoky flew inside a canvas musette bag (a type of knapsack); she sometimes ran around the plane when there was no combat/rescue action.

 

 

In Bill Wynne’s memoir Yorkie Doodle Dandy written after WWII he recounted a mission that one could say is “luck” during wartime.  He and Smoky were already in the plane.  The mission was to rescue six downed men floating in a raft.  At the last minute a decision was made to send an extra medic instead of a photographer.  Bill would hear later that the aircraft and the men in the raft had disappeared. Bill counted his blessings.

As WWII progressed the next base for the 26th Photo Recon was the Philippines.  It was Smoky’s help here that Bill said she went from a pet companion to a war dog.

 

 

Communication lines needed to be strung under a runway at Lingayen Gulf, Philippines.  It was estimated that without this successful endeavor using Smoky to pull a line through the culvert it would have taken about 70 men digging for approximately three days to accomplish the job and would have shut down the airfield to Allied planes.  With daily air attacks by the Japanese the lives of many men could have been lost.  Smoky completed the job in about three minutes.

After WWII Bill Wynne recounted the story in an appearance on NBC-TV:

“I tied a string (tied to the wire) to Smoky’s collar and ran to the other end of the culvert . . . (Smoky) made a few steps in and then ran back. `Come, Smoky,’ I said,  and she started through again. When she was about 10 feet in, the string caught up and she looked over her shoulder as much as to say `what’s holding us up there?’ The string loosened from the snag and she came on again. By now the dust was rising from the shuffle of her paws as she crawled through the dirt and mold and I could no longer see her.  I called and pleaded, not knowing for certain whether she was coming or not. At last, about 20 feet away, I saw two little amber eyes and heard a faint whimpering sound . . . at 15 feet away, she broke into a run. We were so happy at Smoky’s success that we patted and praised her for a full five minutes.”

When his duties and time permitted Bill would take Smoky to hospitals to visit with the patients.  They would also put on shows for people living around the base and children’s groups wherever the 26th Photo Recon was based.

 

 

Bill knew he couldn’t leave Smoky behind.  He devised a way to bring Smoky (hopefully undetected) aboard the ship in an oxygen carrying case.

 

 

Smoky made it on board; she never barked, and the bag was not inspected.  Bill found a top bunk in a corner (the bunks were stacked five high).  The next morning, after 5,000 men had been loaded on the ship, there was an announcement that the man who brought a dog on-board needed to report to the troop office.  Bill did not respond to the announcement; he found out later that another man, his friend Randall with his dog Duke, had responded to the order. Randall was ordered to remove Duke from the ship.  But as luck would have it, as Randall was leaving the troop office a member of the ship’s crew approached him and said he would hide Duke in the hold of the ship; the sailor said he was already hiding two dogs and could fit in one more.  

On high tide the ship set sail for Washington state from Inchon Harbor, Korea.  At the start of the voyage the ship encountered rough seas, and Bill got very seasick.  Bill spent days sick in his bunk.  Men from the 26th would sneak Smoky to the upper deck for “potty” breaks; they would form a ring around her as they walked on the deck to keep her hidden.

Then came another announcement that men onboard who had brought dogs or monkeys on the ship needed to report to the ship’s office NOW.  Still feeling sick Bill made his way to the troop office and was surprised to see five other “guilty” men there.  

Bill retreated to his bunk and vowed to keep Smoky hidden.  But a US Navy officer looking for someone else discovered the dog.  The officer asked if the dog was registered to be on the ship. Bill said “no.”  An hour later he was called to report to the ship’s office.  Bill explained he was too sick to report earlier.  He showed pictures of Smoky entertaining the sick and wounded; the letter from the Red Cross thanking Bill and Smoky for helping the morale of patients in the hospital; and noted Smoky’s 1944 selection as “The Best Mascot of the Southwest Pacific Area.”  Bill was told he may have to pay a bond to bring the dog into the US and could be expected to pay up to $1,000 dollars to do so.  Bill said he would accept those terms.  Bill and the ship’s captain signed a document that cleared the ship of any responsibility for “one dog.”

 

With Smoky officially recognized and out of hiding, Bill and Smoky put on some shows on the deck for the men.  Bill noticed that the ship’s captain and the troop commander would sometimes watch the show from the bridge and had smiles on their faces.  AND, everyday the sailors would bring Duke up from the hold to play with Smoky.

On November 13 the USS William H. Gordon docked in Seattle.  

Smoky and Bill’s story started to take on a life of its own after arriving in the US.  At one train stop on their way to Bill’s home in Ohio a man with the United Services Organization (USO) noticed Bill carrying Smoky.  After hearing their story someone called the Indianapolis Star.  The newspaper ran a story which was picked up by a wire service. 

Bill and Smoky arrived home in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 30, 1945.

Before leaving to go to war in 1943 Bill had given the love of his life, Margie Roberts, an engagement ring.  They were married September 28, 1946. 

A week after Bill arrived home the Cleveland Press asked to interview him.  On December 7, 1945, the paper ran a front page story headlined, “TINY DOG HOME FROM THE WAR.”  The New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun, and Herald America also published stories.

Smoky and Bill continued to entertain people after the war and performed at veterans’ hospitals, schools, orphanages, nursing homes, hospitals, and other organizations.  

From June to August 1946 Bill was hired by the Cleveland Zoo to be masters of ceremony for a traveling circus — with Smoky as one of the stars.  In October 1946 Bill and Margie went to Hollywood after hearing that then famous animal trainer, Rennie Renfro, was looking for an assistant to help him train dogs for motion pictures.  The job did not materialize, and they returned to Ohio where Bill took a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) [NACA would become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.] as a member of a crew to test new de-icing equipment for aircraft.

In 1947 live television shows became popular.  One of the shows in Cleveland that Bill and Smoky became part of was a children’s show Castles in the Air.

In 1953 with a growing family Bill accepted a job with a Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer as a photographer; he would later become a writer/photographer (now called a photojournalist) and was associated with the paper for 31 years.  [Bill received many international, national, and local awards for his work as a photojournalist.  In 1973 Bill was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.]

When Bill returned home from work on February 21, 1957, he found Smoky in her bed; she had died in her sleep.  Bill said he was inconsolable.  Margie suggested they bury the little dog near “Our Tree.” [In 1940 on a bike ride though the Cleveland Metroparks System young Bill and Margie had carved their initials in a gray beech tree.] The next day, with their children, Bill and Margie found the tree, and with Smoky’s body in a shoebox they buried her. Their seven year old daughter, Susan, cried, “Daddy, Daddy, how is Smoky going to breathe?”  Bill, taken aback, told Susan that Smoky doesn’t need to breath anymore, she is in dog heaven. 

Josephine Robertson, a writer at The Plain Dealer, wrote an obituary for Smoky and told her wartime story.  The Wynne’s received a call from a local Cleveland woman after she read the obituary. Grace Guderian Heidenreich was a US Army nurse in New Guinea in early 1944.  Her fiancé, later her husband, had bought a Yorkshire Terrier for her from a veterinarian in Brisbane, Australia.  The dog was a Christmas holiday gift, so Grace named her “Christmas.” [“Christmas” was one of the words that got Smoky excited and turning in circles.]  When Grace attended a Bob Hope USO show in New Guinea, little “Christmas” disappeared.  She had photos of the dog to show Bill.  As the stories merged, Bill concluded that his little dog, found in a foxhole, was indeed one in the same.  How many Yorkshire Terriers in WWII were lost in the jungles of New Guinea?

Margie Wynne passed away in 2004.  They had raised nine children together.

In 2003 Bill was informed that a monument to honor Smoky would be placed near the beech tree in the Rocky River Reservation Metropolitan Park in Cleveland where Smoky was buried in 1947.  Bill searched for Smoky’s grave for hours and finally found the then fallen beech tree with its initials which led to finding the grave. Smoky’s remains were placed in a WWII .30 calibre ammunition case.  The monument marks Smoky’s grave and was unveiled on Veterans Day, November 11, 2005.  

 

 

Bill said that Smoky taught him much more than he had taught her.

On April 19, 2021, Bill Wynne passed away at the age of 99.

 

Smoky is recognized as the first documented therapy dog.  Her work began in 1944 in New Guinea and continued through WWII.  After seeing the effect that Smoky had on people, Bill and Smoky continued their work after WWII.

This is a selected list of remembrances of Smoky over the years since WWII: 

— Ohio Veterinary Medicine Association “Animal Hall of Fame,” Columbus, Ohio, 1995.

— Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.  The successor to the WWII 26th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron was the 26th Air Space Intelligence Squadron which displayed Smoky’s memorabilia in 2003.

— The Imperial War Museum , London, England.  From November 2006 – May 2007 an “Animals of War Exhibit” displayed Smoky’s war blanket.

— Australian Defense Force Trackers and War Dogs Association awarded Smoky the “War Dog Operational Medal” in 2010.

— The World War II Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana, displayed a bronze statue of Smoky in a helmet in 2010 as part of an exhibit to “Animals of War.”

— The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals “Certificate of Bravery and Devotion,” England, 2011.

— Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, 2012.

— Australian War Dog Museum, Sydney, Australia, 2014.  Awarded the Australian “War Dog Medal.”  The award was backdated as the first combat medal to be awarded to a dog.

— Papua New Guinea, 2015.

— The Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “Purple Cross,” December 11, 2015.  The “Purple Cross” is a rare and high honor awarded to an animal war hero.  In 163 years, Smoky was only the tenth animal to receive this honor.

 

 

Dogs for Defense was a WWII program that many people may not be aware of at this point in time.  It was a military program started after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.  Pet owners were asked to donate their dogs to be used by the military for patrol and guard duties. For more information about this program see attached link Dogs for Defense.

For even more in-depth information and stories about Smoky, William A. Wynne’s book Yorkie Doodle Dandy (Or, The Other Woman Was A Real Dog) is a great book written by Smoky’s best friend.

Another wonderful book written in consultation with Bill Wynne is Smoky, the Dog That Saved My Life, The Bill Wynne Story by Nancy Roe Pimm.