Beyond the Call of Duty: Heart-warming stories of canine devotion and bravery. Isabel George

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СКАЧАТЬ had to find her a coat. A hobby shop did not seem the obvious choice for someone looking for a dog’s coat but, as it happened, a green wool and felt cover for a card table provided the ideal solution. It had a beaded edge and was large enough to be fashioned into a warm coat that could also be used to display Smoky’s growing collection of campaign badges. One of the Red Cross volunteers offered her services as Smoky’s seam-stress and in no time at all she had made the coat and added the decorations that Bill provided: the 5th Air Force patch, the dog’s corporal’s stripes, the US insignia, a small brass propeller button (sewn onto all enlisted men’s blousons), the 26th Recon emblem, two ‘six month overseas’ bars, the Asian Pacific Ribbon and perhaps most precious of all, the Good Conduct Ribbon. The coat was complete and Smoky couldn’t wait to snuggle into its deep warmth. Bill was delighted with the result and the love and dedication that had gone into making it so special for his little dog. All this and eggs and steak for breakfast. What more could a little dog ask?

      For this little dog, there was one thing she loved more than her new coat and that was an audience to entertain. Wherever Smoky went, the Red Cross nurses were quick to find Bill and ask if his dog could go along to visit the patients. Bill was always happy to oblige as he knew the magic of having the dog around to fuss and talk to and there would always be a few tricks to share with everyone. The 109th Fleet Naval hospital was the venue for their first show. The audience was made up of sailors and Marines who had been transferred to Australia because the climate was more conducive to healing their wounds. In the Tropics this was a long and unpredictable process that many did not survive. Looking at the men sitting in front of him, Bill recognized the misery of hospitalization etched on their faces. Surly nothing could break the cycle of fear and frustration these men were facing every day? Nothing, that is, until Smoky made her grand entrance. Once again just the presence of the little dog lit up the room and the faces of the people waiting to see her. Without any hesitation, Bill signalled to Smoky to ‘play dead’ and the show began. Everyone in all eight wards of the hospital enjoyed the show and every one of Smoky’s tricks but it was the chance to stroke and fuss her at the end that really gave the men a boost.

      She followed this performance with a visit to the US 42nd General Army Hospital in Brisbane where she put on a show in twelve of the wards. Some of the patients followed her from ward to ward so they could see the show and meet Smoky several times over. She was a smash hit in every hospital and always followed the show-biz rule of leaving her audience wanting more.

      As Bill’s recovery leave drew to an end, preparations were made to return him to his squadron. The 26th Photo Recon Squadron was destined for service on Biak Island and for Bill the fear was not of battle but whether Smoky would be allowed to go with him. There were rumours that the dreaded Scrub Typhus was causing devastation on the island but other dogs were there and so it had to be worth taking the chance with Smoky even if she had to be smuggled there. Biak Island was a coral battleground located just four degrees south of the Equator. The white coral landscape stretched for twenty-five miles and offered a bare and hostile environment to the US troops stationed there. The invading Japanese Army had inhabited the many caves that could be found all over the island but rumour had it that 5,000 of their soldiers were still holding ground all over Biak.

      When 26th Photo Recon arrived on Biak, the US infantry patrol based there for the clean-up operation put a call out for volunteers. A first sergeant stepped forward for the experience with the idea that he would see what was required of these volunteers before others put their names down. After three days, he returned with first-hand reports of face-to-face encounters with enemy soldiers. He confirmed to the commanding officer, Captain McCullough, that to volunteer for this clean-up mission meant being prepared for combat. The soldier had six notches on his M1 Garand service rifle to prove that he had encountered the enemy and despatched them accordingly in the intensity of jungle warfare. It was clear to the captain that anyone who followed from the 26th would, like any other infantryman, be facing the same horror and he decided there would be no more volunteers from his squadron as they were too vital to lose. Every air recon crew risked their lives on every flight but the images they captured of the enemy’s position saved many thousands of lives. There were no more volunteer requests and the photo lab was soon pressed to working twenty-four-hour shifts developing thousands of negatives and tens of thousands of prints for distribution to the Allied Forces on land, in the air and at sea. The dedication of Bill’s team was recognized with its first Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding coverage of the Philippine Islands from 18–20 September 1944. At that time there were sixty-five men in the lab turning out 650,000 prints which were delivered to the 6th Army, the Air Corps, the Navy and the Australian Forces. Through these images the war in the Pacific was co-ordinated and fought.

      The weather always controlled the activities of the recon squadrons. When the storms set in, the planes could be grounded for days even weeks leaving the men anxious and in need of something to distract them from reality. This is where Smoky came into her own. She loved to swim with Bill and it was the perfect way to cool down in temperatures reaching 54°C inside their tent. She was too small to dive into the ocean with everyone else but a four-foot-deep bomb crater proved to be the perfect paddling pool for little Smoky. She loved having her own private pool on the beach, not to mention all the attention she attracted from her admirers who loved to see her enjoy herself. But, the salt water was not kind to her coat which was, at long last, starting to grow out of the GI crop that she had when Bill first met her. She was now looking more like the Yorkie pictured in the National Geographic magazine except the ocean salt was setting hard on each strand making it course and matted. But this was nothing Bill couldn’t solve with a daily freshwater bath: half a helmet full for the bath and half for the rinse. Perfect.

      It was Smoky’s attitude to life in a war zone that was so important to the men. It didn’t seem to matter how hot it was and how fiercely the sun reflected off the white coral surroundings or how bad-tempered people became due to the white heat or the drowning rain or sheer fear of what could happen next, Smoky was always happy. It was as if she refused to let any of the harshness get her down. She was happy to find shelter under Bill’s cot or enjoy a cooling bath. If she had the energy she would chase birds or, if she felt like really making mischief, she could see if the monkey, Colonel Turbo, was up for a fight. Colonel Turbo was the mascot of 25th Photo Recon Squadron and he had a reputation for being a nasty piece of work. The pilot who had bought the rhesus monkey from a zoo in New Mexico when the men were on manoeuvres, had died when his plane crashed so the squadron decided to keep Turbo as their mascot in memory of the lost pilot. It was a lovely idea and an admirable act of respect but it was something they would grow to regret as Turbo settled into his destructive and aggressive ways. If he wasn’t running rampage in the tents stealing food and eating cigarettes he was most likely biting the hand that fed him. And almost every man in the squadron had the marks to prove it.

      When Smoky first met Turbo, the 26th Recon was warned that the monkey would mangle the dog – Turbo had a track record for doing that with dogs. Everyone watched with interest. Bill knew that Turbo was tethered on a length of rope so he set Smoky down where the monkey’s leash was at full stretch. After a moment or two of sniffing each other from a distance Turbo suddenly flew at Smoky sinking his teeth into her nose. Yelping with pain and shock Smoky turned from her aggressor and then suddenly turned back and flew at him scratching his nose. Nothing and no one had ever done that to him before and Turbo scampered up his favourite tree to lick his wounds. He sat there for a few moments just touching his nose and then checking his paw for blood before dashing back down to run at Smoky. Turning on him again, she sent the confused monkey back to his tree. He refused to come down. No dog had ever threatened him or hurt him as Smoky had done and it was the start of a love/hate relationship that was to last until Turbo carried out his final act of destruction. It was hoped that he would die of natural causes as he was something of a mascot hero in the Pacific and his squadron was always faithful to him.

      Smoky always thought it was good sport to chase and chastise Turbo, knowing he was on the end of a rope. But his temper grew worse and the tidal wave of destruction he created when he managed to free himself from the rope began to annoy more people. One day, a shot was fired close to the camp and after that Turbo disappeared. СКАЧАТЬ