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

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СКАЧАТЬ Biak, the clouds lifted giving them clearance to land.

      Safely back on solid ground, the men sat in the plane for a while just allowing their minds and bodies to calm. Bill unhooked the strap of the musette bag from the top bunk and put the bag over his shoulder. He felt along the bottom seam of the canvas and it was warm. He could just about feel the rise and fall of her tiny breaths; she was fine. He thanked the Good Lord and anyone else watching over them all. It was Smoky’s first experience in the air and she had survived alongside Bill.

      From that moment, they flew with many other crews and all of them welcomed Smoky as one of the team. It became routine that as Bill boarded the Catalina he would hang the canvas bag, with Smoky inside, on the edge of the upper bunk for the flight. On the longer flights, Bill would let her run around on the bunk for short periods just so she could stretch her legs and be reassured everything was fine. Sometimes the vibration and the loud hum of the engines was not a rhythmic comfort for her but just a loud noise that made her bark. But she was happy to be with Bill and sensing he was there made everything all right. Even when a flight turned out to be more hazardous than first thought, Bill would make sure Smoky was a happy passenger. He never took risks with his dog’s safety and, at the same time, would never have compromised the pilot or any other crew member during a mission. He need not have worried about upsetting anyone, everyone was glad to have her along for the ride. Those precious moments when she was allowed out to play were special for the entire crew. They provided a short, surreal interlude from reality. Smoky had the ability to make people smile when there was very little to smile about.

      One night, the Catalina with Bill and Smoky on board was due to take off at 3 a.m. to cover a bombing attack on Borneo. The bombers to follow at 5 a.m. and the fighters at 7 a.m. but bad weather halted the second and third wave leaving the ground. Consequently, the Catalina was heading for the target area alone. Not equipped for combat, the plane was now extremely vulnerable to enemy fire while still battling the weather. Bill had the aerial camera poised to take shots. It was almost impossible for the pilot to control the Catalina into a good position for Bill to take the shots he was looking for. The mantra for any recon squadron was to get in, get the shots and get out as quickly as possible but this flight was proving challenging on all fronts. The tension in the body of the plane was palpable. They sensed it was only a matter of time before enemy fighter planes would pick them up and then bring them down. Smoky was blissfully oblivious to the anxiety shared by the humans around her. It was later, when the situation was calm enough for Bill to bring her out of the bag, that everyone was able to feel the benefit of this little dog’s presence. That was one of the wonderful things about Smoky: just knowing she was there was a comfort and for many crews she became a good luck talisman at a time good fortune was at a premium.

      When preparing to board for another thirteen-hour mission, Smoky decided to turn her last ‘relief’ break into a dash across the runway. It was 3 a.m. and pitch black but she could see where she was headed. Bill ran about 500 feet before he caught up with her and gave her a piece of his mind. He wasn’t really angry with her for running free, he understood that she probably realized what lay ahead and it’s possible she made up her mind that she would rather just play in the grass. She was a dog, after all. Bill was not really angry with her. His anger came from the thought that she could have strayed under the wheels of a plane or an airfield Jeep and been killed. For the rest of the crew, Smokey’s reluctance to fly was interpreted as an omen. When Bill had Smoky held firmly under his arm, he climbed the ladder into the belly of the Catalina. The crew stared at him and his dog in silence. Was it a bad omen? Did she delay the take off for a reason? Maybe it was to protect them from something awaiting them up there? Maybe the delay was important and prevented them being caught up in a storm of the dreaded Black Rain? Whatever it was that caused Smoky to run that morning and however superstitious the crew felt, it showed one thing: Smoky was considered one of them and she was important to each and every crew she flew with.

      Smoky became something of a celebrity amongst the Catalina crews, particularly 3 ERS who flew with her those twelve times. Bill no longer had to keep her a secret from everyone but it was still essential that she was safe and secure during the flights when Bill had to concentrate on taking those crucial shots with the K-24 aerial camera. She spent most flights wrapped in a wool blanket to keep out the cold at high altitudes. It may not have always been the most comfortable environment for a dog but it was where she was closest to Bill and that was most important. This was a true partnership. Whether in the belly of a Catalina, at the foot of the US GI’s cot or trudging through the New Guinea jungle, man and dog were together. Smoky flew because Bill flew and so everyone around them had the benefit of the dog’s calming company.

      Bill always used his non-flying time to teach Smoky some new tricks and he decided that he could teach her to ride a scooter. So, with just a few clever moves with his Bowie knife, Bill constructed a foot-long scooter out of a wooden orange crate. Pulleys and roller bearings salvaged from the engineers doubled as wheels. It was a runaway success. Someone found pots of red and white paint from somewhere and painted the scooter red with white wheels and the name Smoky along the footplate. The scooter and Smoky made their debut before a small but appreciative crowd of GIs on Biak Island. This sublime scene was to be recalled in sharp contrast against the turn the war was about to take for Smoky and for Bill.

      The gravel-throated hum of the Catalina’s engines echoed in Bill’s head. It was a sound that had become so much a part of him that even a moment of silence was deafening. One mid-October afternoon, as the crew were heading back to Biak, Bill was trying to think of something other than the engine noise when he caught sight of a massive fleet of warships. Through the shifting cloud he could see the convoy heading in the opposite direction. Immediately, the pilot dipped the Catalina’s wings to show that it was friendly and just in time too as two Navy Corsairs swooped in to challenge them. Bill could make out battleships, cruisers, carriers and destroyers. The vast movement of naval hardware just kept moving and from the air it seemed the translucent blue of the Pacific was being swallowed-up by a dense pall of gunmetal grey. It took thirty minutes for the Catalina to pass over the naval convoy from beginning to end. Bill later discovered that the ships were heading for Leyte Gulf where they would engage in what was acknowledged by many as the largest naval battle in history.

      The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place between 23 and 26 October 1944 and comprised four distinct engagements all fought off the island. It featured the largest battleships ever built – the Japanese Yamato and Musashi – who actually engaged each other in the battle. It was also the first time the Allies had encountered Japanese kamikaze aircraft. The pilots were young and zealous and ready to experience honour in death. The Battle of Leyte Gulf had been a long time coming. Since the Japanese sent their carrier-based aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States of America and the entire Allied Force knew the Emperor had a plan of action. In fact, he had two: one for the east and one for the south. For the east, Pearl Harbor would be followed by the taking of the Philippines and then Guam and Wake to stifle the American communication system. In the south, he would attack Malaya and Hong Kong and then launch a systematic bombardment of the Bismark Archipelago, Java and Sumatra. This would then leave New Zealand and Australia totally isolated. For some months, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines looked impossible to stop. On 8 May 1942, the 80,000 soldiers of the US and Philippine Army were ordered to surrender the islands.

      It had not helped that the US had divided their control over military activities in the Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur had been appointed Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific. Meanwhile, the US Navy was under Admiral Chester Nimitz, giving him control of the rest of the Pacific Ocean. Two great men with one immensely hard job to do. The surrender highlighted the need for the Allies to pull together. By the time Bill Wynne received his call papers in Ohio, the tide had turned for the Japanese.

      The skill of the code-breakers was critical if the US Forces were to be one step ahead of the enemy. Discovering an imminent attack on Port Moresby in New Guinea, in May 1942 Admiral Nimitz rushed the aircraft carrier USS Lexington to join the USS Yorktown and the American–Australian Task Force with orders to confront the Japanese attack. Port Moresby СКАЧАТЬ