Dogs have been a part of warfare since the beginning of history. What people usually envisage is a German Shepherd or some other trusty and above all sizeable canine companion – probably not a 4 pound (1.8 kg) female Yorkshire terrier! The terrier, Smoky, indeed proved that size is not everything and that even the smallest of creatures can be brave. Smoky was first found in an abandoned foxhole in February 1944, in a jungle in New Guinea. Soon afterward she was purchased by Corporal Bill Wynne, for two Australian dollars. Wynne became very attached to Smoky, allowing her to sleep in his tent and sharing his food with her. As she was not officially a “war dog” Smoky could not receive
How a tiny Yorkie became a World War II hero
Bill Wynne was in the Pacific during WWII for air reconnaissance when he met Smoky, a spunky terrier that would end up with its own dramatic war stories. Stationed on the New Guinea coast during World War II, Ed Downey tried to maneuver a Jeep out of a muddy field and was shocked to hear a dog’s whimper coming from a nearby foxhole. Wading through tall weeds on that March day in 1944, he sensed movement. “A pair of dark eyes, glinting in the dull light, gazed up at him, imploringly. They seemed disproportionately large for the sodden floor-mop of hair they seemed to inhabit,” writes Damien Lewis in the book, “Smoky The Brave: How a Feisty Yorkshire Terrier Mascot Became a
