Smoky's War...
Smoky, a female Yorkshire terrier, was found in February 1944 by an American soldier in an abandoned foxhole in the New Guinea jungle. Her origins were unknown and she did not understand commands in Japanese or English. The soldier sold Smoky to Corporal William Wynne of Cleveland, Ohio, for two Australian pounds, the amount the soldier needed to return to his poker game.
Smoky accompanied Wynne through the rest of the war, often dangling from his backpack. She went on combat flights in the Pacific, lived in tents, faced equatorial heat and humidity, and shared Wynne's C-rations.
Smoky flew 12 air/sea rescue and photo reconnaissance missions, and 12 combat missions. She survived 150 air raids on New Guinea and made it through a typhoon at Okinawa. She was awarded 8 battle stars. She even parachuted from 30 feet out of a tree, using a parachute made just for her.
Wynne credited Smoky with saving his life by warning him of incoming shells on a transport ship. Smoky guided him to duck the fire that hit 8 men standing next to them.
In the Luzon campaign, the Signal Corps needed to run a telegraph wire through a 70-foot-long pipe that was 8 inches in diameter. Soil filled much of the pipe, giving Smoky only 4 inches of headway in some places. Her success getting through the pipe avoided construction that would have moved 250 ground crewman and 40 planes, putting the crew in danger of enemy bombings. A dangerous three-day digging task was completed by Smoky in 5 minutes.
At the end of World War II, Wynne brought Smoky back to Cleveland. The two were featured in a page-one story in the Cleveland Press on 7th Dec 1945 and Smoky became a national sensation. Over the next 10 years, the two traveled to Hollywood and all over the world to perform demonstrations of Smoky's remarkable skills.