War Tails: American Dogs at War

Insignia of USMC Dog Handlers. Red dog’s head on yellow disc, on red field with white stars; “FMF-PAC” white lettering on red field; white eagle’s head with red outlining and wings; all on yellow background with red edging.

by Salvatore J. Stazzone

Late in 1943, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, journeyed to the Italian front to meet a most unusual GI. This soldier’s exploits in French Morocco and Sicily had earned him the Silver Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross, promotion to Private First Class and recognition as a national war hero. Yet, this crafty veteran of Fedala, Blue Beach and several other fierce military encounters stood a mere twenty inches high, weighed about seventy pounds and was only four years old. Remarkably, Eisenhower had traveled to one of the world’s most dangerous battle zones to personally congratulate and pet Pfc. Chips, a powerfully-built mongrel war dog of the United States K-9 Corps.

During World War II, tens of thousands of dogs aided the war effort in a potpourri of fields. Dogs patrolled our coastal beaches and boundaries; guarded government buildings, reservoirs, production plants, airfields, and shipyards; searched for anti-­personnel and anti-tank mines; carried messages, mail, ammunition, medical supplies and communications equipment; sniffed out smoke­less powder and dynamite; and served in front line and forward patrol units in every war theater.

These ‘devil dogs,’ ‘Wags,’ and ‘K-9s’ found niches within each of this nation’s military branches, with each service aiming to induct whelps with those particular traits and physiques best suited to enhance the human elements within those branches.

The Navy sought out those breeds best suited to the unique needs of Marine Corps invaders frantically dashing into enemy-infested jungle terrain within seconds. The Coast Guard grabbed medium-sized dowsers with penchants for sand and salt water to patrol our coastline from Long Island Sound to Tacoma, Washington. The Army, well, the Army just took and took and took. By December 1945, Army records revealed that Airedales, Belgian Shepherds, Friads, Chesapeake Bay Dogs, Collies, Dalmatians, Doberman Pinschers, Huskies, Labrador Retrievers, Malamutes, French Poodles, Pointers, Newfoundlands, Setters, Great Danes, Great Pyrenees, and St. Bernards had all been a part of the U.S. Army K-9 Corps.

Actually, the U.S. was the last of the major powers to mobilize its dog population. Germany had over 200,000 police and military dogs available by 1939. By the beginning of World War II, Hitler’s war machine was so overstocked with canines that over 20,000 dogs were sent to Japan, in 1940, as a gift. Many of these same animals were used by the Japanese in the invasion and conquest of British-held Hong Kong and Malaysia. The Soviet Union produced over 100,000 so-called ‘demolition dogs’ capable of carrying dynamite into the paths of onrushing enemy tanks. When the Germans unexpectedly overwhelmed Soviet positions around Pavlograd, the Soviets lost a huge kennel complex and over 25,000 of their unique dogs. Even lesser powers such as Finland and Canada had formidable dog armies adept at patrol, messenger and rescue work, and peaceful Switzerland employed hundreds of dog sentries in its efforts to maintain an efficient and internationally-respected neutrality.

But there had never been a canine tradition within any of our service branches and no provisions for the procurement and training of dogs by our armed forces existed as late as eight months after Pearl Harbor. It was not until 17 August 1942 that a belated, almost desperate canine mobilization was announced by the U.S. War Department. Within weeks several massive advanced training centers went into action under the supervision of the Department of Remount Services (Quartermaster Corps). From Front Royal, Virginia to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, over a thousand dog-training specialists began graduating the first elements of the K-9 Corps. By January 1943, 5,000 dogs a month were heading overseas. But the war dog program did have critics and they began to make them­selves heard as the first war dog platoons entered North Africa.

The U.S. Army had taken its lumps from Rommel’s Afrika Korps, in the vast desert expanse of Tunisia, in March 1943. The tank disaster of Sidi bou Zid was the talk of the Congress and the shame of the nation. In this atmosphere of crisis and concern, many questioned the value of dogs in a battle zone dominated by armor-plated panzers, Stukas and lightning desert tactics.

While the critics sounded off, the nation’s war dog supporters saw to it that a constant stream of dogs and dollars reached the Quartermaster Corps, and its supporting agencies. The premier dog procurement organization of the civilian sector, Dogs for Defense (DFD), functioned as such a capable adjunct to the Quarter­master Corps that not one cent of government funds was ever spent for the processing of dog camp candidates.

American dog owners volunteered their pets in such numbers that huge waiting lists were posted at all dog training centers. Professional dogdom staged a nationwide series of dog show benefits for the war dog program. The ultimate fund-raiser occurred in February 1943, when the 67^th Westminster Kennel Club show at Madison Square Garden, New York, donated its entire purse to the cause of war dog procurement. Nornay Saddler, a black-and-white fox terrier with over fifty-six best-of-show titles and some twenty champion offspring to his credit, made the headlines when his owner donated all of Nornay’s earnings from dog show purses, stud fees and dog food testimonials, over $10,000, to war charities.

With the creation of the Civilian Canine Corps early in 1943, even 4-F dogs had an opportunity to aid the war effort. With millions of disappointed, public-spirited and jealous owners of 4-F pooches searching for alternative methods of participation in the war dog program, the CCC offered 4-F dogs honorary military rank in return for modest financial contributions. A dollar donated to the CCC gave the contributor’s dog the rating of Private. A $100 donation obtained the rank of General and if the contributor was an ‘old salt,’ the equivalent rank of Admiral was bestowed. The initial response to the Civilian Canine Corps was phenomenal with over ninety percent of the dog owners approached enlisting their pets in the honorary organization.

So much depended upon the actions, sacrifices and morale of the American dog owner, that in April 1943 Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau offered a public apology to the country for allowing a war bond drive advertisement to feature the caricature of a Hitler-faced Dachshund. The war dog lobby was demonstrating its muscle.

In the months that followed the Morgenthau incident, the topography of the war theaters began to change. In the Mediterranean, Americans were sweeping across the heavily wooded Sicilian country­side; in the Pacific, Marines were hitting small island beaches which led to thick jungle terrain. The dogs of war were about to make a name for themselves.

First reports were sketchy and only a few paragraphs in length. As early as January 1943, short press releases were relating nondescript and incomplete stories of Hawaiian-trained dogs dis­rupting Japanese sniper activity in the Solomon islands.

By the summer of 1943, more and more newspaper reports were telling of the achievements of Army war dogs and this time the dispatches were coming from Europe. In Sicily, dogs were taking part in amphibious landings, escorting front-line troops into combat and serving with forward patrol units.

In November 1943, Marine dogs finally broke into the combat picture. At Bougainville in the South Pacific, an entire dog platoon, twenty-four dogs and fifty-five enlisted men, stormed ashore in the first wave. One member of that historic platoon, a Shepherd named Caesar, was credited with delivering vital messages to Marine units which had been cut off by Japanese troops during critical moments of the battle. Caesar performed this hazardous service over nine times, although wounded by mortar fire. Photos of Caesar being carried to the rear on a stretcher by two Marine buddies turned him into a celebrity and did much to convince people at home that dogs could be trusted under the worst of combat conditions.

As 1944 began, the dog was a wartime reality and when the K-9 Corps announced the acceptance of a musical composition written by the Dog Editor of the New York Sun as its official marching song, it came as no surprise that the lyrics spoke of dogs in battle:

From the kennels of our country,

From the Homes and firesides too,

We have joined the canine army,

Our nation’s work to do.

*

We serve with men in battle,

And scout thru jungles dense;

We are proud to be enlisted

In the cause of The Dogs for Defense.

Throughout the war, field commanders entered episodes of canine heroism into official military logs. Dogs were cited for bravery in hundreds of War Department reports and at least twenty-five dogs received formal documents attesting to their extraordinary feats of individual bravery.

The commanding American officer at Cape Gloucester reported to his superiors, “… there was not a single instance when a patrol led by a war dog failed to accomplish a mission, nor was there an instance when a patrol led by a war dog was fired upon first or suffered casualties.”

The war dog had found his niche. As a scout attached to front-line or forward patrol troops, he was a mechanism which prevented ambush, surprise and disaster. His keen sense of smell and acutely sensitive ears detected unusual odors and distant sounds. Patrols that used dogs covered more ground and suffered fewer casualties than dogless counterparts. This exceedingly dangerous job turned many dogs into fatality statistics.

Wolf, attached to the 27^th Infantry Division, in the Pacific, was one such statistic. Alerting his squad to the presence of an overwhelming enemy force, his detachment had enough time to set up a perimeter. Although critically wounded by exploding shells, Wolf led his squad safely around and away from the enemy. Wolf died that same day despite immediate surgery and devote prayer and the hero’s owners back home received the following message from the War Department:

It is with deep regret that I write to you of the death of Wolf, donated by you for use in connection with the Armed Forces of the United States. It is hoped that the knowledge that this brave dog was killed in the service of our country will mitigate the regret occasioned by the news of his death.

Such telegrams were a daily burden to all too many dog lovers throughout the war years.

The war dog program had its lighter moments as well. One dog in Tunisia dropped nine puppies during an air raid and was promptly shipped home by an embarrassed division commander. At the famous Sicilian encounter between Gen. Eisenhower and Pfc. Chips, any doubts about the dog’s courage were permanently dispelled when Chips ended the meeting by biting Eisenhower’s hand. Andy, a Marine Doberman, was a real ‘chow hound.’ He would stand on the mess line with the rest of his squad, patiently holding a combat helmet between his teeth. When his turn came, the messmen would drop Andy’s rations into his helmet and the Doberman would quietly walk over to the nearest foxhole and eat his meal just like any other GI. Sinbad, a Coast Guard dog that served in the North Atlantic for the duration, had unique appetites even for a war dog. He was acknowledged to have run up bar tabs in several ports-of-call and was officially banned from taking shore leave whenever in Greenland because of his reputation as a nasty sheep-chaser.

As the war rolled to a conclusion in 1945, dog owners who had volunteered their animals for war duty wondered if their former pets could ever again adjust to civilian life. It was a question for which there was no immediate answer.

War dogs had received six rugged weeks of basic training. They had been gassed, shot at, cursed, clubbed, threatened by strangers, walked through fire, smoke and chemical irritants, taught to be suspicious of anyone not wearing a U.S. military uniform and trained to attack on command. Additionally, many dogs had seen over two years combat. Fearing that dog veterans could never return to the domestic existence they had once known, hundreds of returning war dogs were never claimed by their former owners.

Uncle Sam did not abandon these vets. The War Department began a nationwide publicity campaign highlighting the strict depro­gramming techniques used to prepare soon to be discharged dogs for civilian life. Again they received obedience training. They had their service records checked for ‘idiosyncrasies.’ They were allowed play periods with street dogs and placed near civilians under carefully monitored conditions. Confusion tests were arranged and several days of exploding firecrackers, screaming strangers and discharging pistols were used to gauge temperaments. Finally, trainers placed their hands and arms into the animals’ mouths as the ultimate temptation. It took stable dogs to meet such strict discharge requirements. Tens of thousands of war dogs readjusted. Abandoned dogs were placed with new owners after a careful screening. Some dogs did turn neurotic, the number being kept secret. But one discharge worker summed it all up when he offered: “Dogs are the same as people. Those who came in mean left mean.”

On 11 December 1945, Chips, the hero of the invasion of Sicily, returned to his master’s home in Pleasantville, New York, accompanied on his train trip home by an entourage of reporters and photographers. Chips recognized his former masters quickly and it was reliably reported that the frisky mongrel started his domestic career with a quiet nap. Chips lived out his days with the Wren family, a five member household, without incident and quickly faded from prominence.

Early in 1946, major military personnel announced the beginning of a ‘career dogs’ program within the service branches. No better proof than that was needed; the dog had ‘made good’ in the military.

 

General Eisenhower’s meeting with “Chips,” the hero war dog of Fedala and Blue Beach, Sicily, in Italy on 22 October 1943. This canine hero was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received for attacking and silencing a German machine gun nest. “Chips” was promoted to Pfc. He is being held by his combat trainer, Pvt. Louis Kearns.

“Caesar,” a German shepherd dog, is carried back from the front lines in a litter by two Marines after he was wounded in action on Bougainville.

 

Dressings cover wounds on the flank and side of Caesar as he rests after treatment. The dog was one of three used by the Marines to hunt out Japanese in the jungle and was the first reported wounded.