A tiny Yorkshire Terrier named Smoky may not have looked tough, but the dog was a seasoned war veteran by the end of World War II. Not only that, her owner credited her with saving his life and she became the first ever registered therapy dog after the war.
Smoky was first discovered in an abandoned foxhole in the New Guinea jungle by an American soldier in February 1944. The soldiers originally thought she belonged to a Japanese soldier, but she did not understand commands in either English or Japanese, leaving her origins unknown.
It was while back at camp that Corporal William (Bill) A. Wynne of Cleveland, Ohio, bought Smoky for around $6.00 so that the other soldier could continue to play poker.
It turned out to be a fortuitous purchase – one that Wynne credits with saving his life.
One time, she lead Wynne to safety when they were being bombarded by shellfire from a transport ship. The explosions hit the men around them, but Wynne survived uninjured thanks to Smoky’s warnings.
For two years, Smoky endured the extreme conditions of the jungle and combat, sleeping with Wynne in his tent and sharing his rations. She became a member of the 5th Air Force and was credited with twelve combat missions and awarded eight battle stars fore her bravery and life-saving work.
She learned numerous tricks that kept the soldiers entertained. Her intelligence and stamina served her well when she had to run telegraph wire through pipes for the ground crewmen building an airbase. She had to crawl through soil-filled, narrow pipes.
According to Wikipedia, the work was dangerous as Wynne told NBC-TV:
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