fifteen-day furlough to spend some time with his sick mother before leaving for the war. So Bill returned to Cleveland and cared for her. He also spent time with Margie. When Bill’s new orders came, he was told to return to North Carolina to join troops headed for the South Pacific. Before he headed south, he scrounged together enough money to purchase a seven-stone engagement ring.
Bill poses in a field soon after he proposed to Margie.
© Smoky War Dog LLC
The next day, Bill kept feeling for the ring in his pocket as he and Margie rode their bikes to “their tree” in Rocky River Metro Park. Sitting in an open field, Bill proposed. Then he held his betrothed in his arms for the rest of the afternoon under the tree where he had carved both their initials on their first bike ride, three years earlier.
Margie and Bill are photographed moments before he boards a troop train headed for North Carolina.
© Smoky War Dog LLC
Bill and other draftees wait for the troop train. While the others appear solemn, Bill (front row, center) gives two thumbs up.
The Cleveland Press
Bill returned to Goldsboro, North Carolina, to finish his training and await deployment. After arriving in boot camp, Bill wrote to Margie and told her he would be taking a troop train to San Francisco at the end of October. Once they reached California, the soldiers would board a ship bound for Australia. Margie shared the news with Bill’s mom, and the two women hopped on a train for North Carolina to say good-bye to their favorite soldier. Grandma Caffrey faithfully said eleven rosaries each day. She had promised to dedicate one daily rosary to Bill until he returned safely from the war.
On October 30, 1943, four hundred soldiers marched in unison from the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and headed for the train station. With tear-filled eyes, Bill’s mom and his sweetheart, Margie, waved good-bye from the curb. As the soldiers passed, Bill turned their way and yelled, “Bye, Mom.”8 At the sight of the two most important women in his world, Bill’s throat tightened; he could no longer speak. Bill turned away. He couldn’t bear to look at Margie for another second. As he turned, he noticed the tear-streaked faces of the soldiers all around him.
DID YOU KNOW?
In a program called “Dogs for Defense,” the United States government recruited dogs for World War II. Many families enlisted their pet as a form of patriotism. The program accepted male and female dogs, from ages one to five years, and weighing a minimum of fifty pounds. The dogs needed to pass a physical examination along with a test to prove they were not gun-shy. Dogs for Defense accepted a wide range of breeds such as boxers, Dalmatians, and collies, along with German shepherds and Doberman pinschers. Dog owners sent letters and treats to the war zone to stay connected with their beloved pets.
4
OFF TO WAR
Our bond with dogs is strengthened by contact, by greetings, and by the timing that lets us do things together. And that bond strengthens us as well.
—Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know1
THE TROOPS boarded the Liberty ship, and the huge vessel passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and left San Francisco’s harbor. Called “ugly ducklings” by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Liberty ships were the workhorses of World War II, designed to carry large amounts of supplies and soldiers to the war zones. Due to high demand, entire ships were built in as little as four days.
Once the ship was out in the open waters, it zigzagged back and forth in order to avoid torpedo fire from Japanese submarines. Bill’s stomach churned from rocking in the ocean swells. He stumbled into his bunk and slept most of the time, not even getting up to eat. He lay, thinking of Margie and writing her letters. Seventeen days later, the ship finally docked in Brisbane, Australia. Bill and the rest of the troops set up a temporary base camp, also called a casual camp.
While the soldiers awaited their orders, the boredom suffocated them nearly as much as the humidity of the subtropical climate. On the second day ashore, a few of the soldiers invited Bill to join them at a nearby swimming hole. The men took turns swinging from a rope attached to a tree. They dropped into the cool water below, hooting and hollering.
Liberty ships carried US troops and supplies to the war zones of WWII. Bill and his fellow troops traveled to Australia in 1943 on a ship similar to this one.
US Government
After a good swim, they headed back to the base. The sky darkened and rain fell. Seeking shelter from the storm, the soldiers ducked into a shower facility at the base camp. The men talked and joked as the wind howled. Then, in an instant, Bill found himself on the ground with his hands between his knees. When he looked up, his mouth dropped. A large tree, about two feet in diameter, had burst through the building, pinning the others beneath it. Bill ran his hand across his face to check for blood, but there was none. How am I the only one not hit by the tree? 2 The men moaned. Bill stood up and tried to free his buddies, but the heavy tree was immovable. Soon, more soldiers flocked to the scene to help the trapped men. All four men who had been pinned under the tree needed hospitalization. One had suffered a head injury; another was paralyzed from the waist down and would never walk again. Bill couldn’t believe the fate of his fellow soldiers. They hadn’t even made it to the war zone. Their war ended right there. Bill suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): years later, just the sight of a tree caused him to shudder inside.
Jungle landscape in New Guinea
US Army Air Force 26th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron. Photo by John Aiken
On December 21, 1943, Bill Wynne and hundreds of other soldiers set out in an ironclad wooden boat named the SS Contessa and motored along the Great Barrier Reef headed for New Guinea, a small island off the coast of Australia. The banana boat had been used to transport produce from one island to another; at the time it reeked of onions. They sailed past thousands of miles of coral reef, which served as a natural barrier for protection against submarine torpedoes.
One week later, the soldiers reached the 5th Fighter Command of the 5th Air Force in Port Moresby. The commanding officers interviewed Bill to determine his skills. As a private first class, he would earn sixty-four dollars a month, with thirty-seven dollars of that amount to be sent back home. Eventually, he was sent to a base camp in Nadzab, New Guinea, where Bill met his tent mate, Ed Downey, a tall, confident athlete from Norristown, Pennsylvania. They shared a pyramid-shaped tent with a hill on one side and a jungle of tall trees and kunai grass on the other. The waist-high grass, full of barbs, scratched or snagged anyone who tried to pass. The soldiers had been warned that creatures of all sorts walked, crawled, hopped, or flew through the jungles. Pythons, some as long
