single tick bite.3
The wildlife wasn’t the only danger they faced. Red alerts occurred several times a day, warning the soldiers of impending attacks. The soldiers dug holes, called foxholes, close to their tents to take cover during these alerts. In the evenings, searchlights swept the sky in search of enemy planes intent on bombing the nearby airstrips.
One day, Bill entered a darkened tent and bumped into a small dog. Bill recalled their first meeting in his memoir, Yorkie Doodle Dandy. He wrote, “She was an unbelievable mite of a thing, spinning like a whirling dervish, jumping and bumping my legs.”4
The base mechanic, Sergeant Dare, came into the tent and explained that the little dog tied to the tire had been found by Bill’s tentmate, Ed Downey. Downey’s vehicle had broken down alongside a primitive road. While he worked under the hood of his Jeep, he heard a strange yapping sound coming from the jungle. When his curiosity got the best of him, he tracked down the source of the noise: a pup frantically scratching the dirt in a foxhole about four feet deep. Downey scooped up the dog, tossed it in the back of his Jeep, and returned to the job of getting his vehicle to run. When he returned to base, he gave the dog to Dare.
A Jeep passes under the base camp sign of the 26th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron in Nadzab, New Guinea.
US Army Air Force 26th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron. Photo by John Aiken
Smoky gets a haircut. The stray Yorkie was found in an abandoned foxhole in Nadzab, New Guinea, March 1944.
© Smoky War Dog LLC. Photo by William A. Wynne
Bill looked down at the stray dog; she tugged at his heartstrings. He offered to buy the dog from Dare for two pounds Australian money.
“Make it three and she’s yours,” Dare answered.5
Bill took a closer look at the malnourished little pooch. He wondered if she could survive such a harsh place as the war zone. Enemy fire from the air or land threatened at any time. What would she eat? How could he fight a war with this little dog in tow? Should he let his guard down and bond with an animal only to watch it die? With more questions than answers, Bill turned and walked away.
That evening, Bill couldn’t sleep. He thought only of the dog. The sparkle in her eyes and the bounce in her steps kept running through his mind. But the odds of such a tiny thing surviving this brutal war seemed slim to none. He said a prayer for the dog and drifted off to sleep.
The following day, Wynne developed picture after picture in the darkroom of the photo trailer. Bare-chested, clad only in shorts and sandals, he sweltered in the tropical heat.
Dare knocked at the door, then let himself in. “Hey, Wynne, do you want to buy the dog for two pounds? I want to get back in a poker game tonight.”6
Without a second thought, Bill quickly handed over two Australian pounds, the equivalent to $6.44 in the United States. Now he could hardly wait until his shift ended. He thought of nothing but his new dog and wondered if she were some type of poodle. At the end of his work day, Bill rushed to the tent to find the dog still tied to the tire. She pulled on the leash and spun in circles, wagging her tail wildly. Bill grinned, relieved to see that she seemed healthier and happier than he remembered. He decided to call her Smoky. He untied the leash, and brought the dog back to the tent he shared with Downey.
Downey, lying on his cot, looked up and yelled, “I don’t want a mutt in my tent!”
Bill stated calmly, “She’s staying.”7
An icy silence filled the tent that night. Bill tossed and turned, always mindful of the dog on his cot. Where did she come from? How did she end up in a foxhole in a war zone? Was this breed native to New Guinea, or could she have come over with the Japanese?
Bill soon gave up on his obsession to discover where she came from and worried more about what to feed her. The dog’s ribs poked out from beneath her silky fur. The soldiers had lived on coffee, dehydrated potatoes, powdered milk, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, mutton, citric acid, canned fruit, and bully beef, a type of canned hash. The amount of salt used to preserve the food in the tropics made most of it nearly inedible. After lots of experimenting, Bill learned Smoky preferred to share Bill’s eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, and bully beef.
The soldiers had orders to wash and shave every day. Bill used his helmet as a sink, and after his morning routine, he plopped Smoky in the helmet for her daily bath to keep her free from ticks.
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