What appeared to be a grass hut loomed up ahead of the advancing man and dog. It was a camouflaged pillbox. Rowell watched flame spurt from its wall as its hidden machine gun swept the beach he had left. Then as the handler later reported, "things happened pretty fast."
The leash jerked from his hand. There was a swirl of sand and a streak of brown hide. In seconds, Chips was inside the pillbox. An appalling noise -- wild shrieks and murderous growls -- cut through the racket of battle. An enemy machine gunner staggered out, a snarling, slashing fury at his throat. The three remaining members of the crew followed, hands up in surrender. Rowell called Chips off before the raging dog could kill his adversary.
History of Dogs for Defense, Fairfax Downey, 1955
My Chessie could do that too, but only if the Japanese soldiers had left their lunch lying unattended. (Hey, he likes tofu.)
ReplyDeleteI believe Chips was eating Italian that day.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting this piece, Heather! Dogs and horses have been war veterans, too (and still are on occasion), but too few people remember it.
ReplyDeleteAh, I thought that the photo suggested the Pacific Theater.
ReplyDeleteEast Coast - Coast Guard Patrol - looking for NAZI spies. They caught a number of infiltraters and notified the FBI of a number of others -
ReplyDeleteDad