Smoky, The Smallest War Hero

Tiny is mighty. Smoky, a tiny Yorkshire Terrier, was found in a foxhole in New Guinea in Feb 1944. The American thought she must have been a Japanese soldier’s dog, but when he took her to a POW camp, they realized she didn’t understand commands in Japanese. The soldier sold Smoky to Cpl. William Wynne of Cleveland OH for 2 dollars Australian (about $6.44); he needed the money to get back into a poker game. Smoky became the smallest war hero weighing in at 4 lbs. even and standing 7 inches tall.

Taking care of a dog during wartime and in a jungle environment like New Guinea was challenging. After adopting Smoky, Bill would give her daily baths in his helmet to keep her free of ticks and other insects. With no dog food to feed the dog, he discovered Smoky liked bacon, ham, eggs, and bully beef (canned hash).

Unlike the “official” war dogs of World War II, Smoky had access to neither veterinary medicine nor a balanced diet formulated especially for dogs. Despite this, Smoky was never ill. She even ran on coral for four months without developing any of the paw ailments that plagued some war dogs.

Over the next two years Wynne carried Smoky in his backpack, fought in the jungles of Rock Island and New Guinea, and flew 12 air/sea rescues. Smoky survived 150 air raids on New Guinea and made it through a typhoon at Okinawa. She made a combat jump in Lingayen Gulf, and survived the Luzon invasion in the Philippines. She would warn Gi’s of incoming artillery and was consequently dubbed the “angel from a foxhole”. Many soldiers came to believe that Smoky instinctively knew which shelter was best. They followed her to the hole that she chose.

“‘Yank Down Under’ magazine announced that it was holding a contest, and it urged G.I.’s to send in photos of their mascots. Wynne jumped at the opportunity, staging a photo of Smoky in his helmet. Then he and a few others created a parachute that would fit Smoky and dropped her from a tree, capturing the moment on film. Smoky won! She was dubbed “Yorkie Doodle Dandy” and “Champion Mascot of the Southwest Pacific.”

Combat engineers were setting up a telegraph line to an airfield in early efforts to retake the Philippines. The joints of the underground culvert collapsed, filling them in with sand. Cpl. Wynne knew that Smoky could climb through the 70-foot-long culvert with a new line and that is what she did (with a lot of coaxing).

“I tied a string (tied to the wire) to Smoky’s collar and ran to the other end of the culvert... (Smoky) made a few steps in and then ran back. `Come, Smoky,’ I said, and she started through again. When she was about 10 feet in, the string caught up and she looked over her shoulder as much as to say `what’s holding us up there?’ The string loosened from the snag and she came on again. By now the dust was rising from the shuffle of her paws as she crawled through the dirt and mold and I could no longer see her. I called and pleaded, not knowing for certain whether she was coming or not. At last, about 20 feet away, I saw two little amber eyes and heard a faint whimpering sound . . . at 15 feet away, she broke into a run. We were so happy at Smoky’s success that we patted and praised her for a full five minutes.”

Smoky’s work was able keep approximately 250 ground crewmen, 40 fighters and reconnaissance planes operational, instead of a construction detail digging up the taxiway and placing the men and the planes in danger from enemy bombings. What would have been a dangerous three-day digging task to place the wire was instead completed in minutes.

In her down time, Smoky preformed tricks with the Special Services to improve the moral of the troops. Smoky learned over 200 commands and hand signals. She visited hospitals in Australia and Korea. She became the first recorded “therapy dog” because of her visiting the sick and wounded.

After the war she became a sensation back in the states with a live TV show, and visiting the Veterans hospitals. Smoky’s work as a therapy dog continued for 12 years. On February 21, 1957, “Corporal” Smoky died unexpectedly at the approximate age of 14. Wynne buried her in a 30-caliber ammo box in the Cleveland Metroparks, Rocky River Reservation in Lakewood, Ohio.

“Smoky’s grave remained unmarked for nearly 50 years, until Vietnam veteran Jim Strand raised money for a monument. Bill Wynne still lived nearby with his family, and knew the spot. Dog sculptor Susan Bahary crafted a life-size bronze statue of a smiling Smoky sitting inside a GI helmet, an image taken from one of Wynne’s photographs. It’s anchored to a polished, two-ton blue granite pedestal that stands atop Smoky’s grave. The Smoky and Dogs of All Wars memorial was unveiled on Veterans Day, November 11, 2005.”

Smoky was awarded the PDSA Certificate for Animal Bravery or Devotion in April 2011. Smoky became one of the first war dogs to be awarded the Animals in War & Peace Distinguished Service Medal for her World War II service as a mascot, pal and the world’s first therapy dog in 2022. Smoky was featured in the Philippine Post’s “Dogs in Philippine History Special Stamps” in 2024.

Tiny, smart, adventurous, and tough; bringing smiles and joy to her audiences of injured, wounded, homesick, and war-weary troops.