The Smallest Dog in the World with the Biggest Heart

The story of Smoky the Brave is an extraordinary, touching, and true account of a heroic dog and her adopted owners in the jungles of the Pacific War. In February 1944, as Japanese military assaults threatened to seize Australia and Oceania, a tiny Yorkshire terrier was found hidden in a Japanese position in the dense rainforest of Papua New Guinea. The GIs who discovered her assumed she was some sort of military mascot, but it soon became clear that she did not understand any commands, whether in Japanese or English. She was adopted by Sergeant William 'Bill' Wynne, a member of the 26th Photo Recon Squadron of the 5th Air Force of the USA.

Smoky lived in Bill Wynne's tent, slept on a piece of green fabric salvaged from a table, and shared his supplies. She became the de facto mascot of the squadron and participated in many photo reconnaissance and air-sea rescue missions, hidden in a soldier's pack next to machine guns. She was awarded eight battle stars, surviving dozens of Japanese troop attacks in Papua New Guinea, and also faced a typhoon that ravaged Okinawa. After Wynne's salvation from a shot, she shrank her soul, earning the title 'angel from the trench'.

In her most famous exploit, Smoky parachuted using a special dive designed for one of the smallest yet most resilient dogs in the world. In her most heroic act, she threaded a wire through a seventy-foot pipe, which was as narrow as four inches in some areas, facilitating the installation of telephone lines at the newly occupied air base in Luzon. Her efforts prevented hundreds of ground personnel from being exposed to enemy bombings, saving many lives. Among many other awards, she was awarded the PDSA Certificate for Bravery or Dedication in 2011, a relatively new category of PDSA award.

Pages: 320, Year of Publication: 0709, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm