Jim: Saves a British Town from Devastation

Jim, an Airedale, made history as a WWI Coastguard dog who saved Ramsgate, a coastal town in England, from widespread damage.

Jim on patrol on the cliffs near Ramsgate.

Jim belonged to a member of the Epple Bay Coastguard station and was trained to alert to the sound of Zeppelins. On May 16, 1915, Jim's loud barks raised the alarm of an approaching Zeppelin carrying a payload of bombs. Because of his early warnings, nine biplanes from the Royal Naval Air Service were able to chase the Zeppelin away.

According to Archivist Jennie Burgess of the Birchington Heritage Trust charity, "We are very proud of Jim in our community and he really does deserve to be recognized at last. His story has been largely lost over the years but we hope to change that... There is no record of Jim getting any honor for his actions but many feel it is time to remember what a great job he did with a posthumous award." This statement was made a few years ago, and I am unable to find if this has yet happened.

Prince: Faithful WWI Dog

Prince became famous after traveling many miles to be with his beloved master at the frontlines of France during the First World War.

In September 1914, Private James Brown joined the war, leaving behind his wife and his dog Prince (a half Irish terrier half collie mix.) That following November, Prince disappeared. Brown's wife searched for the missing dog, but when he was nowhere to be found, she wrote a letter to her husband about the unfortunate news.

Shortly after receiving his wife's letter, about 4-5 days after the dog's disappearance, Prince was once again by his master's side. According to a soldier's letter in a museum magazine, "Here the unexpected happened for on that day Prince's old master, also passing through and seeing a dog which looked very much like his own, called to him and was quickly assured that it was none other than the old friend of the Battalion." Prince managed to make his way from Hammersmith, London to the trenches in northern France.

Prince became the mascot to Brown's regiment, as well as a ratter, and continued to stay after Brown returned home. At the end of the war, the RSPCA reunited the dog with his master. Prince passed away a couple of years later in 1921.

Prince's story is recorded in a 1917 poem A Soldier's Dog written by Captain Newell, who sadly died during an airstrike in 1918:

And did you think you had left me Master,
Was it a kindly thing to do?
You tied me up in the yard for safety,
But did you think I was leaving you?
I s'pose when a man leaves a dog behind him,
He sort o' thinks that the brute won't mind,
But let me tell you that's not dog nature,
Which is altogether a different kind.

You might'nt know that I loved you Master,
The news may come as a small surprise,
But it was fact, and you could have seen it
When you looked deep down in my eyes.
For you were good, you were kind, you fed me,
Did'nt get riled at a doggies whim,
Nor lift your foot as I've heard some men do,
So I told myself, I'll stick to him.

I saw you don your uniform Master,
Soon to be off on the march again,
I thought it prime to be going with you,
But you stooped and put me on the chain.
I strove to tell you I was heart broken.
I talked, I'm sorry to say I growled,
I pleaded as plain as if words were spoken,
But off you went and I stayed - and howled.

The very next day they released me Master,
And away I bolted like a shot.
You I wanted - the missus might miss me
Little I cared if she did or not.
Off I ran till I met some soldiers
Marching along to take the train,
I fell in line, for if I kept with them
I felt dead sure to meet you again.

A funny old tyke they called me Master,
But I was as nice as I could be.
I wagged my tail to them most politely
And so they smuggled me o'er the sea.
It made me ill, I was rather frightened
On the water and out in the fog,
But I kept pretending I was happy
Bucking up like a soldier's dog.

I did'nt feel safe on landing Master,
Though deuced glad to smell earth once more.
I sneaked at night time adown the gangway,
To wag my tail on a foreign shore.
I followed the men where they were camping.
Some of them gave me my grub to eat,
And when for the front the train-load started
There was your humble under the seat.

And so I came to the trenches Master
Searching for you, Sir, just the same.
Then some-one took a look at my collar,
And there behold was my master's name.
So then at last they brought me near you,
And set me down without a remark.
I could'nt keep my tail from wagging,
And how you jumped when you heard me bark.

This is'nt Hammersmith is it Master?
The shot and shell make a rare to do.
But look in my eyes and see I'm happy,
Anywhere's home along o' you,
Take me with you out to the trenches,
Out in the shots, the mud, the rain.
I wont worry, whatever happens.
Only - don't leave me again.

A Soldier's Dog, Inspiring War Poem Acrylic Print
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Bonneau: A WWI Dog Who Belonged to a Poet

Bonneau was a stray dog in France during WWI, and was adopted by the famous poet John McCrae.

Bonneau & John McCrae

John McCrae, the writer of the war poem In Flanders Fields, served in WWI as a medical officer. He worked in the trenches, treating the injured. McCrae loved animals, and his adopted dog Bonneau would accompany him as he tended to the soldiers.

The fate of Bonneau isn’t known.

Red Poppies, In Flanders Fields Poem Poster
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Prince and His Handler: A Happy Ending to a Sad Story

Prince and his handler Ed Reeves served together in Vietnam for a little over one year. Years later after having to leave Prince behind, Reeves learned that Prince was one of the very few war dogs to return home after the US troops pulled out.

Ed Reeves and his scout dog Prince.

Ever since he was a child, Ed Reeves always wanted a German shepherd. Before being drafted into the Army in 1969, the young Reeves helped a police officer train his city's very first police dogs. It was this passion that led him to volunteer for dog training school.

Reeves spent five months training Prince to become a scout dog. Their hard work paid off. Prince, who was responsible for sniffing out enemy troops, mines and tripwires, is credited for saving many lives, including Reeve's... "If it wasn't for him [Prince], I wouldn't be here today. I owe him my life a couple of times. He kept me from stepping on a mine and he kept us out of ambushes."

In 1971, Reeve's returned home and Prince stayed in Vietnam working with a new handler. Reeves said the hardest thing about serving in the Vietnam War was leaving Prince behind. In his book My Search for My Vietnam Scout Dog Prince, Reeve's recounts the last few moments with his dog "I cooked up two steaks, put them on a plate, cut them into little pieces, and went to Prince’s dog house. We sat on the ground and ate the steaks piece by piece. I wasn’t supposed to have contact with Prince because he had a new handler, but I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity."

Some 4,000 dogs served in the US military during the Vietnam War, and many died doing so. It is reported that over 10,000 lives were saved because of the dogs and their handlers. When the US pulled out, only 204 dogs exited Vietnam to continue their military career in the Pacific and US. The thousands of other dogs that survived were left behind to be euthanized or given to the South Vietnamese Army who were not trained to use the dogs - some believe these dogs were used as a food source.

Thirty-five years later, Reeves learned Prince was one of the 204 dogs who exited Vietnam. According to military records, Prince continued his military career as a drug-sniffing dog for US Customs. Eventually, he made his way to a kennel in San Diego where he passed away in 1983 of natural causes.

Tomorrow (Sep 28, 2019) there will be a ceremony at Motts Military Museum near Columbus, Ohio to officially dedicate a memorial to the Vietnam War dogs and their handlers. The monument will feature a life-sized bronze statue of an Army soldier and his dog, and a black granite wall with the names and tattoo numbers of all 4,235 dogs that served and the names of 300 handlers that died in Vietnam.

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Alexander the Great Names a City After His War Dog Peritas

Some believe that if it wasn't for Peritas, Alexander the Great would have died before his time - changing the course of history.

Alexander III of Macedon earned the epithet "the Great" due to his success as a military commander. Being a noble and commander, Alexander had many dogs including hunting and war dogs. His favorite was his war dog Peritas, who accompanied him during his military exploits. Many believe Peritas was a Molossian, an enormous and powerful breed of ancient Greece that was bred to fight in war. According to the AKC, "Alexander is known to have crossed the giant Macedonian and Epirian war dogs with the short haired "Indian" dogs to create the [now extinct] Molossus. This animal is easily recognized as the great forefather of the Neapolitan Mastiff." However, some believe Peritas was more of an Afghan Hound or Saluki, rather than an early Mastiff type.

According to Pliny the Elder (a Roman author AD 23 - AD 79), it was probably Alexander's uncle, the King of Epirus, who gave him Peritas because the dog had managed to attack and beat both a lion and an elephant. Alexander had a special bond with Peritas, just like he did with his horse Bucephalus. Both animals had a city named in their honor after their deaths. According to Plutarch (a Greek biographer AD 46 - AD 120), after recalling the story of Bucephalus, "It is said, too, that when he lost a dog also, named Peritas, which had been reared by him and was loved by him, he founded a city and gave it the dog's name." There are two versions of how the brave dog saved his master's life and died doing so.

One says Peritas died after bringing down a war elephant that was charging towards Alexander, and the other claims the dog died when saving Alexander's life from the Mallians during an attack in India. The second version says Alexander was trapped behind fortifications away from his troops, and Leonnatus (an officer of Alexander) who heard Peritas howling behind him told the dog to run to Alexander. Peritas fought his way to his wounded master and was able to hold the Mallians off long enough for Alexander's men to arrive and save him. When the men arrived, Peritas who was badly wounded had his head on his master's lap and died.

Peritas died around 350 BC, and besides naming a city after the brave and heroic dog, Alexander the Great honored Peritas with a large funeral and ordered the local residents to honor his dog's death every year with a festival.

Sled Dog Heroes of WWI

During WWI the French army launched a secret mission involving sled dogs. Just recently, almost 100 years later, did the French reveal information about the mission for the benefit of the documentary Sled Dog Soldiers.

Sled dogs in the French army.

The winter of 1914 was incredibly hard on the French soldiers in the Vosges mountains due to heavy snowfall. Traveling by vehicle or horse was impossible, meaning the troops could not receive important supplies such as food, warm clothes and ammunition. It also meant they could not transport their wounded soldiers.

Captain Louis Joseph Moufflet and Lieutenant Rene Robert Haas, who use to work as gold diggers in Alaska, knew sled dogs would be the perfect solution in preventing another disastrous winter. After convincing the French army to use the dogs, a secret mission was organized to bring 400 of the best sled dogs to France. They only had a few months to accomplish this feat before the winter of 1915 set in.

Moufflet went to Quebec City, Canada to find the majority of the dogs and Haas, who also happened to be an experienced musher, went to Nome, Alaska. After countless trials and tribulations, the two men found over 400 dogs.

Getting the dogs to France was not an easy task. First, Haas had to get his 100 plus dogs to Quebec. They took a boat from Nome to Vancouver, Canada, then a train to Quebec. All the dogs survived the long trip. Until the two Officers were able to find a boat to get them to France, which turned out to be quite a challenge at that time, they hid the dogs in a hangar - next to an explosive-testing facility that ended up benefiting the dogs by getting them use to explosions. Fortunately they were able to find a boat just in the nick of time. In fact, their boat was the last to leave Quebec City that winter before the St. Laurence River froze over. They arrived on the Vosges Front on December 15, 1915. Four dogs lost their lives during the 6,000 mile journey.

The dogs definitely proved to be helpful. The best distance achieved, with only nine dogs and close to 700 pounds of weight on the sled, was almost 75 miles in one day. In another successful mission, the sled dogs were able to transport 90 tons of ammunition in four days.

The sled dogs went on to help the French soldiers survive the winters and win multiple battles throughout WWI, but like humans, many died in combat.

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The Dog Who Made History During the American Revolutionary War

General William Howe's dog became famous for having lost her way at the Battle of Germantown.

British General Sir William Howe

On October 4, 1777, before the sun rose, General George Washington and his troops did a surprise attack on the British at Germantown. Heavy fog helped cover their approach and caused the first wave of British troops to retreat, but only after they had set fire to a field. The mix of fog and smoke made it hard to see who was friend and foe. In just three hours General Howe and his troops were routed. 152 Americans were killed, 521 were wounded and 438 were captured. 71 British were killed, 448 were wounded and 14 missing.

During the attack, General Howe's fox terrier named Lila became lost in the commotion and ended up joining the American troops as they made there way back to camp. The dog wore a collar identifying herself as General Howe's dog. When George Washington found out who the terrier belonged to, he ordered that the dog be returned to the General with a note. The note, believed to have been penned by Washington's aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton, reads "General Washington’s compliments to General Howe. He does himself the pleasure to return [to] him a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and by the inscription on the Collar appears to belong to General Howe." Before returning the dog, Washington had the dog fed, cleaned and brushed.

George Washington was an avid dog lover, so some may think this is why he returned his foe's dog. Others may think he returned Lila because of his honesty (the legendary anecdote of the cherry tree - "I cannot tell a lie"). However, according to Dr. Francis Spring Ronalds, an authority on the American Revolution, "G. W. [George Washington] never missed a chance to gain knowledge of the enemy, and what a splendid opportunity this was to spy on British Headquarters! The British could not refuse a flag returning the General’s dog."

If General Howe had responded to Washington's note, his reply has been lost.

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