18.01.2021.
In February 1944, in the jungles of New Guinea, American soldiers found an adult Yorkshire terrier in a trench. At first, they thought that the dog belonged to the Japanese, but it turned out that the puppy did not understand the orders in either Japanese or English.
Smoki ended up in the hands of soldier William Bill Wine as collateral for a poker game debt that some soldier could not pay. With the new owner, Smokey took part in the battles in the Pacific, slept in his tent and ate his food. Since she was not an official military dog, she was not allowed to go to the vet or to have a special diet. Despite that, Smokey never got sick.
With her owner, she was rewarded for participating in eight battles, 12 combat missions, survivors of a typhoon and 150 air attacks. Once she was even lowered by a small parachute made just for her, from a height of 9 meters. When Bill fell ill with a fever, she was in the hospital next to him for five days, and she also saved him on one occasion, by barking to warn that the enemy was close.
One of her greatest achievements is helping build an air base in Lingaine Bay. Smokey moved in the drain pipes under the base and pulled the communication wires. When she was not participating in the war or helping, Smoki entertained injured soldiers in hospitals from Australia to Korea with tricks. She gladly performed her most famous trick of walking on a rope blindfolded. She was also a therapy dog. She survived the war and lived to a very old age. Today, there are two monuments, one dedicated to all the dogs that died during the war, and the other was personally erected by Bill and his wife. He was still alive for 99 years and often walked with his terriers to the monument to the dog that allowed him such a long life.
