National Dog Week II

  Bein' an Australian Terrier, ya' know I had to find   an Aussie war dog hero--one you might not have   heard about.

  Horrie, the Wog-Dog was discovered in the   Egyptian desert by Private J. B. ["Jim"] Moody,   VX13091, of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion,   A.I.F. Horrie became mascot of the battalion,   traveling with it from Egypt to Greece, Crete,   Palestine and Syria. He was a guard dog and early   warnin' system for incomin' enemy planes;   survived the sinking of the Costa Rica when the   batallion was evacuated from Greece to Crete; was   wounded by a bomb splinter in Crete; and suffered   the effects of the severe cold in Syria.

  Horrie arrived in Australia, hidden in a packback,   in 1942. At the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, in the WWII display, they have that travelling pack along with his uniform, which is the least they can do for him, considerin'. From Jim Moody's diaries, as written by Ion L. Idriess in Horrie, the Wog-Dog:

"There is not much more to tell. I got Horrie safely home to Melbourne where he is very happy with the old Dad, a better man than I. We, the Rebels and the signallers and the battalion in our wanderings since have missed his cheery company very much. But we all look forward to the reunion, the great reunion when the Wog-dog and Murchie and we all meet again after the war.

"Until then the little Wog-dog sends greetings and wishes for a safe return to his very many friends. The little out-cast of the Desert, Corporal Horrie of Egypt, Greece, Crete, Palestine, Syria, is a dinkum little Aussie-dog."

Horrie lived there happily for three years until, while doin' his bit for the Red Cross, he was discovered by the Quarantine Gestapo.

EPITAPH
"Well, Horrie, little fellow, your reward was death. You who deserved a nation's plaudits, sleep in peace. Among Australia's war heroes, we shall remember you."

As mandated by Quarantine Regulations, Horrie was shot on March 12, 1945.

posted by Harrison at 7:56 PM