Remembering the animals of war
Millions of war horses were shipped to the battle zones of World War I between 1914 and 1918. Most of them died under enemy fire as they carried men, ammunition and food throughout the fighting.
But horses have not been the only animals to serve in wartime.
Dogs, carrier pigeons, mules, oxen, elephants, donkeys, sealions, camels (desert campaigns), llamas (Palestine) and yaks (China) have all at various times been employed in military service, in conflicts ancient to current.
‘‘No war could have been fought without the aid of animals,’’ says Nigel Allsopp.
Allsopp is founder of the Australian War Animals Memorial Organisation a registered charity that honours war animals killed in battle.
He wants to make sure they’re remembered.
Today, he will be at the National Army Museum Te Mata Toa in Waiouru for the unveiling of the New Zealand Animal Memorial, ‘‘commemorating the contribution animals have made in war and peace’’.
The memorial is a joint project of the organisation AWAMO and artist Susan Bahary.
February 24 is being celebrated at the museum as the first annual Purple Poppy Day.
Allsopp raises the point that the animals ‘‘didn’t have a vote, they were literally conscripted. Not one animal, I’m sure, volunteered to go to war – they had no choice’’.
Allsopp has a close attunement with the animals he works with, especially dogs, in a career so far spanning 30 years as a police and Defence Force dog trainer, historian, speaker and author of several books.
He’s happy that the remembrance symbol for animals, the purple poppy, is now New Zealand government-registered.
Allsopp emphasises: ‘‘I want to make it absolutely clear that we’re not in any way putting the purple poppy ahead of the red poppy [which commemorates fallen soldiers]. They can be worn together. All we’re saying is: ‘Once you’ve bought your red poppy on Anzac Day, think about also getting a purple poppy’.’’
Nor is the organisation, a nonprofit charity registered in Australia, which allows it to spread internationally, about glorifying war, he adds.
‘‘We just want to honour the deeds of animals who have died.’’
His organisation not only brings attention to and raises money for memorials, but takes care of living animal veterans of modern warfare, who, like humans, can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and may need amputations or other medical care. The organisation supplies these canine war veterans with food for life.
Allsopp grew up in New Zealand, on a farm near Whenuapai: ‘‘My parents were one-pound Poms,’’ he says.
He worked as a dog handler for the New Zealand Defence Force, then moved to Australia, training handlers for many Australian federal agencies and working in several zoos and wildlife parks. Currently, he lives on the Gold Coast and works with explosivedetection dogs for Queensland Police.
Allsopp has a ready fund of stories about famous furry, fourlegged and feathered animal heroes. Take Smoky, the Yorkshire terrier from Brisbane, weighing in at a little less than 2 kilograms. Smoky was not a war dog, but was sold to an American soldier, Bill Wynne, and ended up with the Allied troops in World War II.
The story goes that in January 1945, Australian soldiers were under fire from Japanese bombers at an airfield in the Philippines.
Several soldiers had been killed trying to dig up ground to lay a telephone wire beneath the airstrip, to call for help. Bill Wynne attached the wire to Smoky’s collar and gently coaxed her through a pipe that ran underneath the airstrip. Nigel Allsopp says: ‘‘Despite darkness and many blockages of sand and soil, which left Smoky with only a few inches of head room, she delivered the wire within two minutes, saving many lives.’’
Among the thousands of carrier pigeons used in World War II, one Queensland pigeon, Blue Boy, would win a Dickin Medal for bravery, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
On July 12, 1945, an Australian cargo ship with hundreds of crew on board was in trouble during a tropical storm in the Coral Sea. In danger of sinking with all hands aboard, the crew decided to strap an urgent message to Blue Boy’s leg and send him to an Australian base in Papua New Guinea.
The hardy pigeon flew there and back in a record 90 minutes, the message was delivered and a rescue ship was sent to pick up the hundreds of soldiers, sailors and cargo.
World War I horses suffered through the snow, mud and blood of the Somme, just as their handlers did. Even cats had a role to play, keeping rodents down on troopships.
The most famous New Zealand war dog was Caesar the Anzac bulldog, mascot of A Company, 4th Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade.
A Red Cross rescue dog, he died in service and his picture and collar are now in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.