17-09-2013, 01:34 AM
1
"Horrie the Wog Dog"
"Horrie the Wog Dog"THis is a true story of a dog that was "rescued" by an Australian digger during WW2.
Ion L Idriess wrote a good book about it,interesting story,Horrie was on a Troopship that was Stuka divebombed during the evacuation of Crete in 1941,my father was a assistant ships cook on the SS Costa Rica,it was sunk and all hands saved plus one dog! Good story.
"Horrie the Wog Dog"
HE WAS only a pup when they found him: half-starved, white coat filthy and jumping with fleas, and stumpy little legs that reminded Jim Moody of the terriers he'd seen rabbiting on farms back in Australia.
Maybe the pup reminded him of home, a safer place where people kept pets. Or maybe the pup had enough personality to con Moody to take him back to camp.
Either way, the little dog and the little Digger were soon inseparable.
It was Egypt, 1940. Moody was a despatch rider with the 2/1 Machine Gun Battalion in the desert war.
The soldiers weren't supposed to take in strays as pets but for Moody's crew, rules were for bending.
Moody wasn't overawed by officers. He was nearly 30, originally came from Brighton and had coxed a rowing crew at Scotch College. He'd been a jackaroo before the war and had knocked around a lot.
The little dog should have been called Lucky but for some now-forgotten reason they called him Horrie.
He grew strong on pilfered army rations, was "promoted" to honorary corporal and assigned a service number, EX1.
He trotted beside the troops on marches and followed the commanding officer on parade. When they went to Greece, Horrie travelled in Moody's kitbag.
But it wasn't all one way. Horrie wasn't big but he pulled his weight. People facing the risk of death seize on anything that might help them survive. Horrie's acute hearing meant he could hear approaching enemy aircraft before the men could. He was a four-legged, biscuit-stealing, leg-cocking, tail-wagging, early-warning system.
When the battalion was evacuated to Crete, Horrie survived the sinking of the ship and narrowly escaped being crushed between two lifeboats. On Crete, he was a secret messenger.
Outlying patrolmen attached messages to a handkerchief tied around his neck and he'd trot back to Moody in the main camp.
He was wounded with shrapnel during the evacuation of Crete.
When snow fell in Palestine, the Diggers made him a coat from an army blanket, complete with regimental colours.
In all, he survived five campaigns against Hitler's troops. With every passing month, the bond between man and dog grew stronger.
When the battalion returned to Australia to face the Japanese threat, Moody ignored orders that no animals be taken as a precaution against diseases - especially the incurable killer, rabies.
He had Horrie checked by a vet in Tel Aviv to make sure he was healthy. Then he modified his pack, stiffening it with plywood and cutting air vents, hidden by his helmet.
On the troop ship home Moody or one of his mates stayed with Horrie below decks at all times, ready to hide him if there was a search. They trained him to lie still under blankets and secretly fed him and disposed of his droppings.
For the soldiers' pets, the risk of discovery and instant death was real. One troop ship reputedly stopped for 12 hours off Fremantle until soldiers finally surrendered a cat. Military police flung the unfortunate pet overboard before the ship could dock.
But Horrie survived. Moody smuggled him off the ship in Adelaide and left him with his father in Melbourne, while he served in New Guinea.
After Moody was discharged in 1945, he took Horrie to Sydney, which is where the story might have ended if he'd kept the secret among family and friends.
He assumed that three years was long enough for the quarantine laws to lose their edge, but he was wrong.
When he offered to lend Horrie to the Kennel Club to raise funds for the Red Cross, officials were stung into action.
Keen to discourage other returning servicemen from trying the same trick, they ordered Moody to surrender his dog to be shot, despite expert advice by the Government's own experts that the dog presented no threat of disease.
Moody fought for time, telling the officials the dog was in Melbourne and would have to be brought to Sydney. Official approval of this arrangement showed how little the dog was considered a real health risk.
Quarantine officers seized the little white dog Moody produced. It was shot in March 1945.
The public was outraged. Angry dog-lovers wrote letters to newspapers, politicians and the Quarantine department, which actually sought legal advice about suing one letter-writer for "defaming" unnamed public servants.
Cartoonists lampooned officialdom, one depicting Horrie as a blindfolded prisoner of war being shot by firing squad.
The first of many wreaths in Horrie's memory was laid on Anzac Day at the Sydney Cenotaph.
THE story became a bestseller when popular author Ion Idriess published Horrie the Wog-Dog, based on Moody's war diary. Well-known in its day, the story of the game little dog was gradually forgotten.
Nearly 60 years later, Canberra author Anthony Hill was planning to include a short chapter on Horrie in a collection about animals at war. He was at a book launch in 2002 when a veteran journalist, Norma Allen, quietly asked if he wanted to know the real story of Horrie's fate.
She told the intrigued Hill that as a teenage reporter in 1946, she had interviewed Jim Moody. She said when she had sympathised about Horrie being put down, he told her a secret she would keep most of her life: Moody had searched dog pounds for another white terrier to hand in to be shot, and bought one "for five bob".
Meanwhile, the real Horrie had been smuggled one last time - to a farm in the Corryong district, he hinted.
There, the story goes, Horrie sired many litters of pups, so no one would be able to pick which one was him.
Hill traced Jim Moody's widow, children and close friends and confirmed the family secret. It seemed Horrie had lived happily ever after.
But his master didn't.
Moody had applied for a "soldier settlement" farm but was knocked back. He died in the 1970s believing he had been punished for bucking the system.
He regretted that, but he never regretted saving the little dog.
Norma Allen never forgot what he told her: "You don't think an Australian soldier would leave his mate behind, do you?"
Moody's family are proud of the story of their maverick forebear saving his little dog.
But one question teases them: Are any of Horrie's descendants out there?
Billy
18-09-2013, 01:10 AM
3
Re: "Horrie the Wog Dog"
Originally Posted by Nobaggage
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What a great story Billy... brought a tear to my eye
The crew of HMAS Hereward come along side and took everyone off and then after disembarking all the troops was itself sunk off Crete again evacuating troops on 29th May 1941.
Billy
18-09-2013, 01:13 AM
4
Re: "Horrie the Wog Dog"
The story of the sinking of the SS Costa Rica from the archives of the Australian War Memorial Library.Evacuation from Greece - the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion's experience
Adapted from Black and yellow triangles 1939-1946: the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion AIF official history by Colonel H.S. Plummer and Captain E.L. Atkins. pp. 127-129. (Unpublished - AWM MSS955)
At dusk on the 26 April 1941, the Unit moved out from under the groves and down to the beach. Thick sand made the going very hard and slow. The Unit marched two miles along the beach to the stone jetty at Kalamata. On the way they passed thousands of troops lined up in column of route, quietly awaiting their turn for embarkation.
It seemed many hours before they were told to move up onto the jetty and embark on the next destroyers. The area was packed with thousands of troops, mainly L of C and administrative troops, British and Cypriot Pioneers, etc, Most of 16 and 17 Brigades had already embarked. All the troops in the area were a credit to their Units; not a sound was heard, not a sign of panic or trouble. As the destroyers came into the jetty like a taxi service, the troops filed quietly and quickly aboard carrying their gear and weapons.
It must have been about 0200 hours on the 27th April that they saw a destroyer race into the small bay another destroyer following closely astern. They slid swiftly alongside the jetty. Over the loud hailer the voice of the Skipper carried to the troops, "We leave in 5 minutes, hurry it up". It was just like the Sydney ferry service. The Unit was directed aboard the destroyer named the "Hereward".
The troops moved aboard via two wooden planks. All the time the Skipper was anxiously urging them to hurry. Finally when all troops were aboard and the destroyer was ready to move off, Eddie White appeared with his two vehicles with the Battalion's guns and instruments aboard. The gang planks were up and no one appeared to be making a move to get the stores aboard, so twenty men from HQ Company were ordered to jump off the ship to form a chain on the wharf and manhandle the guns and stores aboard. Most of the guns were aboard when the Skipper cast off and started to move. The men got back on board and John Hindmarsh directed the vehicles to the other destroyer and got the rest of the instruments and gear on board. It went back to Egypt with these stores.
The "Hereward" pulled out into the bay alongside a large Dutch ship, the SS "Costa Rica", which was boarded by means of climbing up rope ladders. It was no mean task to climb these ladders with full marching order plus a machine gun or tripod tucked under one arm. All guns and stores were carried up the ladders onto the deck of our new transport. Everyone was very tired and many needed considerable urging to get all the stores and guns up aboard the transport.
Many of the troops packed into cabins, others in the holds, others on deck. A small cabin was occupied by a number of 2/6 Battalion officers including their Padre, Father Saville, who had a huge water bottle full of rum which he proceeded to pass around for everyone to take a swig - a tonic for tired men. He was a fine chaplain and soldier.
At 0400 hours on the 27 April the "Costa Rica" set sail for Egypt accompanied by two other transports with HMS "Hero", "Hereward" and "Defender" as escort vessels.
8,000 troops were packed aboard the three transports and 250 personnel aboard the HMS Defender who also carried the Jugoslav crown jewels. No doubt all aboard slept like logs until dawn. At about 0800 hours the ship was dive bombed by Stukas, three bombs only just missed the ship, no doubt due to some good seamanship and a most effective barrage of small arms fire. The troops had Vickers guns, Brens, Boys anti-tank rifles, etc. mounted around the deck for anti-aircraft defence and every man used his rifle. The ship's crew had two Lewis guns for anti-aircraft but didn't know how to handle them, and needed showing some elementary gun drill and how to clear the easy numbers 1, 2 and 3 stoppages.
A short time later the ship was attacked by 22 Stukas and the men managed to shoot down two or three of them, which was a great morale booster to the troops. At 1210 hours yet another attack took place. The troops put up a barrage of fire and shot down yet another bomber. The bombs fell further away this time. Soon after the "All clear" was signalled at 1500 hours a plane came diving out of the sun with its engine switched off. The troops opened fire but it was too late, the bomb was on its way. It burst under the stern, blowing in the plates and flooding the engine room with water and the ship stopped.
The attacking plane burst into flames and crashed into the sea some distance from the "Costa Rica". The belts and magazines full of explosive and incendiaries that had been collected at Braillos paid off. The Navy signalled well done. One of the ship's crew came up on deck, calling out, "The ships sinking, everyone for himself". A few of the bright sparks, ex life savers etc, thought they would go for a swim, dived overboard and commenced to swim to a destroyer half a mile away, which then had to lower boats and pick them up, leaving itself open to air attack and slowing up the rescue of troops aboard.
Any further efforts to go over the side were stopped and the troops told it was obvious the ship was only settling slowly, and to wait until the destroyers came alongside. Everyone was calm and well disciplined and kept in ranks on deck; the ship's boats that were undamaged were lowered and lead by Major C. Fidock. The troops filed aboard and pulled away to the destroyer escort where they were picked up.
All personnel were off the "Costa Rica" and aboard the destroyers without a casualty, a remarkable performance and another feather in the cap for the Royal Navy. Fortunately the swell was not very great and the transfer of troops was effected without difficulty. Horrie, the Wog Dog, a Company mascot, was wounded by a small piece of shrapnel, which moody extracted with a pocket knife, then carried him to safety aboard the "Defender".
They were packed in and all over the destroyer. The crew did their best to look after the troops and plied them with hot chocolate etc. The destroyers headed for Crete with the survivors of the "Costa Rica" which incidentally at this time was listing badly and was settling deep in the water.
The destroyers were so heavily weighted down with troops that the gunwales only appeared a foot or so above the water and as they zig zagged to avoid attacking bombers on the way to Crete, the water washed over part of the deck. They travelled at close to 30 knots on the way to Crete but it was a satisfying experience aboard these speedy little vessels.
Soon after arriving at Suda Bay, Crete, at 1745 hours whilst preparing to disembark, German bombers attacked. Little time was wasted getting shore where a guard was mounted on some of the guns and gear salvaged from the "Costa Rica". Unfortunately most of the Vickers guns had been lost.
Many of the troops were in need of clothing replacements, overcoats and in some cases, boots. Most personal equipment was lost. The Greek campaign was a disaster. In addition to the vast quantities of stores and vehicles that were lost, hundreds of men (British, Australian and New Zealand) were killed, over a thousand wounded and thousands taken prisoners of war.
HMS Hereward taking troops, including the 2/1 Machine Gun Battalion from the sinking SS Costa Rica.
(AWMP1435
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