On July 10, 1943, Chips, a soldier dog of the K-9 Corps, stood beside his handler, Private John Rowell of Arkansas, in a landing boat. They watched the shore of Sicily take shape in the dawn light, just east of Licata, on the southern coast of Sicily. Chips and Private Rowell heard the chatter of machine guns, rifles answering and the explosive bursts of hand grenades. Private Rowell saw the crimson machine gun tracer bullets and the white gold of flares blazing across the sky.
The army drafted Chips into World War II just as it had drafted his friend Private John Rowell. In 1941 after Pearl Harbor, the United States Army listed thirty-two breeds and crossbreeds of dogs suitable for military service. Chips, a mixed breed from Pleasantville, New York, answered the call of his country. Chip’s mother was a cross of collie and German Shepherd and his father a Husky and before the Army tapped him for duty, Chips belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Wren of Pleasantville, New York, and their children.
After he left Pleasantville, Chips saw many new sights on his journey to Sicily. He probably saw different lights than Private Rowell as they stood on the deck of the landing boat, because Chips was color blind, although his keen ears could hear the high pitched shrieking of shells, guns, and grenades at a frequency much higher than the human ear. He felt the landing boat shudder against the shore and he and Private Rowell hit the beach. They were part of the American Seventh Army under the command of George S. Patton, Jr., and their regiments were part of the Third Infantry Division. The British Eighth Army lay off the right flank of the American Seventh and the Canadian troops were in the center.
Dawn broke as Chips and the other soldiers crept cautiously up the beach. A peasant’s hut stood only a few yards away. As Chips explored and sniffed the air, a sudden burst of machine gun fire shattered the silence. Private John Rowell, along with his rifle, bayonet, helmet, hand grenades, and fellow soldiers, hit the ground. Snarling, Chips raced for the machine gun nest. An Italian soldier staggered out of the hut, Chips clinging to his throat. Three other soldiers crowded behind him, their hands in the air. Private Rowell called Chips off before he killed the soldier he had by the neck.
Chips, himself, became a casualty. In the fight inside the hut one of the Italian soldiers had shot at Chips with a revolver and Chips suffered powder burns and a crease across his head where a bullet had grazed him. Fortunately, his wounds were not serious enough to send him to the rear lines. Instead, Chips received first aid and stayed at the front lines.
Private Rowell owes his life to the fact that Chips stayed at the front lines. That same night, Chips warned Private Rowell that ten Italians were creeping along a path leading down to the beach. Chip’s warning enabled his master to capture the Italians. Captain Edward G. Parr recommended Chips for a citation for “single-handedly eliminating a dangerous machine gun nest and causing the surrender of its crew.”
War Department regulations forbade presenting a medal to an animal, but Major General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., Commander of the Third Division, waived the regulations for Chips. Somewhere in Italy, where Chips had been transferred, he and his fellow soldiers stood at rigid attention as military officers pinned a decoration on Chips collar. Newspapermen in Italy reported that Chips had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.
Awarding the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart to a dog created a controversy. William Thomas, who was then the national commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, wrote angry letters to the President, the Secretary of War, and the Adjutant General of the United States Army. Commander Thomas complained that General George Washington had instituted the Purple Heart for humans, not dogs.
Congress debated the issue for three months. Some said that heroism was heroism, no matter who performed it. Others said that a special model of the Purple Heart should be awarded to animals, as the British did. Finally, Congress decided that no more decorations were to be given to non-humans, although, in the case of animal acts of bravery, “appropriate citations may be published in unit general orders.”
No matter what Commander Thomas or Congress decreed, Chips was the first dog hero of World War II. Her served in the French Moroccan and Sicilian campaigns in Italy, France, Germany, and Central Europe. He stood a twelve-hour guard watch over
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill as they conferred at Casa Blanca.
Then Chip tarnished his hero image. In Italy, Chips bit General Dwight D. Eisenhower! The General had stooped to pet Chips. Chips had been trained to attack strangers, so he attached. How was he supposed to know that Ike was an American general and a fellow hero?
In 1945, the Army sent Chips home. The official record reveals that he didn’t bite any more generals!
Published U.S. Legacies December 2003
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