Horrie the War Dog Read online

  Also by Roland Perry

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  Bill the Bastard

  Programme for a Puppet

  Blood is a Stranger

  Faces in the Rain

  Non-Fiction

  Pacific 360

  The Changi Brownlow

  The Australian Light Horse

  Monash: The Outsider Who

  Won a War

  Last of the Cold War Spies

  The Fifth Man

  The Programming of the

  President

  The Exile: Wilfred Burchett,

  Reporter of Conflict

  Mel Gibson, Actor, Director,

  Producer

  Lethal Hero

  Sailing to the Moon

  Elections Sur Ordinateur

  Bradman’s Invincibles

  The Ashes: A Celebration

  Miller’s Luck: The Life

  and Loves of Keith Miller,

  Australia’s Greatest

  All-Rounder

  Bradman’s Best

  Bradman’s Best Ashes Teams

  The Don

  Captain Australia: A History

  of the Celebrated Captains of

  Australian Test Cricket

  Bold Warnie

  Waugh’s Way

  Shane Warne, Master Spinner

  Documentary Films

  The Programming of the

  President

  The Raising of a Galleon’s

  Ghost

  Strike Swiftly

  Ted Kennedy & the Pollsters

  The Force

  HORRIE

  the war dog

  The story of Australia’s most famous dog

  ROLAND PERRY

  First published in 2013

  Copyright © Roland Perry 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

  Allen & Unwin

  Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, London

  83 Alexander Street

  Crows Nest NSW 2065

  Australia

  Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100

  Email: [email protected]

  Web: www.allenandunwin.com

  Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available

  from the National Library of Australia

  www.trove.nla.gov.au

  ISBN 978 1 74331 799 0

  eISBN 978 1 74343 577 9

  Internal design by Midland Typesetters, Australia

  Set in 12/16 pt Adobe Caslon by Midland Typesetters, Australia

  CONTENTS

  1 Sacrifice

  2 Desert Angel

  3 The Rebels and Their Dog

  4 Bardia ‘Celebration’

  5 Revenge

  6 The Rebels Move Out

  7 Piraeus to Pay

  8 The Practice Ride

  9 Dog of War

  10 Rebels in Retreat

  11 Firebug

  12 Rogue Anzacs

  13 Night Riders

  14 Costa Rica Calamity

  15 A Cretan Affair

  16 Evacuation

  17 Number One Warrior

  18 Love—Doggie-style

  19 Syrian Odyssey

  20 Enter Japan

  21 Journey to the Desert’s Edge

  22 The Fast Trip Home

  23 The Continuing Cover-up

  24 To the Front and Back

  25 Red Cross, Black Mark

  26 ‘Horrie’s’ Execution

  27 Hoax of the Century

  28 Postscript

  Acknowledgements

  To Jim Moody’s wife Joan, and their children Ian and Leonie

  and the memory of Jack Grossman

  ‘The life he had led had etched itself into his face’

  1

  SACRIFICE

  Jim Moody parked his car near Sydney’s Quarantine Station, in the inner west suburb of Abbotsford. It was 11 a.m. on Friday, 9 March 1945. The life he had been leading over five years of war service in several theatres north and south of the globe had etched itself into his suntanned features. For someone aged 33, he had a drawn if not haggard expression, accentuated by a black moustache. Moody began walking with a little white terrier-cross on a leash. It was hot. He felt like a beer before, under strict government orders, he faced the moment of handing the dog over to the Quarantine Station. He entered a dimly lit pub, featuring dilapidated pictures of footballers and beer advertisements on the walls. Moody sat at the bar under one uncertain roof fan that battled the humidity. Three stools away was a huge, sweating man wearing a singlet, shorts and sandals. His behind was so big that it seemed to consume the seat. The man turned to scowl at his unwanted ‘companion’ at this drinking hour reserved for alcoholics. Moody noticed two scars: one on the man-mountain’s right shoulder and the other on his right arm. Then he recognised the outsized, twisted pug’s nose. At that moment the big man did a double-take, looking down at the dog sitting on the sawdust covered tiles and then at Moody.

  ‘Jesus!’ Ray Wallace said. ‘You’re Jim bloody Moody! You saved my life in Jerusalem!’

  They reached across and shook hands.

  ‘Is that Horrie?’ Wallace asked with a frown.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘He looks older.’

  ‘He is a few years older than when you met him in ’42.’

  Wallace turned to the young barman. ‘A beer for this man and a dish of milk for the dog.’

  ‘We don’t serve dogs, Ray.’

  ‘You bloodiwell do this one!’ Wallace snapped. Pointing down, he added, ‘This is Horrie. He’s famous!’

  The barman put down the glass he was drying and peered over the bar.

  ‘Yeah, I’ve seen him in the papers!’ the barman said. ‘Wish I had my camera!’

  ‘Just worry about the beer and milk, mate,’ Wallace reminded him before turning to Moody, and adding in admiration, ‘I’ll never forget that chair you smashed on that bloke’s back! His knife was aimed straight at my guts. Then crash! Down he went, flat as a pancake and out like a light! All I got was a cut on the shoulder.’

  They chatted for a while about their war experiences. One beer became three. Moody looked at his watch.

  ‘Better be off, mate,’ he said.

  ‘One other thing,’ Wallace said, his ruddy face brightening like a beetroot. ‘I got off with one of the nurses at that Jerusalem hospital you took me to after the fight.’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘Can’t remember her name.’

  ‘Bonnie?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s it, Bonnie.’

  Moody’s heart sank. Bonnie was an attractive red-headed woman who, the night before the chair-smashing incident, had rejected his overtures in a Haifa hotel.

  ‘Jeez she was great!’ Wallace chuckled. ‘Nursed me beautiful!’

  Moody winced a smile and felt a little ill. It wasn’t the sort of demoralising news he could cope with at that moment.

  ‘Where you off to, Dig?’ Wallace asked.

  ‘Got to see a man about a dog.’

  *

  Mr John King, the very tall, skeletally thin man at the white-painted, cold front office of the Abbotsford Quarantine Station, was firm but polite in dealing with the handover of the dog.

&nbs
p; ‘What do you plan to do with it?’ Moody asked as he bent down to pat the dog.

  ‘That’s up to Mr Wardle, the Director of Hygiene,’ King said, bending his hunched shoulders forward to glance at a photo of Horrie with Moody in the Daily Mirror and then back at the dog.

  ‘I wrote to him but he did not reply,’ Moody said.

  ‘Mr Wardle will reply, I assure you. He is a very efficient director.’

  Moody was nervous. He filled his pipe and lit it.

  ‘When will I know his . . . er, decision on . . . er . . . Horrie?’ he asked.

  ‘You’ll have 24 hours notice if he . . . um . . . decides to dispose of the doggie. Otherwise he will be quarantined for several weeks.’

  The words chilled Moody.

  ‘Won’t make a decision today, will he?’

  ‘Oh, good heavens, no. He plays golf late on Friday afternoon. He won’t even consider the case until Monday.’

  ‘Are you open Sunday?’

  ‘Yes, 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.’

  ‘I’ll be in to see Horrie then,’ Moody said, looking down at the dog. It had a baleful expression. His tail wagged for a second or two but stopped when he saw Moody striding off. Moody went to another pub, smoked his pipe and had more beers alone before driving home to his temporary postwar lodging in St Peters, in south-west Sydney.

  *

  At about 5 p.m. King reached Wardle in Canberra after several failed phone calls.

  ‘Make it quick,’ Wardle said, ‘I’ve got golf!’

  ‘Yes, sir . . . er . . . we have Horrie.’

  ‘Good, good.’

  ‘Mr Moody wanted to know if you were going to reply to his letter.’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Wardle groaned. ‘I’ll make sure he receives a reply, Monday, no Tuesday, the day after you have put it down.’

  ‘You wish it destroyed?’

  ‘Yes, yes, I most certainly do. Only inform Moody a few minutes before it’s done. I don’t want him creating a protest noise with the press, or any ratbags such as the World League for the Protection of Animals that may try to hold up proceedings. We always have trouble from those do-gooders.’

  ‘Mr Moody brought with him a vet’s report saying the doggie was in very good condition. No sign of any disease.’

  ‘Probably a fake. Moody is a slippery customer. Just think of how he transported that animal in North Africa, Greece, Crete, Palestine and Syria, and then sneaked it into Australia; an animal that could be infected with some Eastern disease. Even his name, Horrie the “Wog” Dog, should tell you something. “Wog”—illnesses . . . This animal may be full of diseases we don’t even know about!’

  ‘But I rang the vet—a Mr Kimber of Swan Street, Rosehill—who wrote the report. It’s authentic.’

  ‘I really don’t care, King,’ Wardle said, irritated. ‘Must be made an example of. Can’t have any soldiers smuggling pets into our country. Rabies kills, as you well know.’

  ‘So, we are to do this for reasons other than the doggie’s condition?’ King asked but Wardle had already rung off. He was late for his game.

  *

  Moody turned up on Sunday, 11 March, at Abbotsford to see the dog and found Horrie sleeping in a cage. A bowl of meat sat untouched inside the door of the cage.

  ‘He sleeps a lot,’ King said, ‘and he is off his food. Is he always like this?’

  ‘Not really,’ Moody replied carefully, ‘but being separated from me can cause him some anxiety.’ He noticed King had a bandaged right hand. ‘Did Horrie do that?’

  ‘Yes. He can be vicious. I’m very pleased he doesn’t have rabies. You know that we recommend that dogs should be put down if they draw blood?’

  ‘I know that. But you must remember, Mr King, that this is a war dog. He saw quite a bit of action.’

  Moody changed the subject and asked: ‘Have you heard from Wardle?’

  ‘No,’ King lied, ‘I still don’t know what he wants to do.’ Seeing Moody’s concern he added, ‘If it was up to me, sir, I would not put him down, at least not for the way he entered the country. He is in good condition. You’ve looked after him well. The only problem now with letting him live is that other servicemen may be encouraged to break the law.’

  The dog woke up and took in Moody. His tail wagged.

  ‘I’ll try to feed him,’ Moody said. King nodded. Moody opened the cage door and beckoned the dog. He rolled off his mat and sauntered over to him, his eyes still sorrowful. Moody patted him and stroked his back. The dog seemed to relax. Moody offered him a piece of the meat.

  ‘What is this?’ Moody asked King. ‘Kangaroo meat?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘He’s probably never had it.’

  The dog sniffed the piece, looked at Moody as if in two minds over whether to bite him or take the food, and then opted for the food. Moody tried to induce him to eat the rest by himself but the dog would only be handfed, which was a delicate business.

  ‘He certainly trusts you,’ King said.

  ‘Yeah, well, we’ve been on a long journey, haven’t we, Horrie?’

  When the dog had eaten several portions, Moody again patted and stroked it, then stepped out of the cage. The dog whimpered. Moody felt uncomfortable.

  ‘So when will you let me know?’ he asked, struggling with his emotions.

  ‘As I told you on Friday, soon as we know Mr Wardle’s decision.’

  Moody took one last glance at the dog and left. He would never forget that look of qualified trust, of hope, of despair, of a life poorly treated. Moody wanted a drink to drown his sorrows but had to wait until he was back at St Peters. Over a beer on the back porch, the consoling former sergeant of his platoon, Roy Brooker, told him: ‘Got some good news. Your best mate Gillie is back tomorrow. We can have a nice old reunion of at least some of the Signals lads. I’m told just about all the boys will be back in town soon.’ This brightened Moody a fraction but he had a restless night worrying about the quarantined dog and its fate.

  At 3.55 p.m. on Monday, 12 March, Moody received a call from King: ‘I have bad news, Mr Moody. Under Quarantine Regulation Number 50, your doggie is to be put down at 4 p.m.’ Moody looked at his watch.

  ‘You’ve given me five minutes notice!’ Moody roared down the phone. ‘You said I’d have a day . . . !’

  ‘I am sorry about this, I really am, but it was not my decision. Good day, sir.’

  *

  Brooker took Moody to the pub, where they sat drinking, smoking and reminiscing for several hours. They drove into Sydney’s Chinatown for a meal, and then returned to St Peters at about 9 p.m. Brooker opened the door and ushered him into the lounge, saying, ‘Another beer, mate?’

  ‘No, I’m pretty shick—’ Moody said as Brooker switched on the light. Moody shook his head in disbelief as members of the close-knit Signals group of the 2nd AIF’s 1st Machine Gun Battalion—‘the Rebels’—pressed forward cheering and yelling, ‘Surprise!’

  It was the beginning of an all-night party. To understand why these recent war veterans celebrated the death of an innocent little dog, we must go back four years to a remote North African desert during World War II.

  2

  DESERT ANGEL

  Once Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies told Australia, in his melancholic and dutiful way, that his country was at war with Germany on 3 September 1939, battalions sprang up everywhere with an anticipation which demonstrated that memories of the Great War 1914–1918 were short. More than 160,000 Australians had been either killed or wounded in that brutal conflict mostly 20,000 kilometres from home. Yet barely a generation later, tens of thousands, including many who had served in World War I, were quick to join up again. Could they have been driven by a belief that brutal dictatorships everywhere had to be stood up to after the invasion of Poland? Well, that was the idealistic propaganda, and many would respond to it. Was it to preserve the British Empire? That was a bit of it. Was it a sense of boredom for some and a sense of adventure through travel overseas for other
s? This had to be another motivation. Humdrum lives would galvanise into the disciplines and hardships of armed forces at war. Yet a sense of camaraderie for young men with a grand common cause—to defeat fascism—was an over-arching drive.

  One of the first outfits to form up and consolidate at Sydney’s Victoria Barracks on 14 December 1939 was the 2nd Australian Imperial Force’s 1st Machine Gun Battalion. The battalion, which was part of 6th Division, marched through Sydney streets on 4 January 1914, taking the same route as the 1st AIF soldiers had in 1914. After the training period, the battalion of about 500 members embarked aboard the Orford and left for the Middle East in May 1940. But it was diverted to Britain to bolster that country’s defences and it reached Gourock in Scotland in mid-June. The 18th Brigade and the Machine Gunners next took a train to England and camped at Salisbury Plain while the Battle of Britain raged in the skies above them. In November 1940, the Battalion sailed on the Otranto from Colchester for Egypt in the Middle East. On 29 December 1940, it docked at Kantara on the Suez Canal, a name that evoked memories for some of the men who had been with the victorious Anzac Light Horse under General Harry Chauvel from 1916 to 1918 in the desert war that saw the Turks pushed out of the region after 400 years of rule.

  The next day the men disembarked and were pleased to leave the overcrowded ship. It was better even in the dry desert where they were accosted by locals wanting to sell them everything from cheap miniature pyramids to uninviting food and drink. The next day, New Year’s Day 1941, the battalion left by a train of cattle and goods wagons for a journey 30 kilometres west of Alexandria, as the crow flies. The men wished they had wings after the wearying 14-hour journey with many tiring stops en route as the wagons were shunted this way and that. They eventually encamped, still on the first day of the year, at Ikingi Maryut on the fringe of Libya’s desolate Western Desert. Once at the destination, the fatigued Machine Gunners were to await orders to join the battles against the fascist armies of Italy, and Germany if it entered the region too.

  The battalion units began by erecting a series of tents on the barren landscape, which evoked a scene like a travelling circus. But there was little fun to be had. The Western Desert was a dull area, if not forsaken by the gods then definitely by water, for there were no rivers running into it from the Mediterranean. The vast desert region south, west and east of the nonexistent Ikingi city was an ancient underground necropolis with a patchwork of catacombs harbouring decaying remnants of civilisations long disappeared. The only sign of life among the rock and never-ending sea of sand was the occasional camp of the Bedouin, who wandered the desert as they had for thousands of years.