The Heroic Parachuting Dogs of D-Day

io9.com ^ | 12/18/2013 | George Dvorsky

[rktman]

On the eve of the Normandy invasion, three planes carrying the members of Britain's 13th Battalion took off for France. In addition to the 60 men aboard, each plane carried one dog. The story of how these paratrooping canines got there — and what happened next — is nothing short of remarkable.

Lazar Backovic has penned a fascinating article for Spiegel Online chronicling the brief but astounding story of Britain's parachuting dogs, or "paradogs." Much of the information in the article was drawn from a recent book written by Andrew Woolhouse, 13 - Lucky for Some: The History of the 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion.

[rktman]

Dogs are awesome! Two paws up.

[Faith65]

Bookmark for later

[a fool in paradise]

< /PING >

[Salamander]

"Cry havoc!" ping

[virgil283]

Amazing- thanks rk....The chute had opened and was oscillating slightly. (Ranee) looked somewhat bewildered but showed no sign of fear. I called out and she immediately turned in my direction and wagged her tail vigorously. The dog touched down 80 feet before I landed. She was completely relaxed, making no attempt to anticipate or resist the landing, rolled over once, scrambled to her feet and stood looking round. I landed 40 feet from her and immediately ran to her, released her and gave her the feed."

[RegulatorCountry]

Just goes to show you, your dog is happy wherever you are. An extreme example, yes, but there it is.

[dblshot]

In 1942, the Coast Guard recognized that the use of dogs, with their keen sense of smell and their ability to be trained for guard duty, would help enhance the patrols. The Coast Guard eventually received about 2,000 dogs for patrol duties. The dogs and their trainers were schooled on the 300-acre estate of P.A.B. Widnener, at the Elkin Park Training Station in Pennsylvania. Others trained at Hilton Head, SC. The first dog patrols began at Brigantine Park, NJ, in August 1942. The dogs were so successful, that within a year, the animals and their handlers were on duty in all the districts.Pictures at:

http://olive-drab.com/od_wardogs_ww2_cgbp.php

[Mears]

Tears in eyes here.

This memorial also gets to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_War_Memorial

.

[Tennessee Nana]

Wasn’t it an animals in war memorial in England that was vandalized shortly after those Moslems beheaded the English soldier ???

[Mears]

Yep,this was the one.

.

[Faith65]

Thanks for posting this!

[rktman]

Thanks for that.

[Excellence]

Did they get left behind like the military dogs in Viet Nam?

[rktman]

I certainly hope not. That was a frickin’ travesty what was done to those heroic K-9s. Criminal even.

[Joe 6-pack]

WOOOF!

The Doggie Ping list is for FReepers who would like to be notified of threads relating to all things canid. If you would like to join the Doggie Ping Pack (or be unleashed from it), FReemail me.

[Pajamajan]

This is the first time I've heard about these parachuting dogs of WWII.

Awesome story! Thanks for posting.

[rktman]

I couldn’t help myself. I saw the link on the post someone put on here about the nazi weapons during ww11

[Titan Magroyne]

Holy sh—that takes trust... and lots of hunger too, I spect.

Mine adore me & accourse the lab is hostage to her gullet, but man alive, I step out of a flying plane I can see them thinking, “Seeya!”

[Joe 6-pack]

This is one of my favorite photos on all the interwebz...