War Dogs of the Pacific (review)

Anyone with the slightest affection for canines will find it rewarding to explore the military life of dogs. Overviews have long been available in books like Fairfax Downey's Dogs for Defense: American Dogs in the Second World War, 1941-1945 (1955) and Michael G. Lemish's War Dogs: A History of Loyalty and Heroism (1996). The most focused treatment of the Pacific theatre, the subject of Harris Done's documentary, is Captain William Putney's Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of World War II (2001).

On the docudrama front the Disney Channel released Chips, the War Dog in 1990. It is the stirring account of a chicken-thieving German Shepherd who was sent away to the Dogs for Defense program. In eight WWII campaigns through North Africa and Europe, Chips captured soldiers, saved lives, and received bullet wounds. Chips was proposed for the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and the Quartermaster General's Certificate of Citation—all to be denied or revoked in the end because, in the ranking of species, he was only a dog. Chips was melodrama featuring a valiant animal and a bureaucracy that will not bend its criteria for officially recognized valor.

Until War Dogs of the Pacific was made, there was no professionally made documentary treatment of America's dog warriors. So far as I can tell, the Army Pictorial Services of the U.S. Signal Corps—which made short, morale building films about a wide range of subjects--never made a feature about the canine units. Yet it did create stills and footage of training at Camp Lejune and combat situations with dogs at Guam in 1944, and some of that material is fluently incorporated with Harris Done's film. This imagery is integrated with interviews provided by several marine veterans who had been dog handlers and fought with them in the island hopping attacks against Japanese defenders.

War Dogs of the Pacific briefly sketches how the Dogs for Defense program was organized. Like so many narrations of events between 1941 and 1945, it has strong themes of generosity among citizens (they donated their dogs), of flexibility (some dog handlers had no prior experience), of diversity (both among the men and the types of dogs)--along with a bit of inter-service rivalry (the marines took army dog rejects and turned them into outstanding fighters). Most of these points are delivered by veterans of the Pacific theatre who speak with deep emotion about their experiences. Their voices impart an especially moving quality to this story and mark this film as a significant contribution to oral history.

In its exposition, the documentary explains how dogs were trained against instinct to silence, to act as messengers, or to use their superior acuteness of hearing and smell in situations of danger. They gave alerts to approaching platoons or hidden snipers, flushed soldiers from caves, and protected the weary sleep of marines as they lay in jungle foxholes. As a result of such valuable service, which saved hundreds of lives, the dogs earned the deep affection of their handlers. One marine, reflecting on the loneliness and need for companionship, reports that the dogs "became your psychiatrist." Dogs killed in action were honored by burial with crosses.

The film does not broach some of the issues that contemporary animal advocates for which animal advocates would urge consideration. Should canines become living weapons in human wars? Do dogs have the fine personalities attributed to them in these inspiring stories? The issue is indirectly raised by this documentary's report of a Japanese war dog that was captured and managed with Japanese commands until it was taught the English equivalents. Within two weeks the dog had been "turned" and was fighting against the Japanese.

Whatever your stance on the species and their respective rights within the natural order, you will find this depiction of America's war dogs revelatory, and an important contribution to the narrative history of the American military. [End...