Smoky the Brave: How a Feisty Yorkshire Terrier Mascot Became a Comrade-in-Arms During World War II
By: Damien Lewis / Narrated By: John Chancer
Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
Damien Lewis does another great job with this one!
How I do love Damien Lewis—I’ll be getting to other books of his for reviewing as he does military, and he does animals. What’s not to love?!? I am so totally there. And here with Smoky the Brave, he crafts another fine piece of nonfiction which captures just how much an animal can come to mean to men at war.
Smokums, later to be dubbed Smoky, is found in the thick jungles of New Guinea by a self-proclaimed dog-hater who nonetheless saves her. She’s a tiny four-pound Yorkshire terrier who’s all mats and all bones. And she wriggles her way into the heart of the dog-hater’s roommate, Bill Wynne, a man working in a photo reconnaissance squadron. Wynne, who has had his heart broken through the loss of dogs in his past, is leery of taking on the little bundle of furry love, but her outsize personality, her veritable intelligence do him in. He and Smoky are a bonded unit, even after the war.
Sometimes I myself am leery of military animal stories, as they don’t usually end well. Keeping animals is strictly forbidden in the military, despite the wide use of mascots for morale (and Smoky becomes famous as a mascot). Oodles of animals, once loved, were left behind when troops had to move to other areas of war, or when war was over, had to go back home. I find that tragic, and it really sours a good buddy story. I guess that’s why I like Damien Lewis: While his tales are fraught, they aren’t filled with woe.
John Chancer does a fine job with narration. It’s not what I’d call a mind-blowing performance, but he serves the story well, bringing love and laughter into the exploits of the tiny dog. He turns her into the little hero that she was—one who had her own parachute, one who helped lay cable, one who brought men suffering PTSD out of themselves as they talked to her, stroked her furry little body.
And she learned tricks! Wynne had special small-sized items made specially for her, whether she was skipping on top of a rolling drum, or she was walking the tight-rope blindfolded. She could even spell her name with cut out letters… at least when she was good and ready to. She even stole the hearts of people in Hollywood. And after the terrors of war? The terrors of Hollywood might even top what they experienced in the Pacific War.
At just over 10 hours, Smoky the Brave is a fine Animals listen, and can probably be used for Veteran’s Day also. After all, the little dynamo served her squadron well, with a lot of heart, a lot of courage.
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