Written with the Wind: Stories, Songs, Poems, and Plays for Children
Shy wind appears whispers in listening ears...
  • Wind Seasons
  • Seed Stories
  • Bike Riding Raps- Safety Tips for Bicycle Trips!
  • Umbrella Tales
  • Tree Tales
  • Action ABCs
  • Roland's Winter Walk
  • Pig Tails!
  • Petite PDF Children's Books
  • Christmas Bird Stories and Songs
  • Spring Wagon
  • Kite Flight Fight!!!
  • Dragon Wagon
  • Dandelion Dances
  • Mud Puddle Hash Dash!
  • Happy Birthday Rubber Duckie
  • Squeaky Sneakers!
  • Snow Stories
  • Winter People
  • Emma, the Christmas Tree Ship, and Captain Santa
  • The Christmas Tree Angel
  • Stuart's Spruce Forest and the Manger in Bethlehem
  • Santa's Christmas Eve Adventure
  • Snowflake Christmas Song
  • The November Christmas Trees in Copper Harbor
  • Thanksgiving : Timucua Time Television
  • Wind Blowing, Minds Growing!
    • When the Wind Blew Through Bigfoot's Hair
    • Goodnight At Least a Thousand Times!
    • George and Oliver in Church
    • Practicing Patience and Mississippi Hotdog
    • Solo Sage
  • Grouchy King Doom and the Land of Gloom!
  • Thumpin' Pumpkin I
  • Thumpin' Pumpkin II
  • Pumpkin Poems for Halloween and Other Days
  • Tim the Tubby Trouble-making Turkey
  • This Mouse Isn't Quiet As a Mouse!
  • Let's Color
    • Surf Board Boy!
    • Beach Ball Girl
    • After the Thunder and Lightning
    • Butterfly Boogie!
    • The Last Leaf in Line
    • Chilly Cricket Calling
    • Leaf Party
    • Daisy Data
    • Lucky Lady Bug!
    • The Day the Umbrellas Ran Away Around the World!
    • Glasses Are For Sharing and Caring
    • The Power of the Sour!
    • Practice Produces Purrfect!!
    • Should You Ever Help A Bumble Bee?
  • Poems for All Seasons
    • Poems to Hurry Spring! >
      • Welcome Home Spring!
      • Spring Stop Sign
      • Spring Umbrella Walk
      • Spring Bicycle Race
      • Hide and Seek Spring!
      • Searching for Spring
      • Spring Puddles
    • Sounds of Summer >
      • Push Mower Muscle
      • Lawn Mower Music
      • Summer Rain Sounds
    • Fall Faces >
      • The Leaves of Fall
    • Winter Worlds >
      • Winter Faces
      • Snow Blow!
      • Cold Nose, Cold Nose
  • Read with Me!
    • Wiggly and Squiggly Caterpillar Fight in the Crab Apple Tree
    • The Lost Tennis Shoe
    • The Grouchy Day
    • Mrs. Bunny's Easter Egg Hunt
    • Henry the Gentle Giant Conquers the Seaweed Ser Serpents
    • George the Galloping Greedy Goat
    • Amanda's New Day
    • The Talking Top
    • Little Mouse Memoirs-Franklin Frederick Fieldmouse, My Black Whisker Uncle
  • Stories
    • Roy Rafferty and His Tuba Go to the Beach
    • Amanda's Fishing Trip
    • Andrew Birthday Burps the Baby
  • Sing Along Songs
    • Sing Away the Snow with Spring Action Songs
    • Frolic into Fall with Pumpkin Songs
    • Cat Songs to Sing for and with Cats!
    • Singing Spring Sun Songs
    • Swamp Songs to Sing on SAVE THE FROGS! Day or Any Day!
    • Learn Bicycle Safety by Singing Bicycle Safety Songs
    • Snow Flake Songs
    • Action Songs About the Busy Lives of Autumn Leaves
  • Poetry
    • Red Ball
    • Umbrella Poems
  • Plays
    • Herman the Hairy, Scary, Monster
    • Sunday School Plays
    • The Winds, the Witches, and the Weavers
    • The Magic Umbrella
    • Herbert Sherbert - Not Sherbet, Sherbert!
  • Flying Fingers - Fun Finger Plays to Play for Fun!
  • More Flying Fingers Finger Plays
  • Written with The Wind for Windier Readers!
    • Gettysburg Drummer
    • Abby, the Good Soldier
  • Written with the Wind for Whirlwind Readers!
    • Granny Godfroy Grows Up - Chapter One
    • DeZwaan Links Two Hollands and Two Cultures
    • Uncle Andy and the Fire Breathing Dragon
  • Stories That Really Happened
    • Susa White Gives Her Pet Lamb Nebby to Boston: A True Story from the American Revolution
    • Ethel Roosevelt's Guinea Pig
    • Shep, the Faithful Friend
    • Lady Lighthouse Keeper
    • Stubby, the First World War Dog
    • Alligator Wrestling Boy
    • Old Abe, Wisconsin's Civil War Eagle
    • Lighthouse Teenager
    • Chips, the Dog Who Bit Ike

Chips, the Dog Who Bit Ike

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After World War II broke out, the United States Army listed thirty two breeds and crossbreeds of dogs as suitable for military service.  Chips, of Pleasantville, New York, was one of the Army's draft choices.  He was a mixed breed.  His father was a Husky and his mother a cross of collie and German Shepherd. He had belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Wren and their children before duty to his country took him from a comfortable home in New York to the beaches of Sicily.

On July 10, 1943, Chips, now 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. Private Rowell heard the fire of machine guns, rifles answering and the explosive bursts of hand grenades. He saw the crimson machine gun tracer bullets and the white gold of flares blazing across the sky.

    Chips probably saw different lights than his master, because he was color blind.  But he heard 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 hit the beach with Private Rowell.  He and his master were part of the American Seventh Army under the command of George S. Patton, Jr., and their regiment was 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.  Chips was exploring and sniffing the air, when a sudden burst of machine gun fire shattered the silence.  Private John Rowell, along with his rife, bayonet, helmet and hand grenade and fellow soldiers hit the ground.  Chips raced for the machine gun nest , snarling. An Italian soldier staggered out of the hut, Chips at his throat. Three other soldiers came right behind him, their hands in the air.

 Private Rowell called Chips off before he killed the soldier he had by the neck.  Chips himself was a casualty.  In the fight inside the hut, one of the Italian soldiers had shot at Chips with a revolver.  He had powder burns and a crease across his head where a bullet had grazed him, but his wounds were not serious enough to be sent to the rear.  He received first aid and 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. Paar 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 them. Somewhere in Italy, where Chips had been transferred, he was decorated while soldiers stood at rigid attention.  Newspaper men in Italy reported that Chips had also been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.

 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.  The Purple Heart was instituted by General George Washington for humans, not dogs, Thomas complained. Congress debated the subject for three months. Some said heroism was heroism, not matter who performed it. Others said 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, though, in the case of animal acts of bravery, "appropriate citations may be published in unit general orders."

 No matter what Congress said, Chips was the first dog hero of World War II.  He served in the French Moroccan and Sicilian campaigns, in Italy, France, Germany and Central Europe.  He stood a twelve hour guard watch over President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill while they conferred at Casa Blanca.

 In Italy, Chips bit General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The General stooped to pet Chips.  Chips had been trained to attack strangers, so he attacked. How was he supposed to know that Ike was an American general?

  In 1945, Chips went home and didn't bite any more generals!

                        


Copyright Notice

All material on this website is copyrighted.  I am more than glad to share these materials as long as I am credited as being the author.  You can contact me at:   kathywarnes@gmail.com or kathywarnes@yahoo.com 

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Photo by Jill Maier