There’s a string of parks in and around Cleveland, known by locals as the Emerald Necklace.
Standing in one is a polished black granite pedestal. On top is a bronze Yorkshire terrier named Smoky, nestled inside a life-size WWII army helmet. The sculpture resembles a photograph taken by the dog’s owner, 89 year old veteran Bill Wynne.
WYNNE: When I first saw Smoky she came to me and she wagged her tail.
Wynne lives a few hours from the park with two terriers who look an awful lot like Smoky.
In 1944, Wynne was part of an army squadron on the Philippine Island of Luzon. Smoky was found abandoned on a battlefield, and Wynne bought her from an army buddy for six bucks. Smoky was good at learning tricks and taking commands.
WYNNE: She was learning everything I was giving her. I taught her to talk between my legs and jump over my feet, jump hurdles.
The training came in handy.
Wynne's group was helping revamp a former Japanese airfield for use by American planes. Stringing communication wire was a major challenge.
WYNNE: They were gonna have to find a way to get these wires underneath the airstrip. We didn't have telephone poles, you couldn't have wires hanging over there. So the logical thing to do was go through one of these culverts they had that the Corps of Engineers had put in to drain the field.
It would have taken three days to dig a new trench to lay the wires and would have exposed men and planes to enemy bombing. So, the troop’s lineman wondered if Smoky could guide the wire.
They tied a string to Smoky’s collar, and Wynne coaxed the four-pound terrier through the pipe.
WYNNE: Come Smoky, c'mon baby, c'mon. I kept calling her. Is she still coming? Yeah, I'm still feeding line. She came all the way through the pipe.
It took just minutes. Smoky got two rewards: a big piece of steak and a small piece of immortality
WYNNE: You couldn't get a dog in a thousand to go through a dark tunnel like that that they'd never seen before. But she was well-trained in obedience and she did it because I asked her to. She trusted me.
After her heroism on Luzon Smoky and Wynne spent time visiting wounded troops in hospitals in the Pacific and stateside.
When Vietnam vet Jim Strand heard about Smoky he was so moved that he raised money for her monument.
STRAND: A lot of people don’t know what war dogs have done.
Strand has tracked many war dogs, like Butch, who dragged a wounded marine to safety in WWII but took 17 bullets before dying. Butch was a strapping Doberman, Smoky was a 7-inch-high terrier.
STRAND: A little dog like that, for what it did. Oh yeah, she’s definitely a hero.
Smoky died in her sleep in 1957. She is buried in the base of her monument.