A very well written book which places the amazing Yorkshire Terrier Smoky in her historical context of the brutal Pacific war, as the Americans fought their way from New Guinea to Okinawa. Smoky is adopted by a photo-processor in the photo reconnaissance unit, whose work was key to MacArthur's march to Japan. ( )

An extraordinary, touching story of Smoky, the smallest and arguable bravest dog of World War II.

The cover of Smoky the Brave is the photo that helped win this tiny Yorkshire Terrier Yank Magazine's Mascot of the Year award. She got a bath in Bill Wynne's helmet every day. Most people think of small dogs as nervous and yappy, good for taking up space on old ladies' laps but not much else. Smoky was one of the many dogs who behaved contrary to this popular misconception.

Smoky's life was truly extraordinary. She became the first recorded therapy dog when an acquaintance of Wynne's persuaded him to take the dog to visit soldiers convalescing in hospitals in Brisbane, Australia. She saved lives, learned how to parachute jump, laid cable on an airfield just seized from the enemy-- and was awarded eight battle stars. (And I'm not mentioning many of her exploits.)

I learned a lot from reading this book, especially about photo reconnaissance squadrons that would fly thousands of miles to obtain detailed photographs of enemy positions. Pilots who flew these missions were beyond brave. They flew alone. They never knew when the enemy would spot them, the conditions were freezing, and since the planes had to be as light as possible to travel such long distances, the pilots had no guns, so they couldn't shoot back in an effort to save themselves.

I'm still not completely sure how much I enjoyed this book. Lewis glossed over an event in Smoky's life that I thought could have used a bit more explanation, and his writing style is very matter of fact. As a passionate dog lover, I was expecting to be much more emotionally involved in the book than I was. Now I'm debating whether a more subjective approach would have improved the book, or would it have done a disservice to such a marvelous dog? The debate rages on in my mind. What I do know is that any dog lover is going to be glad they took time out of their busy lives to read about a creature that had more than her share of bravery and heart. ( )

I absolutely LOVE this book! Smoky the Brave is a phenomenal story of a heroic four-pound Yorkshire terrier.

William 'Bill' Wynne had trained as an aerial photographer in the United States. So, Lewis begins this fascinating story by mentioning the image of Donald Duck riding on a speeding cloud which is painted on the side of an aircraft fuselage.

As it would happen, in Feb 1944 GI’s discovered Smoky in an abandoned foxhole in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.

Smoky was adopted by Corporal Wynne, an air-crewman with the US 5th Air Force's 26th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron. Wynne worked with Smoky and trained her to do tricks. She slept alongside him and flew a dozen missions with him.

Smoky completed many important and dangerous task amongst these was parachuting and also running a cable through the seventy-foot pipe. This was to enable telephone lines to be run across the recently occupied airbase of Luzon, saving hundreds of lives exposed to bombing.

When Smoky saved Wynne's life, he coined her ‘the angel from a foxhole'.

Post-war, Smoky is credited internationally for her therapy work in hospitals and care facilities.
Bill Wynne married Margaret Roberts in 1946. Wynne trained dogs for Hollywood films, then joined NACA/NASA's Flight Icing Research Team at Lewis Laboratories in Cleveland, Ohio.

Wynne also worked for The Cleveland Plain Dealer where he won numerous national awards, including the George Washington Honor Medal and The Brotherhood Award.

I received this heartwarming and captivating read from Quinn Fariel, Marketing Manager at Da Capo Press | Lifelong Books | Seal Press An Imprint of Perseus Books | A Hachette Book Group Company ( )

The arrival of Smoky the Brave has prompted a departure in guest reviewing on this site. Since the book is about the heroism of a Yorkshire Terrier during WW2, it seemed appropriate to invite Amber the Silky Terrier, a most perceptive pooch of my acquaintance and a close cousin to the Yorkie, to comment on the merits of the book... since she comes from the same family of tiny but courageous and indefatigable dogs, who could be better to review this heroic tale?

To read Amber's review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/06/15/smoky-the-brave-by-damien-lewis-guest-post-b... ( )