Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Animals and War

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Members of the 2/48th Battalion, 9th Australian Division, with a pet dog, after evacuation from Tobruk, Egypt on the ship Kingston. 1941
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Pte. D.W. Jones of Carlton N.S.W. and "C" company the 2/33 battalion. One of the men responsible for running the donkey team supply column to the scattered units in Khiam, 1941
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'Ferdie', the Pygmy Flying Phalanger, is on active service with a famous RAAF Spitfire squadron in Morotai. He belongs to Flying Officer (FO) Robert Addison of Elwood, Vic, who brought him from Bathurst Island. 'Ferdie' spent a wild youth, but now is a reformed character. When he reached larrikin stage, he acquired a taste for beer and could drink a long tablespoon with any squirrel, but at aerobatics, his judgment went to pieces after twenty minutes intermittent drinking, he even fell into a full glass of beer. After that not a drop of liquor passed his lips. As one of the squadron's mascots, the teetotal possum met with a lot of competition. Among his rivals were fifteen dogs, a cat, another possum and a rooster.
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Staff Sergeant Major Morgan and dog, and Private Francis Edmund Bilton, 5th Battalion. Note the cat curled up asleep in the corner. Circa 1915

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Aboard HMAS Sydney are two ships mascots who don't agree: Able Seaman J. T. Walker with his pup "Shrapnel" and Able Seaman Gamble with his cat "Salvo", 1940.

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The feline mascot of the light cruiser HMAS Encounter, peering from the muzzle of a 6 inch gun. WWI

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Sergeant Eric Campbell Lawther, of Hurlstone Park, NSW, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment), says goodbye to veteran mine dog, Dean, in Korea, 1956.
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