World War II historians ?

[Alpo]

Have you ever heard of a dog group known as the WAGS?

 

In the Max Shulman novel THE FEATHER MERCHANTS (a comedic novel), it's early World War II. Dan went home on leave to Minneapolis. While there an old friend spun an outlandish story about Dan's overseas heroism, which got him a front page story, and he is leading the parade, and he's throwing out the first pitch at the baseball game, and he is manning the recruiting table.

 

He sees very few men, and even less who look like they would be eligible to be in the service.

 

>At length some women stopped. One made me promise to see what I could do about getting her son off K.P.; one wanted information on how to attach her common-law husband’s pay; one went over me with a tapeline to get my measurements for a sweater for her son, who she reckoned was about my size; one misinformed trollop wanted to know how to get installed in an army prophylactic station; one tearfully brought me a Pomeranian for the Wags; one told me to tell Corporal Ed Gilroy, if I ran into him, that everything was all right—that stuff he sent her did the trick; one shook a finger at me and demanded to know why I got a furlough while her son had to stay in New Caledonia; one with seven small children said she’d be beholden to the government if her husband was drafted, and five tried to pick me up.<

 

All of this made sense, except the woman with the Pomeranian. Unless there was a thing going where you donated your dog for military service and they called it the WAGS.

 

Search engines have no idea what I'm asking about.

 

So has anyone else heard of this?

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

21 minutes ago, Alpo said:

a comedic novel

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

49 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Max Shulman

 

A true master of comic social commentary.  My favorites are "Anybody Got A Match" and "Potatoes Are Cheaper."

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

 

He also mentions the army, the navy, the Army Air corps, and the Japanese. Does that mean that none of them existed either, simply because it's fiction?

[Sedalia Dave]

70 Years of the K-9 (Canine) Corps.     

National WWII Museum

 

Quote

On March 13th 1942, the efforts of DFD and the war dogs being trained were officially recognized by Colonel Clifford C. Smith, chief of the Plant Protection Branch of the Quartermaster Corps. By the autumn of 1942, the war dog training program had become commonly known as the “K-9 Corps.” The army soon made the title official, designating the unit the “K-9 (Canine) Section.” Other possible designations were “WAGS” or “WAAGS,” but luckily many felt the name too wimpy for the feats they would be asked to do. The Marine Corps liked to call their war dogs “Devil Dogs.” The US Marine Corps initially had a preference for male Doberman Pinchers, and so these dogs became synonymous with the Marines. The “Devil Dog” title was apt since they were well-known for their fighting tenacity.

 

 

Country Before Dog

 

Quote

 

In a letter to a local recruiting office, Bobby Britton of Morgan Hill, California, volunteered his dog for the war. “I am eight years old and live on a farm. I have a large Australian Shepherd … that is a very good hunter and I think he would be good hunting Japs. He sure likes to kill skunks … If you need a real good dog, I will loan you mine until the war is over.”1

Bobby Britton was not alone. During World War II, thousands of American children believed their patriotic duties as citizens outweighed their emotional attachments to their dogs.2 They donated pets and money to an organization called Dogs for Defense, and they read children’s literature that helped them understand the need for dogs in combat. For many American children, the Dogs for Defense campaign empowered them to contribute to the war effort in a tangible way.

Dogs for Defense was founded by Arlene Erlanger in January 1942, a month after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The organization’s purpose was to encourage Americans to give up their dogs for military service. The Army only possessed around 100 dogs at the beginning of the war, mostly sled dogs in Alaska, and the Army needed many thousands more to deliver messages, help find wounded soldiers, and above all serve as sentries. The Army soon contracted with Dogs for Defense to procure dogs, who were enlisted into Wags and later the K-9 Corps. (The name Wags was deemed too similar to WACs, the common term for members of the Women’s Army Corps.) Ultimately 25,000 dogs were donated by their owners.

 

 

 

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

A true master of comic social commentary.  My favorites are "Anybody Got A Match" and "Potatoes Are Cheaper."

I recently added

Anybody Got a Match
Barefoot Boy With Cheek
Feather Merchants, The
Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The
Potatoes Are Cheaper
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys
Sleep Till Noon
Zebra Derby, The

to my personal library.

 

I had read some of his stuff before, though I don't recall whether it was library books or something my parents had. I jumped at the chance to get these seven.

 

had not realized before that he wrote Dobie Gillis.

 

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

By the autumn of 1942, the war dog training program had become commonly known as the “K-9 Corps.” The army soon made the title official, designating the unit the “K-9 (Canine) Section.” Other possible designations were “WAGS” or “WAAGS,” but luckily many felt the name too wimpy for the feats they would be asked to do. 

 

http://www.nww2m.com/2012/03/70-years-of-the-k-9-canine-corps/

 

 

 

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

picture for DFD