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The Dogs Of War

December 2024
1min read

OF MASCOTS AND MEN DURING WORLD WAR II


L. Douglas Keeney was at the National Archives researching his book Air War Europe when he stumbled across a photograph of a soldier on the front lines with a puppy. This led him to look for more like it, and he eventually came up with hundreds (plus a few of mascot birds, monkeys, and cats). Many of them are nearly irresistible, including one of a ninepound boxer named Max who jumped from a plane five times to qualify as a full-fledged paratrooper with the 505th Parachute Infantry. Keeney has gathered all the photographs he found in Buddies: Men, Dogs, and World War II (MBI Publishing, 156 pages, $24.95).

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