Judy, the dogged PoW who defied the Japanese
By Jane Fryer for the Daily Mail
Updated: 20:02 EST, 12 August 2010
The radio broadcast by the strangely named Prisoner of War ‘81A Gloergoer, Medan’ caused quite a stir among listeners all round the world.
Not because she was nervous about being interviewed live for the BBC’s coverage of Britain’s Victory Parade on June 8, 1946. Or that she’d said something daft, inappropriate or even clammed up with a fit of nerves.
Hardly. She had plenty to say. It’s just that her speech was a series of happy staccato barks and went something like this: ‘Woof woof woof woof woof woof.’
Devotee: Judy met Frank Williams in a prisoner of war camp in Medan in 1942. He shared his daily handful of maggoty boiled rice with Jud and in return she alerted him to scorprions, snakes and if guards were near
Devotee: Judy met Frank Williams in a prisoner of war camp in Medan in 1942. He shared his daily handful of maggoty boiled rice with Jud and in return she alerted him to scorprions, snakes and if guards were near
For Japanese POW 81A was a pure-bred liver-and-white English pointer called Judy — the only dog officially recognised as a Prisoner of War in World War II and viewed as a guardian angel and symbol of hope and courage for thousands of Allied troops imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese in the Far East.
She saved countless lives, alerted Allied troops to dozens of hostile Japanese aircraft
before they could even hear them and protected her beloved men against scorpions, crocodiles, tigers, poisonous snakes — and the brutal Japanese and Korean prison guards.
She also cheated death countless times — hiding in rice sacks, boxes and under blankets, swimming through burning waters from torpedoed ships — and developed an extraordinary friendship with an airman called Frank.
This Sunday is the 65th anniversary of Victory over Japan, or VJ, day. At 3pm, the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and countless veterans will pay tribute at London’s Cenotaph.
Not only to the 580,406 UK and Commonwealth troops and 67,073 civilians who lost their lives during World War II, but also to the hundreds of thousands of animals who demonstrated extraordinary bravery and fortitude in the face of hardship, torture, deprivation and cruelty.
Awarded: Judy was one of the first to receive the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, the Dickin Medal, above
Awarded: Judy was one of the first to receive the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, the Dickin Medal, above
There were dogs that parachuted with the SAS, horses that survived bomb attacks, ships’ cats that raised morale and hundreds of thousands of carrier pigeons.
And Judy — who became one of the first recipients of the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross introduced in 1943 by Maria Dickin, the founder of
the PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals).
Born in Shanghai Dog Kennels in 1937, Judy started her military life as a Royal Navy mascot serving on HMS Gnat and HMS Grasshopper in the Far East.
In February 1942, Grasshopper was torpedoed and caught fire, and the 75 crew, 50 passengers (Japanese PoWs, Royal Marines, Army officers and civilians) and Judy jumped into the dark, cold, oily waters and swam for their lives.
The nearest land was an uninhabited island with little food and no water — until, that is, Judy emerged from the sea two days later, bedraggled and covered in oil, and started digging at the shoreline.
Within minutes, she’d unearthed a fresh water spring, saved everyone’s lives and secured her place as resident guardian angel.
A few days later, when the men commandeered a Chinese junk, sailed to Sumatra and embarked on a gruelling 200-mile cross-country trek across the island’s north-east coast to Padang, Judy went, too.
And when, just a few miles from safety, they walked unwittingly into a Japanese-held village and three years of captivity, Judy was with them, hidden beneath empty rice sacks for a five-day truck journey to the Gloergoer prisoner of war camp in Medan.
When she met Leading Aircraftsman Frank Williams — a tall, gentle man with dark wavy hair and a kind face — it was love at first sight.
Frank recalled years later: ‘I remember thinking what on earth is a beautiful English pointer like this doing here with no one to care for her. I realised that even though she was thin, she was a survivor.’
In August 1942, he started sharing his daily handful of maggoty boiled rice with her and from then on they were inseparable — Judy following Frank everywhere, sleeping with her head on his legs and sounding the alarm if scorpions, snakes or the guards were near. Many prisoners owed their lives to Judy. When they were dragged away
for brutal beatings, she would intervene — barking, snarling and launching herself at the guards — risking a rifle butt or worse, but often distracting the guards from their planned flogging.
Knowing her future was in the balance, Frank persuaded the camp commandant to register Judy as a PoW.
Judy, far right, is pictured with fellow Dickin medal recipients in 1946. Judy survived being hunted by guards and being mauled by an alligator
Judy, far right, is pictured with fellow Dickin medal recipients in 1946. Judy survived being hunted by guards and being mauled by an alligator
He waited until the commandant was drunk on saki and bribed him with the promise of one of Judy’s future puppies. It worked. The commandant signed the papers and Judy became Prisoner of War 81A Gloergoer, Medan.
But the danger was far from over. In June 1944, the prisoners were transferred to Singapore aboard the SS Van Warwyck. Dogs weren’t allowed on board, but Frank wasn’t going anywhere without Judy, so after spending hours teaching her how to lie still in an empty rice sack, he hoisted her up, slung her over his shoulder and smuggled her aboard.
For three hours, the prisoners stood on deck on parade in the searing heat — Judy still and silent in the sack on Frank’s back.
The conditions on board were horrendous — more than 700 men crammed into fetid dark conditions beneath the rusted deck — but Frank and Judy didn’t have to endure it for long.
On June 26, 1944, Van Warwyck was torpedoed. Below deck in the dark, a desperate Frank pushed Judy out through a porthole.
The water was 15ft below. And as he made his own escape, he had no idea if she would survive.
Frank was recaptured, sent to a new camp and for days there was no sign of her. But then stories started filtering through.
Apparently, in the midst of all the chaos, a dog had been seen helping flailing men reach pieces of wreckage.
She’d turned herself into a makeshift life raft, allowing them to cling to her as she doggy-paddled backwards and forwards for hours. It could only be Judy.
But still there was no sign of her. Just when Frank was givingup hope, she turned up in his new PoW camp.
Judy became an airbase mascot after the war. Frank had to make the difficult decision to have Judy put to sleep at the age of 13
Judy became an airbase mascot after the war. Frank had to make the difficult decision to have Judy put to sleep at the age of 13
‘I couldn’t believe my eyes. As I entered the camp, a scraggy dog hit me square between the shoulders and knocked me over!’ said Frank. ‘I’d never been so glad to see the old girl. And I think she felt the same!’
It felt like a happy ending, but for Frank, Judy and thousands of PoWs, the worst was still to come — a year in Sumatra, cutting through swathes of jungle and laying
thousands of miles of railway track for the Japanese.
The heat was searing, the work brutal and the hours relentless. Disease was endemic — dysentery, malaria, cholera, beriberi — the men were worked into the ground and starvation took care of the weak. The daily food ration was a handful of tapioca (maggots added much needed protein), which Frank continued to share.
Judy repaid him with love and hope. ‘Every day I thanked God for Judy,’ said Frank.
‘She saved my life in so many ways.
‘The greatest way of all was giving me a reason to live. All I had to do was look at her and into those weary, bloodshot eyes and I would ask myself: ‘‘What would happen to her if I died?’’ I had to keep going. Even if it meant waiting for a miracle.’
The jungle was dangerous for Judy, too — the guards had had enough of her attacks. She was sentenced to death, but hid out in the jungle where she teased tigers, was badly mauled by an alligator and supplemented her tapioca share with snakes, rats and monkeys.
Finally, in August 1945, the war was over and Judy and her fellow prisoners were liberated. Judy was smuggled yet again aboard the ‘Strictly No Dogs’ troop ship home to Liverpool.
After six months in quarantine, she emerged as a national heroine and a proud recipient of the Dickin Medal. But even when it was all over, Judy and Frank weren’t the sort to put their feet up.
They spent the next year visiting grieving relatives of PoWs who hadn’t made it back from the Far East. ‘Judy always seemed to cushion the news we carried. Her presence was a comfort.’
And, on May 10, 1948, they set off on another adventure — to East Africa to work on a government-funded food scheme, with Judy, for once, sitting proudly in the plane seat next to Frank.
It was after two glorious years in Africa that Judy developed a tumour and Frank had to make the awful decision to have her put to sleep. She was 13.
A devastated Frank spent two months building an enormous granite and marble memorial in her memory.
Judy is just one of many brave animals who contributed to the Allied victory in 1945.
Let’s not forget them on Sunday. Or the wonderful inscription on Judy’s Dickin Medal that reads: ‘For magnificent courage and endurance in Japanese prison camps, which helped to maintain morale among her fellow prisoners and also for saving
many lives through her intelligence and watchfulness.’
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1302677/Judy-dogged-PoW-defied-Japanese.html#ixzz3bqabuHMM Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
