When Australian Army despatch rider Private Jim Moody found a puppy in the Western Desert in 1941 he had no idea the puppy would become famous in Australia.
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Private Moody of the 2 Australian Imperial Force 1st Machine Gun Battalion took the Egyptian Terrier pup back to his signals platoon where he was warmly welcomed and named Horrie.
Horrie had an incredible gift.
He was able to give early warning of approaching enemy aircraft.
When Horrie howled and dived into the trenches, the soldiers followed.
Horrie was credited with saving hundreds of soldiers' lives.
Played many roles
He accompanied Private Moody on motorcycle despatch missions.
Messages were tied around Horrie's neck to reach troops hard to access.
Horrie went on route marches, accompanied the commanding officer on parade and was promoted to honorary corporal.
Horrie was assigned the service number EX1 - number one Egyptian soldier.
As unofficial mascot, he accompanied them from Egypt to Greece, Crete, Palestine and Syria.
As well as air raid warden and front line messenger, Horrie guarded the battalion's tents from thieving locals and was the soldiers' enduring companion.
He survived a shrapnel wound and the sinking of the ship on the battalion's evacuation to Crete.
Becomes famous in Australia
After Horrie was checked by a vet in Tel Aviv, Private Moody smuggled Horrie into Australia in February 1942 on the USS West Point.
Horrie lived with the soldier's father in Melbourne while Private Moody served in Papua New Guinea.
There he worked on his wartime diaries so that Horrie's service was recorded.
Angus and Robertson commissioned Ion Idriess to write a book about Horrie but the publicity surrounding the book alerted the quarantine authorities to Horrie's existence.
There was massive public outcry when the authorities wanted to put Horrie down, especially given an Australian vet found Horrie was rabies-free.
Even letters to the Prime Minister failed to prevent Horrie being destroyed by the Quarantine Department in March 1945.
On Anzac Day 1945 and for the next 20 years, wreaths were laid for Horrie at the Martin Place Cenotaph in Sydney.
Cheated death again
Nearly 60 years later another story of Horrie's fate emerged.
In the week before Horrie was surrendered, Private Moody had bought a lookalike dog from a pound that was about to be put down and surrendered the substitute Horrie to the authorities.
The real Horrie went to live on a farm at Cudgewa, 11 kilometres east of Corryong in Victoria, with a soldier whose life he had saved.
At 10 years of age, Horrie was accidentally run over.
During the 2016 Anzac Day service in Corryong, a statue of Horrie was unveiled.
Narooma RSL sub-Branch member and Marine Rescue volunteer Steve Moody told Horrie's story as part of a well-attended service to mark War Animal Day on Saturday, February 24.
