Chips: The Family Mutt Who Stormed a Pillbox in WWII

Most family dogs spend their afternoons chasing tennis balls and begging for scraps. Chips spent his charging an Italian machine gun nest. The story of this scruffy New York mutt is one of the strangest, most remarkable chapters of World War II — and it deserves a fresh telling.

From Suburban Lawn to the U.S. Army

Chips was a German shepherd, Siberian husky, and collie mix donated by the Wren family of New York in 1942. Like thousands of other household pets given up to the Dogs for Defense program, he was supposed to guard a base or carry messages. Instead, he ended up assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Military Police Platoon under handler Private John P. Rowell.

By the time he was two years old, Chips had a passport more impressive than most soldiers — North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany.

The Day a Dog Took a Pillbox

On July 10, 1943, Allied troops launched Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. As Rowell's unit advanced inland, hidden Italian gunners opened up from a concrete pillbox. Most men dropped to the dirt. Chips did the opposite.

He tore loose from Rowell, sprinted across open ground, and went straight through the gun slit. Inside the bunker he latched onto the first enemy he found by the throat. Within seconds, the gun fell silent and an Italian soldier came stumbling out with a furious dog still clamped to him. Three more soldiers crawled out behind him with hands raised. Four prisoners. One dog. No friendly casualties.

Chips took a scalp wound and powder burns in the fight. He was patched up and sent back into the line that same night — and promptly alerted his platoon to a ten-man Italian patrol sneaking up on their position. All ten were captured.

Meeting Roosevelt and Churchill

Earlier that year, Chips had pulled sentry duty at the Casablanca Conference. While generals shaped the future of the war upstairs, the family dog from New York stood watch on the perimeter — and got introduced to both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Reportedly, he was polite about it.

Stripped of Medals, Loved by His Unit

Chips' commanders put him in for the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. The Army brass disagreed. Regulations said dogs couldn't wear human medals, and the awards were quietly rescinded.

His unit didn't care. They unofficially gave him a theater ribbon with an arrowhead and eight battle stars — one for every campaign he served in. To the men he fought beside, he was a soldier.

Coming Home

After the war, Chips was discharged and shipped back to the Wren family. He never quite shook the toll of three years of combat and died in 1946, only months after coming home.

John Wren put it simply: "Chips was something of a celebrity when he returned from the war, but we were just pleased to have our dog back."

That is, in the end, the part that hits hardest. Behind every war story is a family waiting on a porch — even if the one coming home walks on four legs.