A tug at the heartstrings - the story of BallyShannon
This picture shows the front page of the publication Le Miroir of
June 17th, 1917.
There is no article in the magazine about it but below the picture is the
statement (translated from the French): "A soldier and his dog who were
wounded by the same shell. At the Brimont fort this liaison agent and his dog,
who assisted him in his missions, were wounded at the same time. In hospital,
the faithful animal refused to be separated from his master. The same nurse
treats both of them each day."
The story of Bally Shannon, Dog of War appeared in Country Life,
November 1918. Bally Shannon and his master were wounded by the same shell and
the hound refused to be separated from his master. It seems to me unlikely that
there were two Irish wolfhounds on the battle front in 1917, helping to rescue
wounded soldiers, and both wounded alongside their master and then staying
determinedly with them, through Hell and high water.
Le Miroir was a dedicated war news periodical which published many photographs of war scenes with a few articles. More on Le Miroir can be seen here
For the story of Bally Shannon from Country Life, click here
The Mentor Association, New York, dedicated one of its "The Mentor" publications to "Our Friend the Dog". This was Vol. 6, No. 16, of October 1st, 1918 and contained this picture of Bally Shannon [the same as in the Country Life article but with the background left in]:
On the back of the picture it reads: "The Mentor is
fortunate in being able to reproduce the picture of a hero of heroes, one that
has proved twice over the valiant stuff that dogs are made of. Bally Shannon,
an Irish wolfhound, was taken by a British officer into the trenches, and
served there as a Red Cross dog until wounded in the left shoulder by a shell.
His master was also wounded, and together they were invalided home. Crossing
the English channel, the hospital ship on which they rode was torpedoed in the
night. The officer and two others found refuge on a piece of wreckage, but
there was no room for Bally Shannon, and his great weight would have submerged
the others. When he attempted to get aboard the floating timbers, his master
warned him back with a gentle word of explanation. And Bally understood.
Thereafter he made no effort to climb out of the icy waters; only when he grew
over-weary he came close and rested his shaggy head and fore-paws on the edge
of the improvised raft until he had strength to go on paddling about in the
dark and the cold. At daylight they were saved, and later the dog and his
master came to America to recuperate from wounds and exposure. Since then,
though not fully recovered, Bally has again been a dog of service, helping the
shepherd in Central Park, New York, to guard the sheep that crop the grass
— tame work enough after succouring wounded soldiers on the battle-field.
But his friends hope a life among peaceful surroundings will some day soften
the sorrow of his war-troubled eyes."
[Prepared by the editorial staff of The Mentor Association -
illustration for The Mentor, Vol. 6, No. 16, Serial No. 164. Copyright, 1918,
by The Mentor Association, Inc.]
In the Country Life article on Bally Shannon, it is said that his master died of his wounds.
The Mentor's piece on the Irish Wolfhound as part of the Hound
Family reads:
"Bran, "the mountain torrent", is known to readers of ancient
British history as the comrade and aide of the chieftain, Fingal. His fame is
sung for his prowess in the hunting field, and on the field of battle. Like
other dogs of Ossian, the semi-historical Gaelic bard and warrior of the third
century, Bran was an Irish wolfhound, akin to the greyhound, but rough and
curly-haired, and tall enough to lay his head on the shoulder of his master
sitting at table. In his "History of Animals", dogs of this renowned
family are described by Oliver Goldsmith as standing four feet high. Sometimes
they were protected in the hunt by "laced doublets, studded with metal
points". After the wolves of Ireland were exterminated, the wolf dog
became practically extinct, but the breed has within the past fifty years been
revived to some extent."
My grateful thanks to Pat Reilley for The Mentor article and photograph.
The Mentor Association was established for the development of a popular interest in Art, Literature, Science, History, Nature and Travel. The inside cover of the issue on Our Friend The Dog reads as follows:
"We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet; and, amid all the forms of life that surrounds us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us. A few creatures fear us, most are unaware of us..... They do not love us, do not know us, scarcely notice us.
"Now, in this indifference and this total want of comprehension in which everything that surrounds us lives, where not the smallest sympathy has ever made a conscious leap from one species to another, one animal alone, among all that breathes upon the earth, has succeeded in breaking through the circle, in escaping from itself to come bounding toward us, definitely to cross the enormous zone of darkness, ice and silence that isolates each category of existence in nature's unintelligible plan. This animal, our good familiar dog, simple and unsurprising as may today appear to us what he has done, is thus perceptibly drawing nearer to a world in which he was not born and for which he was not destined, has nevertheless performed one of the most unusual and improbable acts that we can find in the general history of life.
"When was this recognition of man by beast, this extraordinary passage from darkness to light, effected? Did we seek out the poodle, the collie, or the mastiff from among the wolves and the jackals, or did he come spontaneously to us? We cannot tell. So far as our human annals stretch, he is at our side, as at present, but what are human annals in comparison with the times of which we have no witness? The fact remains that he is there in our houses, as ancient, as rigidly placed, as perfectly adapted to our habits as though he had appeared on this earth, such as he now is, at the same time as ourselves. We have not to gain his confidence or his friendship; he is born our friend; while his eyes are still closed, already he believes in us: even before his birth, he has given himself to man.
"But the word "friend" does not exactly depict his affectionate worship. He loves us and reveres us as though we had drawn him out of nothing. He is, before all, our creature full of gratitude and more devoted than the apple of our eye. He is our intimate and impassioned slave, whom nothing discourages, whom nothing repels, whose ardent trust and love nothing can impair." MAURICE MAETERLINCK