‘Superhuman’ Argo Saved Life Of Friend In 1945
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Argo and Sgt. William W. Wilson
80 Years Ago, July 26, 1945 – A letter from Sgt. William W. Wilson to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. M.L. Wilson, tells of the faithfulness of his dog Argo, while in combat, and how the dog detained him from going from his sleeping quarters just before a shell landed in the way he would have taken. Wilson had also sent pictures with his letter:
“You will notice dear old Argo in some of them. He was such a good fellow. Almost broke my heart to see him go. Really I believe he was the closest friend I ever had. … He used to come and jump in bed with me when the shells started coming in. Also if I went out and left him in the room alone, when I returned he would be right in the middle of my bunk. I didn’t make much effort to keep him out when I wasn’t in it as he was cleaner then many places I slept anyway…
The poor fellow seemed to know when his time was up. I had to insist that he go out of the house with me, each time he went out that day. It was just around dusk. I started out and he seemed to beg me to stay with him, that he did not want to be alone, so I told him to come along. He stayed right by my side. The critical time came and we both hit a ditch. He had learned long before to hit the low ground when he heard the sound of a shell wham- ming in. The first missed us but the second was an air burst… Poor
Argo, he felt much safer in the house, but he sensed the danger strongly that he did not want to face it all alone. I made his tomb out of an 88 mm shell, which had been his fate, and scratched Argo on it.
I always feel that I owe
my life to that dog…
Let me tell you about it.
One night I started to go out and I asked him to come with me, but he didn’t budge, so I started on anyway. Before I reached the door, he started whining and as I started closing the door behind me, he began barking lowly, and whining along with it. I came back in and started consoling him because I thought he was merely scared. A few second later, a shell landed right in the back yard just about the spot I would have had time to be. He was a super human friend.
