The beloved story of Horrie begins in early 1941 in Egypt. As a pup, Horrie was found by Private Jim Moody and became the unofficial mascot of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion, traveling through Egypt, Greece, Crete, Palestine, and Syria. Intelligent and easily trained, Horrie acted as a guard dog and often provided early warnings of enemy aircraft.
When Moody returned to Australia in 1942, he smuggled Horrie ashore in a modified travelling pack. Horrie lived in Australia for three years before disaster struck.
Horrie's story was about to be published in a book by Ion Idriess, 'Horrie the wog-dog: with the AIF in Egypt, Greece, Crete and Palestine' (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1948) with Moody offering the publicity Horrie would bring, to assist the Red Cross Society's fund raising efforts. This alerted quarantine officials to Horrie's history. They demanded Horrie be surrendered for euthanasia.
Anthony Hill's book 'Animal Heros' suggest a different ending, suggesting a look-alike dog was surrendered instead and that Horrie lived out his life near Corryong, Victoria.
Horrie's uniform, made from a soldier's service dress tunic, and the travelling pack used to smuggle him into Australia are now part of the Australian War Memorial's collection.
Visit the statue of Horrie in the Corryong Memorial Garden, a key feature of the Chauvel Border Light Horse Trail.
