In the mountains of France, 1944, a mixed-breed stray named Chips had been adopted by the men of the 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment. Chips was not an official military dog. He was a rescue, picked up by a private who found him shivering near a burning farmhouse in Normandy. He had a notch in one ear and a scar on his left flank.
Chips followed the platoon through France. He slept in foxholes, ate K-rations, and learned the sound of incoming artillery. When the bombs were coming, he would bark, and the men would take cover. He became their warning system.
On October 12, 1944, Chips led the platoon through a valley in the Vosges Mountains. The German forces had set an ambush on both sides of the route, but Chips, walking ahead of the column, stopped and sat down in the middle of the trail. He began to bark and refused to move. The private who was walking him tried to pull him along, but Chips would not budge.
The platoon leader, a lieutenant from Texas, realized that the dog had sensed something. He ordered the platoon to fall back and take the alternate route. As they moved, they heard gunfire from the ambush position that they would have walked into. The Germans fired on the empty path.
Chips saved 12 lives that day. He was awarded a Silver Star, the only dog in American history to receive the decoration. The medal was later returned because military regulations do not recognize animals for decorations. But the men of the 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry, never forgot what he did.
Chips died in 1952 at the age of 12, surrounded by the grandchildren of the men who had been in that platoon. He was buried in the platoon cemetery in Texas, with a dog tag that reads: Chips. He walked ahead so we would not have to.