Mascots of the China Marines
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Two mascots of the 6th Marines, Shanghai, 1927.
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Another fierce canine of the 6th Marines,
Shanghai, 1927 ~ doubtless a guard dog.
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Soochow.
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SOOCHOW OF THE FOURTH MARINES
Few mascots in the history of the Marine Corps lived through as much as a little
bulldog-terrier orphan mutt from Shanghai by the name of Soochow. His first weeks, as
a tiny nameless mongrel in the Soochow quarter of Shanghai, were spent dodging hungry
Chinese cooks and, considering the number of small dogs who wound up as morsels in soups
& stews in any given week in Shanghai, it is a wonder he survived puppyhood at all. As
luck would have it, on a rainy night in the autumn of 1938, while still a scrawny puppy,
he struck up a friendship with a Marine private of B Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines,
manning a sentry-box on Wu Chin Bridge. Whenever the private marched, heavy rain
notwithstanding, the puppy marched as well, sticking to him like a burr. By the
end of the march the private was won over and, stuffing the pup in his greatcoat,
smuggled him
~ strictly against regulations ~ into the barracks. The rest, as they say, is history.
The individual tales & anecdotes of Soochow's life are legion and have been thoroughly documented in articles in Walla Walla (the 4th Marines' weekly in Shanghai), Leatherneck, and in two full-length books. There is insufficient space for them here, but one or two brief sketches will give some idea of the whole:
~~~~~~~~ Soochow on parade, in dress blues, keeping step with the regiment, stealing the show.
~~~~~~~~ Soochow in disgrace, having unceremoniously "christened" the battalion flagpole, confined to champaign & cake in the brig.
~~~~~~~~ Soochow on liberty, making the rounds of caberets with his buddies, lapping up one strong drink after another until he is three-sheets-to-the-wind and losing his sea-legs, at which point he is put in a rickshaw by himself and sent back to barracks. This occured so often that soon the sight of a small uniformed dog alone in the seat of speeding rickshaw was a common one in the 4th Marines sector of Shanghai. When occasionally an unscrupulous rickshaw boy would attempt to unload the inebriated pup short of his destination, whilst pocketing the fare, Soochow would bare his teeth and growl, or set up a fierce round of barking, until the journey was resumed and he was properly delivered to the barracks gate.
~~~~~~~~ Soochow aboard the USS Henderson, with the rest of the 4th Marines, bound for the Philippines.
~~~~~~~~ Soochow on Corregidor, huddling in a cave with his fellow Marines during a heavy bombardment, darting out in quiet interludes to sniff out a scrap of food.
~~~~~~~~ Soochow, still with his buddy Marines ~ emaciated and covered with sores ~ a prisoner of the Japanese for three years.
~~~~~~~~ Soochow, a bonafide war hero, in pampered retirement at the Marine Corps base in San Diego.
Information derived from Soochow the Marine, by Reginald Owen and Paul Lees, Putnam
& Company, London, 1951.
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