Soochow, Canine China Marine

Shanghai Mongrel Who Survived Three Years as a Japanese POW

Jul 17, 2009

Soochow was a beloved mascot who shared the triumps and tragedies of the Fourth Marines in China. After enduring the horrors of a POW camp, he returned home a hero.

The future mascot was born in 1937 along Soochow (now Suzhou) Creek, where scores of Chinese boat people eked out a precarious living. Food was always scarce, and it's something of a miracle Soochow didn't end up in a native cooking pot.

Guarding the International Settlement

The United States Fourth Marines were stationed in Shanghai to help guard the foreign-dominated International Settlement. It was said that Soochow was found sheltering in a Marine sentry box one cold and rainy day. Unable to resist the puppy, a guard took him back to the barracks against orders.

The puppy was named Soochow, after the creek where he was found, and the bulldog-terrier mix was cute enough to win over the Fourth’s commanding officer. He was allowed to stay, but was considered a “four-footed leatherneck” who had to conform to regulations at all times. Once, when he lifted a leg and “christened” the regimental flagpole, he was put in the brig on bread and water.

When he was fully grown some of the Marines had a two or three uniforms made up from him, courtesy of a local Chinese tailor. He was usually called “Sooch,” and though he had no one owner and played no favorites he usually was with Company B.

Life in 1930s Shanghai

Soochow’s reflected the lifestyle of his leatherneck buddies. Even a private’s salary went far in 1930s Shanghai, and Chinese servants did much of the routine work. Marines on liberty could enjoy themselves in a way they couldn’t back home in Depression-era America. Groups of marines would go out on the town, and Soochow would tag along. He’d lap up beer and “chow down” on sirloin steaks. If he was a little tipsy, his marine buddies would hire a rickshaw to take him home to barracks. It must have been strange to see a little mongrel in uniform travelling alone in the back of a rickshaw.

Ordeal on Corregidor

As US-Japanese relations worsened in 1941, it was decided that the Fourth Marines should be withdrawn to the Philippines. It was not known at the time, but it was a case of going from the frying pan into the fire. There was no question that Soochow would be brought along. William R. Evan’s book Soochow and the Fourth Marines quotes a leatherneck as saying “Soochow was worthless. He couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper sack. He was ugly as sin, but the guys loved him.”

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor shortly after the Fourth arrived in the Philippines. The regiment was assigned to Corregidor, the island fortress that guarded Manila Bay. After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, US and Filipino troops heroically defended the Bataan peninsula before surrendering in April, 1942. Corregidor held out another month after enduring a savage Japanese bombing and artillery shelling,

It was said that Soochow had a sixth sense that alerted marines when Japanese bombers were about to arrive. The dog would become agitated and bark loudly, a kind of “early warning system.”

Cabanatuan Prison

The next phase of Soochow’s story is the most remarkable of all. Many of the marines eventually found themselves at Cabanatuan prison, which due to Japanese cruelty and official indifference soon became a hell on earth. Ragged and starving POWS, often wracked with tropical disease, hunted lizards, rats, or anything else that was edible. Soochow could have ended up in the cooking pot, but the marines protected him and actually saved a few grains of rice from their meager rations to keep him alive.

The dog also was adept at survival, eating insects and other vermin he would have scorned in Shanghai. But by 1945 Soochow—like his human friends—was an emaciated shadow of his former self. “Sooch” was weak, and covered in sores. He remained defiant, often barking at Japanese guards.

Mascot at San Diego's United States Marine Recruit Depot

When Cabanatuan prison was liberated by US forces Soochow was among the first to be repatriated. He was sent home an honored veteran, and promoted to Sergeant. Soochow, the Shanghai mongrel who became a POW, ended his career as a beloved mascot of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. He died in 1948, aged eleven.

The copyright of the article Soochow, Canine China Marine in WW II History is owned by Eric Niderost. Permission to republish Soochow, Canine China Marine in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.