Murphy the Hero Donkey: A true WW1 story

Murphy the Hero Donkey: A true WW1 story
Isabel George

The remarkable true story of an amazing and loyal donkey during World War I.The true story of a small grey donkey called Murphy, chosen to be a trusty ‘ambulance’ during the bloody Gallipoli campaign in 1915. He carried wounded soldiers over the hilly,craggy terrain to the field hospital as the bombs and snipers’ bullets rained down. The donkey was recruited by Australian stretcher-bearer ‘Jack’ Simpson, who cared for his brave helper day and night. Murphy never gave up or complained; he worked to the point of exhaustion, saving hundreds of lives.At the end of the battle, when the time came for the donkeys to be returned to Greece, the Australian ‘diggers’ were desperate to protect Murphy - he was one of them, he was a digger and a war hero. They fixed a brown luggage label to his harness, bearing his name and status, and hoped it would secure his safe passage home.

Murphy the Hero Donkey

A true WWI story

Isabel George

Copyright (#u9fd9bc0d-bb24-5a9e-ab1c-fa766bc5cac6)

HarperTrueFriend

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street,

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by HarperTrueFriend 2015

FIRST EDITION

Text © Isabel George 2015

Cover photo © Shutterstock 2015

Cover layout © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Isabel George asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green)

Ebook Edition © February 2015 ISBN: 9780007584352

Version 2016-10-19

Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Contents

Cover (#u4c1fcf86-50a2-546b-af2e-f4c052ee4c40)

Title Page (#uef71eda3-26ca-5edf-a172-516b01655510)

Copyright (#u6d037051-96f4-5e17-b346-722037c14b8b)

Prologue (#ueb54e7b9-5c39-5335-977f-7a0e0fecb120)

Every man – and donkey – for himself (#u14ea7378-55f8-5643-8cc0-672bccabd09d)

‘Stretcher-bearer!’ (#u2a1d64f6-92e9-5b7f-8d87-21396d7f7695)

Murphy’s war (#litres_trial_promo)

Brave warriors … and their donkey (#litres_trial_promo)

Into the valley of the shadow of death (#litres_trial_promo)

Tuesday, 18 May 1915 (#litres_trial_promo)

Wednesday, 19 May 1915 (#litres_trial_promo)

Murphy works on (#litres_trial_promo)

Moving out … (#litres_trial_promo)

Murphy enters the history books (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Isabel George … (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Isabel George … (#litres_trial_promo)

Coming soon from Isabel George … (#litres_trial_promo)

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter (#litres_trial_promo)

Write for Us (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue (#u9fd9bc0d-bb24-5a9e-ab1c-fa766bc5cac6)

He was a small grey donkey who, in April 1915, happened to be in the wrong place in wartime. But when Murphy was given the job of carrying wounded soldiers from the craggy battlefield of Gallipoli, he not only saved countless lives, he also became a decorated Australian war hero.

Every man – and donkey – for himself (#u9fd9bc0d-bb24-5a9e-ab1c-fa766bc5cac6)