“Sunday – a pack of dogs killed several of our sheep last night. … I do not believe that Smokey participated in the killing but he was shot anyway. There was no indictment or trial – just an execution.”Virgil John Tangborn February 9, 1941
“After such a close brush with mortality I feel that I have an obligation to destiny and want to do something with my life that will benefit mankind. I am not a writer but think the best thing I can do is try to report on and understand what is happening in the world.”Virgil John Tangborn October 1, 1938
“Try out for position in 90th Division Band. I’m afraid I did not do so well because my lips were chapped from the hot, desert wind and I was terribly thirsty.”Virgil John Tangborn July 20, 1943