Wojtek the soldier bear

I came across the fascinating story of an orphaned bear that was adopted by a company of Polish soldiers in Iran during WWII. As a cub, he clung to soldiers tightly as they travelled across vast distances. The soldiers would wrap him in their coats and woolen blankets and rock him to sleep around a campfire. And as he grew up, he also grew to love drinking beer and chewing cigarettes. Funnily, he would spit out the cigarettes if they weren't lit first! His name was Wojtek (pronounced Voy-tek).

In 1944, his unit was deployed to Italy to help the Allied forces, and animals were not allowed to follow along. To overcome this, Wojtek's friends cleverly enrolled him as a rank-and-file soldier. When the British officers were presented with the bear's enlistment papers at the port, they had no choice but to allow him on board the ship with the rest. And so, the soldier bear sailed off to an adventure that would seal his legend.

Over there, he observed his comrades loading heavy boxes onto trucks. After a while, the bear walked up to a supervising officer on his hind legs and stretched out his paws. Amazed, the officer handed a box to the him, who then effortlessly loaded it onto the truck. He continued, carrying heavy shells, artillery boxes and food sacks, seemingly unfazed by explosions and gunfire nearby. Wojtek was so careful that he never dropped a single shell, food sack or ammunition box.

The battle ended in victory and in honour of his contribution, a soldier's sketch of a bear holding an artillery shell became the official emblem for his unit, the 22nd Transport Company (Artillery Supply) of the Polish Second Army Corps. Wojtek was famous!

Sadly, Wojtek's story ends with the bear living out his last years behind bars, separated from the comrades he loved and fought alongside. The Polish Army was demobilised in 1947, while Wojtek and company were in Scotland. His friends knew that civilian life in Soviet-occupied Poland would be harsh and it was decided that it would be better off for the bear to remain where he was. Thus, he was sent to the Edinburgh Zoological Gardens where he stayed until his death in 1963.

Now I'm very fond of bears, so this story thrilled me. Dear Wojtek, I hope that you were happy in some way during your last years and may you rest in peace...

Further reading/gallery of pictures:

Wojtek The Soldier Bear - In the Ranks of Victors
Wojtek the bear, in particular this and this article.