50 Fun Facts About Military Animals

What kind of animal was Wojtek, enlisted as a private in the Polish Army during World War II?

Wojtek the bear is said to have carried crates of artillery shells at Monte Cassino, copying the soldiers around him. He rose to corporal and retired to Edinburgh Zoo.

Which stray dog, hidden aboard a troop ship to France in World War I, is remembered as a sergeant?

Stubby learned to warn his unit of gas attacks and wore a specially made gas mask. He is said to have held a German soldier by the seat of his pants until help came.

What kind of bird was Cher Ami, famed for carrying a message from the Lost Battalion in 1918?

Cher Ami was a homing pigeon whose name is French for dear friend. Army records say he arrived shot in the breast, with the message hanging from a badly wounded leg.

Which storybook character is named after a cub that a Canadian army vet bought for $20 in 1914?

Winnie-the-Pooh borrows the name of Winnie, short for Winnipeg, the vet's adopted home city. He left her at London Zoo, where she was loved for her playfulness and gentleness.

Which general from Carthage marched war elephants over the Alps to invade Italy in 218 BC?

Hannibal got his elephants across a river on rafts covered with soil, so the animals thought they were still on land. Only one is said to have lived through the first winter in Italy.

Which sea animals does the US Navy train to find underwater mines using their natural sonar?

Dolphins in the Navy's programme train in San Diego Bay and ride to work in small boats. They search an area with echolocation, then report back to a human handler.

Sir Nils Olav, mascot and colonel-in-chief of Norway's King's Guard, is what kind of animal?

Sir Nils Olav is a king penguin at Edinburgh Zoo, adopted by the visiting guardsmen in 1972. The name and the rank have been handed down through three birds.

Which future Hollywood star was a puppy rescued from a World War I battlefield by a US soldier?

Rin Tin Tin was found in France by Lee Duncan, who trained him for silent films. His pictures made so much money that they helped build the Warner Bros. studio.

Which British children's author wrote War Horse, about a horse named Joey sent to World War I?

Michael Morpurgo got the idea after meeting a World War I veteran who had worked with army horses. Steven Spielberg turned the 1982 novel into a film in 2011.

Which mare carried ammunition for US Marines in the Korean War and was promoted to staff sergeant?

Reckless made 51 solo trips in a single day to resupply front-line units during one battle. She roamed the camp freely and ate almost anything, including scrambled eggs.

What kind of animal was Simon, awarded a bravery medal after the 1949 shelling of HMS Amethyst?

Simon the cat had four pieces of shrapnel removed, then went back to clearing the ship of rats. He was known for sleeping in the captain's cap.

Which British award, often called the animals' Victoria Cross, was created in 1943 for wartime bravery?

Dickin Medal winners in its first years were mostly messenger birds, with dogs second and horses third. Its bronze face carries the words We Also Serve.

Which colour of poppy is worn in the United Kingdom to remember animals that served in wartime?

Purple poppies were created in 2006 by the charity Animal Aid, which felt animals had been the forgotten victims of war. The idea copies the red remembrance poppy.

Which animals did the US test as carriers of tiny firebombs in a World War II project called X-Ray?

Bats armed for a test got loose in 1943 and set fire to a New Mexico air base. The idea came from a dentist who had visited the huge colonies at Carlsbad Caverns.

Which animals did the US Army import in the 1850s to test as supply carriers in the Southwest?

Camels proved hardy and well suited to the dry Southwest, but the Civil War got in the way and the herd was sold at auction. The Army never adopted them.

Old Abe, a Civil War mascot now pictured on the 101st Airborne Division's patch, was what kind of bird?

Old Abe was a bald eagle named after President Abraham Lincoln and carried into battle on a special perch. At one fight he spread his wings and screamed.

What kind of animal is Bill, the live mascot of the US Naval Academy's sports teams?

Bill the Goat first appeared in 1890, and dozens of animals have carried the name since. The legend starts with the livestock that ships once carried for fresh food.

Which pack animal has been the mascot of the US Military Academy at West Point since 1899?

Mule teams had hauled Army gear for generations, so they were the obvious pick when an officer decided the team needed a mascot. The first well-recorded one, Mr. Jackson, was a retired pack animal.

Chesty, the US Marine Corps mascot named after its most decorated Marine, is which dog breed?

Bulldog mascots have served the Marines since 1922, beginning with one called Jiggs. The choice recalls the nickname devil dogs, said to have come from German soldiers.

Smoky, a four-pound dog found in a New Guinea foxhole during World War II, was which small breed?

Yorkshire terrier Smoky rode in a soldier's backpack on twelve air missions over the Pacific. She is credited with reviving interest in the once-obscure breed.

Which marine mammals does the US Navy train to clamp a cuff onto the limb of an intruding swimmer?

Sea lions carry the cuff in their mouths and clip it around a swimmer's limb. Another Navy team uses them to find and hook up test equipment lost on the sea floor.

Bucephalus, a horse honoured with a city named after him, carried which famous commander into battle?

Alexander the Great is said to have won the horse as a boy by taming an animal that nobody else could handle. His father had refused to buy such a wild creature.

Marengo, a war horse whose skeleton is displayed at London's National Army Museum, belonged to which emperor?

Napoleon's grey Arabian is said to have carried him at Austerlitz and Waterloo, where the stallion was captured. Marengo reportedly lived to the age of 38.

Traveller, an iron-grey horse who outlived his rider by only a few months, carried which Civil War general?

Robert E. Lee acquired Traveller in 1862 and rode him in many battles. The horse was first named Jeff Davis and had won prizes at Virginia fairs as a colt.

Comanche, a US Army horse preserved at the University of Kansas, was a famous survivor of which 1876 battle?

Little Bighorn left Comanche badly wounded, but he was nursed back to health and never ridden again. He is often called the only survivor, a legend that is not quite accurate.

A riderless horse in a military funeral procession carries which items reversed in its stirrups?

Boots facing backwards sit in the stirrups as the horse follows the casket. A horse named Black Jack did the job at the funerals of Presidents Kennedy, Hoover and Johnson.

Which branch of an army, whose armoured riders became medieval knights, traditionally fought on horseback?

Cavalry gave a fighter extra height, speed and weight over an enemy on foot. Soldiers who rode to the battle but got off to fight were known as dragoons.

The label K-9, used for police and military dog units, is a spoken pun on which word?

Canine, said aloud, sounds just like the letter K followed by the number nine. US dog teams in the Vietnam War are estimated to have saved over 10,000 lives.

Lackland Air Force Base, where dogs and handlers train for the whole US military, is in which state?

Texas hosts the base inside San Antonio, where one squadron trains working dogs for the entire Department of Defense. It is nicknamed the Gateway to the Air Force.

Which breed became the official dog of the US Marine Corps in World War II and is honoured on Guam?

Doberman Pinscher scouts warned Marines of hidden enemy troops on Guam in 1944. One of them, Kurt, is credited in a handler's memoir with saving 250 men.

What kind of animal was Jackie, a South African Army mascot in World War I who saluted officers?

Jackie the baboon was found on a farm by Albert Marr, who refused to leave him at home when drafted in 1915. After the war Jackie was given a medal and a corporal's rank.

Which noisy birds are said to have woken Rome's defenders when Gauls climbed the Capitoline Hill at night?

Geese sacred to the goddess Juno cackled as the attackers climbed, rousing a former consul named Manlius. He rushed to the spot and threw the leading climbers back down.

Which animal did stretcher bearer John Simpson use to carry wounded Australian soldiers at Gallipoli in 1915?

Donkey names in his team included Duffy, Murphy and Queen Elizabeth, and he used at least five of the animals. He kept the work up for three and a half weeks, often under fire.

Cairo, a dog who served with US Navy SEALs on a famous 2011 raid in Pakistan, was which breed?

Belgian Malinois dogs are named after the region around Mechelen, called Malines in French, where shepherds once used them. Cairo's job on the raid was to track anyone who tried to slip away.

Just Nuisance, the only dog ever officially enlisted in Britain's Royal Navy, was which very large breed?

Great Dane Nuisance kept riding trains with sailors without a ticket, so the navy enlisted him, which gave him free rail travel. He was later promoted to able seaman.

Which bird of prey was chosen as the US Air Force Academy mascot by the school's first graduating class?

Falcon number one reached the academy in October 1955 and was called Mach 1. Every performing bird since has been named by the cadet who handles it.

Sinbad, a mixed-breed dog who spent 11 years at sea aboard the ship Campbell, served in which US service?

Coast Guard enlistment papers are said to carry his pawprint in place of a signature. In battle he stayed below decks, away from the noise of the guns.

Copenhagen, a chestnut war horse, carried which British commander through the Battle of Waterloo in 1815?

The Duke of Wellington retired his favourite mount to a country estate, where the horse lived to 28. Copenhagen had an odd habit of eating while lying down.

Which hopping desert rodent became the badge of Britain's 7th Armoured Division, nicknamed the Desert Rats?

Jerboa is the proper name of the animal the soldiers called a desert rat. It looks like a miniature kangaroo and escapes danger with sharp turns and great leaps.

Which word, borrowed from Hindi, names the rider and keeper who guided a war elephant into battle?

Mahout riders traditionally stayed with one elephant for the whole of its working life. The job was often handed down within families over generations.

According to ancient writers, the noise of which farm animals sent war elephants bolting in terror?

Pigs so alarmed the giants that the Roman writer Pliny the Elder said the smallest squeal would scare them. One king kept a swine among his herd so they got used to it.

Which farm birds did US Marines bring to Kuwait as living alarms for poisonous gas?

Chickens gave the plan its cheeky name, Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken, or KFC for short. The Marines' official label for the birds was Poultry Chemical Confirmation Devices.

Which small songbirds did World War I tunnellers keep underground to warn of dangerous gas?

Canaries were issued as official army kit, and one company kept records so that no bird was gassed more than three times. After that it was pensioned off to an aviary.

Which animal, a surprise gift from Soviet allies in 1941, lived aboard the British submarine HMS Trident?

Reindeer Pollyanna settled in so well on table scraps and condensed milk that she ate a few of the navigation maps. She spent the rest of her days in a zoo.

Magawa, a giant rat awarded a gold medal for sniffing out landmines, did his work in which country?

Cambodia gained 56 acres of cleared land from his five years of work, in which he found 71 landmines. He was light enough to walk over them without setting them off.

Bing, a dog serving with British airborne troops, reached Normandy on D-Day in 1944 by what means?

Parachute jumps did not thrill him at first: he had to be coaxed out of the plane with a piece of meat. He then landed in a tree and needed rescuing.

Which name was given to the prized medieval war horse, also called the Great Horse, that carried knights in jousts?

Destrier prices were steep: at the time of the Crusades a fine one was valued at seven or eight times an ordinary horse. Most knights rode other kinds of mount.

Nelson and Blueskin, two horses ridden through the American Revolutionary War, belonged to which general?

George Washington preferred Nelson in battle because the chestnut stayed calm around gunfire, while Blueskin was skittish. Both retired to a life of ease at Mount Vernon.

Mercy dogs, sent to find wounded soldiers after World War I battles, were often trained by which organisation?

Red Cross societies trained many of the animals, which carried first-aid supplies that an injured man could use himself. They are credited with saving thousands of lives.

Sandy, the only horse known to have returned to Australia after World War I, was of which breed?

Waler is short for New South Waler, after the colony where the breed began. More than 120,000 of them were sent overseas in the war, where they carried the Light Horse regiments.