Sergeant Stubby: Dog and Decorated World War One Hero

Sgt. Stubby. Hero of World War One. Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Sgt. Stubby: The Most Decorated Dog of World War One

Sergeant Stubby was a plucky canine who did his duty in France during World War One with the 102nd Infantry Regiment, 26th Yankee Division, U.S. Army. He remains the only dog in U.S. history to be nominated and promoted to the rank of sergeant through combat, and he was the most decorated dog of the Great War.

He was born in 1916, and he was probably a mixed breed, predominantly a bull terrier or Boston terrier. In July 1917, he was wandering around in the summer heat at the Yale University campus where the 102nd infantry regiment was training.

Perhaps stray Stubby had an inclination towards a military life. He stopped to watch the men, and day after day, he and the soldiers, particularly Corporal James Robert Conroy (1892-1987), bonded. Conroy called him Stubby in reference to his short tail. The soldiers taught him tricks, including how to salute and how to respond to drill commands.

When the regiment departed on a troop ship for France, the young pup was smuggled aboard to join his two-footed comrades. J. Robert Conroy hid him in his overcoat as they boarded and later disembarked in France.

Sgt. Stubby on WW1's Western Front, Northern France

When the regiment's commanding officer learned of the dog's presence it might have been the end of Stubby's adventure. Happily, when he saluted, the commanding officer was charmed, and the terrier was permitted to stay with the men.

Stubby served in the trenches of the Western Front for eighteen months, and he was soon made a corporal like his best friend Conroy. Stubby helped to maintain morale, and he soothed the wounded soldiers.

In Argonne, north-east France, he captured a German spy by biting him and refusing to let go until Allied humans appeared. His commanding officer nominated Stubby for promotion, and he was appointed a sergeant. He now outranked Conroy.

When Sgt. Stubby was incapacitated by mustard gas, a mask was designed to protect him from the noxious fumes. His canine sense of detection, far superior to the human sense, meant that he alerted the soldiers to mustard gas attacks, and he heard the whines of advancing shells long before the humans; he was their early warning system. Stubby sought out countless soldiers in no-mans land by listening for English words. His endeavours were enthusiastically reported on in America, and he soon became a national hero.

Sgt. Stubby participated in seventeen WW1 battles and he was part of four offensives. He earned a remarkable haul of medals.

Sgt. Stubby Wounded

Sgt. Stubby was injured by a German hand grenade thrown by a retreating soldier in April 1918. One of his front legs was badly wounded, so he was sent to safety to convalesce. He was not idle; he cheered up other wounded soldiers as he healed.

He returned to the trenches for the final months of World War One; a grenade exploded and left his chest and one leg damaged, but you can't keep a good dog down.

After the allies took back Chateau-Thierry, a town in northern France, grateful residents rewarded Stubby with a little coat on which his mass of medals was proudly pinned.

When the war ended, J. Robert Conroy and Stubby travelled home to the U.S. Sgt. Stubby found himself in great demand leading military parades across America, and he had a career on the vaudeville circuit.

Civilian Conroy chose to study at Georgetown University Law Center; Stubby accompanied him. As Georgetown Hoyas football team's mascot, Stubby amused people during the halftime break by playing with his football and using his nose to prod it across the field. (Today's mascot is Jack the Bulldog).

Three U.S. Presidents Meet Sgt. Stubby 

Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge had the pleasure of meeting the four-pawed national hero.

The Humane Education Society awarded him their gold medal, which he added to his other honours of lifetime memberships of the Y.M.C.A., which included three bones a day, and the American Legion.

Canine hero Sergeant Stubby died in his sleep on 16th March 1926, and a taxidermist preserved him for posterity. In 1956 Conroy gifted the remains to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. His obituary in the New York Times was half a page long, more than many prominent humans of the era expected.

He has been the subject of at least four books and an award-winning 2018 animated film titled Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero.

In May 2018, J. Robert Conroy's descendants unveiled a bronze statue of Stubby at the Veteran's Memorial Park, Middletown, Connecticut. Designed by Susan Bahary, it's called "Stubby Salutes."

Please click here to view it: https://baharystudios.com/art/stubby-salutes

There has never been another dog like Sergeant Stubby, the stray who became a war hero and national treasure.

Sources

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7g9mfr

https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_439710

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergeant-Stubby