A Syrian brown bear was officially enlisted as a private in the Polish Army, carried artillery shells at Monte Cassino, and was eventually promoted to corporal.
Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear cub found near Hamedan, Iran in 1943, purchased by Polish soldiers from a young shepherd. An 18-year-old Polish refugee named Irena Bokiewicz helped convince a lieutenant to take him in after his mother had been shot by hunters.
As he grew, Wojtek imitated the soldiers around him — learning to carry supplies, march on two legs, and even salute officers. He loved cigarettes, which soldiers taught him to eat rather than smoke, and had a particular fondness for beer.
When British transport regulations prohibited animal mascots on military convoys, the Polish Army had a creative solution: they formally enlisted Wojtek as a private in the 22nd Artillery Supply Company, giving him the rank, service number 253, and full soldier status.
At the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, one of the bloodiest engagements of the Italian campaign, Wojtek hauled 100-pound crates of artillery shells — work that normally took four men. He never dropped a single one, matching the soldiers load for load under fire.
The soldiers were so proud of their unlikely comrade that they immortalized him in the badge of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company: a bear carrying an artillery shell, a design that remains in use to this day.
After the war ended, Wojtek was demobilized in 1947 and transferred to Edinburgh Zoo, where former Polish soldiers would come to visit, sometimes tossing him cigarettes and speaking Polish to him through the bars. He recognized them and responded with visible excitement.
Wojtek died on December 2, 1963, weighing nearly 500 kilograms and standing over 5 feet 11 inches tall. Statues in his honor stand in Edinburgh, London, Ottawa, and Kraków — a permanent tribute to the bear who fought for Poland.