Sargent Stubby was the Pit Bull hero of
World War I. He enlisted in the most unlikely of circumstances, wandering onto
Yale University Field (which was being used at the time for military
training)as a stray. His stocky looks and good nature made him the perfect
mascot. When the soldiers were deploying, they had a quandary. Most of them would
be traveling via mass transit and they couldn’t sneak a dog on with them.
That’s when they discovered that Corporal J. Conroy would be traveling in a
supply car. At first he was resistant to the idea, but after meeting the
endearing canine, he couldn’t refuse. Somehow the soldiers managed to smuggle
Stubby over to Europe (he wasn’t a trained military dog), and there his heroic
career began. He managed to alert soldiers to gas attacks in time for them to
get their gas masks on, he captured a German spy and even saved a girl from an
oncoming car! Stubby almost perished from poison gas as well as a grenade
attack, but the scrappy Pit Bull pulled through. After 18 months in Europe
Stubby returned home with Corporal Conroy. When he attended Georgetown University
Law School, Stubby became the unofficial Hoya mascot. Stubby died in 1926. His
body is kept by the Smithsonian museum
Source: Dog Reflection
