Many dogs have gone to war, but few have reached the level of fame and glory of the lovable Sergeant Stubby, the only recorded dog that was officially ranked sergeant in the U.S. military.
This canine wonder’s military career began when he snuck onto the grounds of Yale University, where the 102nd Infantry Division was training in 1917. Incredibly smart, Stubby imitated the soldier’s drills, famously learning to do a salute by raising his right paw to his head. When the division was sent to Europe to fight, he was smuggled onto the ship, using his salute trick to melt the heart of the commanding officer who discovered him.
In France, the dog was in many battles in the trenches, suffering wounds and serving his troop by warning them of mustard gas and artillery attacks, as well as helping retreat wounded soldiers trapped in no man’s land.
After the war, Sergeant Stubby was treated as a war soldier, invited to the White House and led many parades. When he died in 1926, his skin was mounted over a plaster cast that contains his ashes, which is now displayed at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, dressed in uniform and proudly wearing his medals.
