Sergeant Stubby: The Most Decorated Dog of the First World War

This week, we’re diving into the incredible story of Sergeant Stubby—the most decorated war dog of World War I.

​From a stray mutt wandering the streets of Connecticut to a bone fide military hero, Stubby wasn't just a mascot. He learned how to salute, survived mustard gas and grenade attacks, caught a German spy by the seat of his pants, warned his colleagues of incoming danger, met three U.S. presidents and won two Purple Hearts.

Join Neil has he tells how a short-tailed terrier mix, smuggled into Europe, became a much loved warrior, and why he deserves a 21-gun salute (and a massive pile of treats).

​If you love comedy history podcasts, military tales, and legendary animals, this episode is a walk in the park.
​Subscribe for more weird history, funny biographies, and untold stories!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:26

Was a conflict so devastating it involved over thirty countries and changed military history forever. Known as the Great War, it was defined by a brutal mix of extreme weather, relentless physical danger, and the notoriously harsh and sanitary conditions of trench warfare. Come with us to the grim reality of World War One. Soldiers in the trenches were plagued by rats infested with lice and constantly under threat from artillery and gunfire. Yet, amidst the horrors of the First World War, an unbelievable true story of survival and loyalty emerged. For the men of the 102nd Regiment US Infantry, something was about to happen that would boost morale beyond measure. This is the story of an unbreakable friendship, an historic partnership, and a legendary animal, the most famous dog of World War One. I'm Steve, he's Neil, and this is Honourable Mentions. Honourable Mentions. Hello Honorable Wesler. How are you? What do you think to that for an introduction today? We've got something a bit different, because we're not going to talk about a penison, we're going to talk about a little doggy. A little puppy. A little bow wow. And to do that, what we need to do first of all is to invite Orphan Body's favourite peck onto the show. Let's see if he's available if we can tempt him out of his own kennel with a little sausage.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Hello, Hello, Steve, and put your little sausage away.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

Oh took me a long while to get that out.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

I should say, hello, Steve.

SPEAKER_05 2:24

Like skimpy go.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah. Yeah. Reggae. Yeah.

unknown 2:30

Reggie.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

How are you, please?

SPEAKER_05 2:32

Um well, I've had a bit of a morning this morning.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

What was that?

SPEAKER_05 2:37

I spent quite a lot of time trying to hang wallpaper, and every time I do it, it kept forming down again, or it kept smearing, or I couldn't get it right. In the end, I nailed it. That's a joke, listener. Right at the beginning. Right at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Oh no, straight in there. Straight in there.

SPEAKER_05 2:57

So anymore, what do you know about Stonley today's subject?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Stephen, I I know a plethora about him, and as a matter of fact, I would like to tell the story if possible.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

I see. Yes. So all this newfound phone you have is going to your head, I think. Who's been whispering war here?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Well, I've been stopped in the streets just by random people. A lot of them asking for directions, but I know what they meant. I never asking. I mean there's people that are stopping me in the streets and asking me for directions, but I I sign whatever they've got. Sometimes I just sign their jacket, so they're not really happy about it, but I know what they're after.

SPEAKER_05 3:42

Am I going to become the destiny's child to your Beyoncé?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

If that's what you want to be, yeah, can do.

SPEAKER_05 3:47

Yeah, something like that. Oh, the single ladies. Oh, the single leaders. Yeah, it's already happening, isn't it? I'm a bit concerned that someone's been whispering there and trying to convince you that you're big bigger for your boots than your own.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

No, that's just I I'm very interested in the sergeant of Sergeant Stubby.

SPEAKER_05 4:05

You don't even say his name, Sultan. Sorgeant Sergeant Stubby. Well, what do you mean, Whistler? How do you feel about this sudden commandeering of Honourable Mansions? I'm not sure. But shall we give him a go? What's that you say? Yes, bless him. Okay. Well, let him see if he can tell us how how easy it is. Because the thing is, Neil, you've been working with a consummate professional who can make this sort of thing seem very easy. And it's not really.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

It's not easy, no. It's not easy.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

So we'll see how you get on. Let's crack on. Well, can I do the um reward engines then?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Yes, if you want to, yes. I'll start it with I'll go with I'm Neil, he's Steve, and this is Honoring Deal and one chums.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

How was that?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Shite.

SPEAKER_05 5:01

Oh. Right, go on, then. Bored already. Go on.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Right. Okay. This is a story of the world's famous World War dog.

SPEAKER_05 5:12

Go on then.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

We start, Steve.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

Yes, go on. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

With a child born on the 27th of February 1892 in New Britain, Connecticut. His name was James Robert Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 5:29

Wasn't this then? James Robert Conroy was a child who was born. That's got to do with the dog, please. Anyway, come on, go on.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Wait and see. Go on. Wait and see. Go on. He had a hard life from the beginning, losing both of his parents in short succession. He's a bit careless. His mother passed away in 1895, and his father shortly after in 1899. Because he was orphaned so early in childhood, specific details regarding the parents' exact cause of death are not well documented. So I couldn't really find out much about that. He must have been able to get an education because we know he studied law at Georgetown Universitar.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

Okay, so far, so dull. Yes, come on. Come on. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

From this, he served as an investigator with the Army Intelligence before enlisting in the infantry in 1917 when America joined the Great War. His enlisting was with the Connecticut National Guard on the 21st of May 1917. A member of Company E 1st Infantry. Within weeks he transferred to the headquarters of the 102nd Regiment based in Yale Field, rising to the rank of first class, later to become corporal. So he became Corporal James Robert Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 6:40

That's what happens when you get to be a corporal.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Combat training was to take place in the grounds of Yale University. Coincidentally, this was also in the region of Yale Field.

SPEAKER_05 6:49

When I was doing my military training, the Sergeant came up to me and said, I didn't see you in cameras when I was training this morning, son.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

I said, Oh, thanks very much, Sergeant.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

During the training, Stephen, they were put under stringent exercises, readying them for combat. They clambered under nets, jumped walls, jamming knives into violent stuffed Hessian sacks, known throughout Europe as one of the most dangerous frontline defences.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

That's like when you were doing your swimming and you get your old and silver and bronze survival.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

That actually happened to me, but I had to they had to wait while I Yeah, they had to wait while I went home and got my pajamas on.

SPEAKER_05 7:49

Oh I'm actually in my pajamas. At the time I could help him immediately, I'd swing through this weighted down plastic hoop, pick up the brick, and return it to the surface.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

And did it only one go?

SPEAKER_05 8:01

Yeah, it was close, it was close. But they were so great.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Did they thank you for the brick?

SPEAKER_05 8:06

They did, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Did the did they say thank you, brick?

SPEAKER_05 8:10

No, um well, it sounded like that, but they might have said prick. I can't remember what it was. They're bump drawing as well. But it was a side issue.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Oh okay. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_05 8:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Anyway, there's to be a montage of his training now, Steve, in your head. Think about it. Doing push-ups in the mud and rain. Who's this? Who?

SPEAKER_05 8:32

Who talked about?

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Ooh, Scooby-Doo. Who do you think? I don't know, that's why I've asked. The soldiers. All of them? James Robert Conroy, yes. They're in Yale Universitar doing their basic training or their combat training, ready to go to war. Corporal.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

James Robert.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Corporal James Robert Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

Give me a second, please, while I just imagine this picture.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Imagine yourself on a muddy field. Yeah. Yeah. He's doing push he's doing push-ups in the mud and the rain.

SPEAKER_05 9:06

Why is he inside in the gym?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Because they don't do that in the gym in films, do they? They're always outside in the mud in the rain. They're all getting wet and they're all got yeah, the extreme weathers. Oh, this is in films, doesn't it? They're running Yeah, running around the parade square with a rifle over his head. He spent a lot of his time rehearsing with the fellow infantrymen some of the annoying songs they sang when they go on them runs. Sound of sound. What's the point of that? Stephen, you did a little bit of military training. Did you do those sing songs when you were running along?

SPEAKER_05 9:38

I don't know that it's been said.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Did you do anything? Um What do you know about combat training, Stephen? Please tell me.

SPEAKER_05 9:49

Well, I'll know a little about combat trousers.

unknown 9:53

Right.

SPEAKER_05 9:53

They're the ones that got lots of pockets.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Yeah. But did you have to learn um songs when you're running when you do when you're running? Did you have to learn to say the sound of peace or that rubbish?

SPEAKER_05 10:06

Well that normally it's been said.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yeah. You said that already. It wasn't funny the first time. But never mind.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

It was, I keep trying it.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah, you keep trying it. Very tired of it. But I just don't understand why they're doing songs. Is it to is it to help with the pace or the because I was just going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:28

Yeah, that's because they're I think it's because mainly they're Americans.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Right, okay, fair enough.

SPEAKER_05 10:35

And also, it is because they're Americans and they're loud and obnoxious. And it might have something to do with your breathing. Because it's very difficult when you're going on a jog, for example, in uniform. I don't mean what you're wearing, your attire, I mean in uniform step and line with everybody else and not breaking the rules. It's very difficult to do that and sing a song or something at the same time. Because your breathing needs to be such a so that's probably one of the reasons they do it. And that's very that's a very serious comment, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

It was a very serious comment, yes.

SPEAKER_05 11:19

Anyway, cop watching the water. Oh yeah, it's been said. I've adopted that one.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

You've done that already. Right. Or Conroy, or Conroy as we're going to call him from now on because it's easier, noticed that he was being followed during his vigorous activities. Was it the Germans? No. He was being watched. Some may say stalked. Or did he have an erection? Yep. He kept hearing the tiny pitter patter of feet and then seeing bursts of movements between the trees that flanked the training grounds.

SPEAKER_05 11:51

Was it the Germans?

SPEAKER_01 11:53

He was intrigued and not a little curious.

SPEAKER_05 11:56

He was in the trees as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yeah, yeah. Over time the stalker gained confidence and started laying on the grass in full sight of everyone, laying on his back and sunning his undercroft.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Knowing why?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yep, taking in everything the men were doing, every move they make, every step they take, he was watching them. Okay that one. Conroy, gaining confidence, started to attempt interaction with the follower, offering treats and tit No just listen. Offering treats and tit pits And by these I mean small morsels of food, not nipples. These are a different kind of end titty all That was good, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_05 12:53

Sorry. What was? What was good?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Never mind. A bond was forming gradually, confidence grew with each other, they would look for each other every day at training.

SPEAKER_05 13:06

Who would?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

The Stalker and Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 13:08

You still got it.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Soon they would be to be inseparable. Training, eating, and sleeping together. As in staying in the same room as each other, as friends and comrades, not the not the Michael Jackson version.

SPEAKER_05 13:21

Allegedly. Can we just say?

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Allegedly, allegedly, sorry, yes, allegedly, not the Michael Jackson version. Sorry about that. They had become friends, and Conroy had befriended a stray dog.

SPEAKER_05 13:34

Whoa, alleged oh, you've made to be a dog.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:41

You had to have more lynch.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

The dog was possibly a Boston Terrier. They couldn't really no one really knew. As we call it over here a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

SPEAKER_05 13:51

Why didn't I really know, please?

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Because he was straying, there was no records or anything like that. It was just on the identification. Sometimes you get crossbreeds and things, you say, what dog's that? Well, we don't really know. We don't know he's got a leopard door, but it's like that. So they believed him to be a Boston Terrier, or over here a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

SPEAKER_05 14:10

So it wasn't like a chora or a gashend or something, a greyhound, something that is a very particular, and everyone would know what it is just by looking at it.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

The dog was stocky with short tail, brown in colour, and four legs.

SPEAKER_05 14:25

Oh, a lot of dogs have four legs. That would be one way of telling.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah, I know exactly. That's why I said you know, put it in there, because I thought awkward s like you. I mean, people like you would be uh trying to put me up on it.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

All I did was very quickly identifying that a lot of dogs have four legs and therefore it it could have been a dog.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Well, because it had a very short tail, the chaps, mainly Conroy, decided to name the dog Stubby. That's a bit personal, isn't it? Oh yeah, I'd have thought Steve would have been more appropriate, but never mind.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

Well, that's a bit personal, because if you come across someone, I don't know, who only had one leg, would they have called him limpy?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

No, I think it's a bit sixty if you want to come across someone with one leg. You've done something wrong with you, you've got a bit of a fetish. I think Stubby's a good name. You've got to think of it for a dog, you've got to think of a name you can call him back, you know, with a Stubby, come here.

SPEAKER_05 15:16

I'd have called it. Or in the chairman white light. Or something like that. So when you had to call it back, you'd been sold in the the enemy.

SPEAKER_04 15:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Well, it was thought that Stubby was born by his mother in 1916.

SPEAKER_05 15:32

Well, I'd imagine that's pretty safe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, that's why I put it in. No official date as known because Stubby was, as James Conroy was, a stray from birth.

SPEAKER_05 15:44

James Conroy was a stray, was he? I thought he was just orphaned.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

He was orphaned. Similar sort of thing, isn't it? It's a stray, it's a dog's version of an orphany sort of thing, isn't it? Anyway, probably in the ghettos, living off scraps and handouts from kindly folk. He used to roam the gardens of Yo University.

SPEAKER_05 16:01

Did you hear that?

SPEAKER_01 16:03

What?

SPEAKER_05 16:04

I think it was the political corruption being thrown out of the window. And carry on.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Perhaps looking for love, a companion, or a home. Back then I don't think he knew his future. He had no idea he was to become more famous than David Hasselhoff. Who was to be? More of a legend than Colonel Hannibal Smith. Just not as good as making tanks from pedal cars.

SPEAKER_05 16:27

But he wasn't as big a legend as BA.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

BA's a legend.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

Yeah. So yeah. So Hannibal, but not BA. What about face?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Hmm. Anyway, Comroy and Stubby became a double act. Inseparable.

SPEAKER_05 16:42

Well, did they?

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Bit like cheese and wine. Peanut butter and jam. Cannon and ball? Yeah, cannonball. Roast potatoes and lemon curd. Oh. Laura and Waddie. That's nice. Should try that. Yeah, well, probably. We'll go with that. They would run merrily through fields of long grass. Stumpy would jump playfully as Conroy ran his hands through the tall vegetation. Conroy on occasions would fall over and Stumpy would immediately jump on his stomach and start licking his face.

SPEAKER_05 17:10

This is starting to sound a bit wrong. Are we going down a particular route here? No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Usually he'd jump on his face and start licking his face. Usually just after giving his bum hole a good self-bath. Eating the peach, doing the laundry, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_05 17:27

I went in a pub once and they had the dog sitting there and it was it was licking its own balls. And I said to the landlord, Oh, I wish I could do that. The landlord said, Give him a biscuit and I'll let ya Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Then one day he had a phone call. Who did? Conroy. Oh Conroy. Yeah, he got given his papers.

SPEAKER_05 18:03

That was my impression.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

That was very good. He was he was called to go to war. He was Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 18:13

I thought Conroy's name is Conroy.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 18:16

Yeah. And then you just said he was called go to war.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

No, James Robert Conroy was given his papers the phone call away. They was told it was time for them to go to war. Well, okay with you. Yeah, carry on. But what about Stubby? Oh depends on what is gonna happen to Stubby? I don't know. I'm gripped. Well the bond is so strong between Corporal Conroy and Stubby he couldn't say goodbye to him. Didn't he? So he decided to smuggle him on board.

SPEAKER_05 18:44

Not a can say goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

On board the ship. Yep. But oh no, Steve, not another bit of trauma. Guess what? Sometime during the crossing, someone spotted his Stubby. Oh no. And reported him to the commanding officer.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

Oh, what a grass. Who was that?

SPEAKER_01 19:00

I don't know. They came across him and then went and told him. It was the commanding officer of the ship. He demanded that the dog was tossed off overboard. By the way, that's nothing. No one came forward, so the alternative was to get him sent back to America. What happened next was the start of Stubby's fame amongst the men.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

Oh, did he sp or what did he go thing build out of toothpaste and some matchsticks, like a Silvisabon submarine, and was able to float under the boat undetected.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

That would have been a very good idea. That would have been a very good idea, but I don't think that worked. He could have used my ruse of trying to sort of gain favour with a dolphin and follow behind, but he didn't do any of that.

SPEAKER_05 19:45

Didn't do any of that. Oh let me keep this in.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

No. So in the commander's officers, after a damn good stripping down of Conroy.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

You won't want to stop the pigeon. And then go.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

He couldn't do it because he had a very stubby tail.

SPEAKER_05 20:07

That one's out as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

After a damn good dress down of Conroy, Stumpy sat bolt upright and then lifted his chin high and saluted the commanding officer. What? So Stubby sat down on the floor, lifted his chin and saluted the officer.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

I think my explanation, the Motley one, is probably more realistic than that.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Well, this is what's been written. Done. This is documented. This melted the heart of the commanding officer, and hooray! Stubby was allowed to stay on board, and he was officially made a private of the 102nd Infantry.

SPEAKER_05 20:41

Did they ever use his plans to build a submarine out of toothpaste and max six?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

No, that's that's still with NASA at the moment. So anyway, after a long journey at sea, they arrived in France on the 5th of February 1918 at Chemin des Doms, north of Soissons.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

North of Both.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

However you say it. Chemin des Dames, Chemin des Dames, north of Soissons, which is S-O-I-S-S-O-N-S.

SPEAKER_05 21:07

Somewhat swinging then. Actually, somewhere in France. Right, carry on.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

But as they landed, they were immediately sent forward to the front lines. Their welcome was a was a whole month of constant incoming fire and artillery shells day and night. Relentless.

SPEAKER_05 21:22

That's not a very nice welcome.

unknown 21:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Comrade was worried about how Stubby would react. The constant banging and flashing, loud noises, and endless whooping of the Americans. Remarkably, he remained cool and calm, taking it on his stride. This is Stubby in all the warfare, all the noise and everything else. And he soon became a favourite amongst the men of the 102nd Infantry. They spent many a day in the trenches on the front line, Stubby and Conroy, side by side with each other, and they fought side by side as well. And you've got to think, you've got a dog in the trenches, relentless weather, extreme weather, wet, men were full of lice, rats. Running all over the place, excrement and stuff all over everywhere else. The morale was really, really low. Everything was horrible conditions. And all of a sudden, this dog appears. Super friendly. Sure they weren't in Northampton. I suppose if you want to get an idea of what the trenches were like in World War I, you should perhaps go to Northampton. For the rats and the lice and the mud and the Yeah, well I imagine there'd be more extra mint in the street in Northampton. But there was a lot of it about so you've you've literally got to live in them sort of conditions. You've got constant gunfire, artillery fire, you've got rice, and not uh lice. We might even add rice as well to eat. Yeah. You've got rats crawling over you when you're trying to have a sleep. It's just it's horrific. And then along came Stumpy. And Stumpy put a smile on their face. His presence in the trenches was a massive, massive boost for morale.

SPEAKER_05 22:51

How's Jim Plinger?

SPEAKER_01 22:53

What's that, please?

SPEAKER_05 22:55

Who was asked to go out into Nine Man's Land with the plastic bags and pick up Stumpy's doo-doos?

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Well, let's have a look, Steve. There's there's probably half a horse, one place which got blown into bits. There's probably men's arms, legs, fingers, feet, eyeballs, heart, entrails, etc. Laid splattered all over this place. I'm not sure somebody's gonna go, well, no. I'm happy to step through a half a horse and all its guts, but I'm not gonna strip in that dog poop.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

So no one was going over the top to pick up stubbies.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

No, they weren't gonna pick up his poop, no. That's unsolitary. Well, I suppose when you're living in someone else's shite right next to your head when you're trying to have a sleep, it's a you know, you'd think to yourself, that little bit of dog poop there, pfft, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_05 23:38

So it really was like Northampton.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

It was like Northampton, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:42

Well dear. Go on.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Hmm. Anyway, in April 1919, Stubby was wounded. From a grenade that hit his foreleg.

SPEAKER_05 23:57

These bloody turns, I get the impression they look very nice.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

No, they weren't very nice, no, they were they were body, badly, badly horrible people. Anyway, he was sent back to the back lines for recovery, and a good rest, a few more treats, a bit more food, had probably had a wash, perhaps did his own laundry again. He returned to the front line and to the side of Corporal Conroy. Weeks later, he was also the victim of a mustard gas attack. Question, please, sir. Go on.

SPEAKER_05 24:27

What was Conroy doing while his friend was recuperating?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Carrying on with the battle.

SPEAKER_05 24:33

Wasn't he?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

So let's set them. He was at war, he wasn't sitting down playing Scrabble with the chaps.

SPEAKER_05 24:39

Why don't they throw mustard at each other?

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Why don't they throw what?

SPEAKER_05 24:43

Mustard. What sort of mustard was it? I think it was English mustard.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Mustard gas. Probably. No, it's English. Is that like when you open it?

SPEAKER_05 24:50

You open it and it the the lid pops. And then you get that waft that comes off it.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

Yeah. Is that mustard gas?

SPEAKER_01 24:58

No, but not everyone's got a nose the size of yours. Anyway, weeks later he was a victim of a mustard gas attack. His interest was not as bad as before, and he made a full, rapid recovery. From this, the men made him a special mask to protect him from future attacks, showing his importance of the hundred and second and the front line. A bit like me in our podcast, Steve, his presence in the trenches increased the men's morale tenfold. He was invaluable to their sanity. With all his experience and the battle scars he received, he became a vital part of the hundred and seconds. Stubby was able to detect imminent incoming gas attacks way before they were due to hit. He would wake up his comrades and bark the warning, letting them know, enabling the men to mask up and prepare for the attack. How did they know?

SPEAKER_05 25:49

Similarly, he could hear artillery fire as well before anyone else could, and again hand out a warning and the trenches to wanted what How did his friends know that what Stubbing was selling was incoming rustard attack? And nothing, how did us have landed once?

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Yeah, they must have landed once, and after that he must have tried to bark and they thought, ah, that's what he's barking at. That's what he's telling us. Good boy, Stubby. Well done, mate. So then he carried on with that again.

SPEAKER_05 26:15

Rusted. Oh, rusted.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

What the can you say that? Probably. I don't know. I didn't have I didn't find out if he could speak. But he did the same with artillery fire as well. He could hear the artillery fire before a human here could hear it, so he could lit again warn people to take cover because there was a fer tot style of attack. Steve, it's a it's a language, I mean, you know things, you talk to your dog that I speak to my dog in different ways, and they understand it, don't they? So they've obviously formed some sort of communication with each other, and it worked because he saved many, many lives. On top of this, he would take himself out into no man's land, where he would search out wounded soldiers left for dead. He would comfort them and call for support to come and retrieve these men, or simply sit by their side during their last moments on earth. Probably. They probably slipped on horse hand trails, or they probably slipped on another person that probably tripped over a man's arm or perhaps a half a head. So, Steve, stop having this fetish with dog poop.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

It's very insanitary, and we should have had someone out there with some plastic bags, or at least they could have had like a a post in the middle of nowhere's land with some plastic bags on it that people could have got and just torn off and then used it to pick up his pillow.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

I think perhaps next time I'm going to write to the defence secretary and just say we've got a person here, if you're ever using dogs in warfare again, he'd be more than happy to stand in the line of fire and pick up the poop. And I'll put your name on that. Is that okay?

SPEAKER_05 27:44

I've been supplying the bags. I can do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:48

Okay, carry on, carry on.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Anyway, he saved the lives of many. You did, don't you? He was also yeah, he was also credited for a single pouringly, or single-handedly, whatever you want to say, bringing down a fleeing German soldier. Nobody. After a grenade attack, chasing him down, biting him in the buttocks, dragging him to the ground, and holding him hostage until support arrived. I know I did. I was looking at you and I said that as well. What a dog, Steve.

SPEAKER_05 28:17

What a dog, Steve.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

All this was without training, without prior training, no education on how to differentiate between friend or foe. It was purely from his observations in Yale and his love for his comrades. He literally saved hundreds of lives.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

Told the gentleman's working once lately, they've had some sort of bratvurst or something about their person. So perhaps he was able to smell that and sniff that out and identify them.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

My thought would be, Steve, that it's this person these people were attacking his friends and he thought, I'm not having any of that. And this guy started to leg it because they've run in, done the grenade attack and run out, and Stubby thought, I'm having him, chasing him out, jumped onto no man's lab, grabbed him on the buttocks, dragged him to the floor. You're with us, son, now.

SPEAKER_05 29:03

Well done, Stubby. I don't mention he got some sort of promotion, did he?

SPEAKER_01 29:08

He did, Steve, yes, but it comes a bit later on.

SPEAKER_05 29:11

Oh sorry, have I jumped ahead in your little story?

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:13

Did he have a team hat?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

In all in all, Steve, Subby served 18 months in the army.

SPEAKER_05 29:19

Not done stubs.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

If you're in the if you're in an army, if you're in that warfare, how many battles would you say would be a decent number of battles to be in? Or would you think just have quote yeah, that's a lot, or bloody bloody blah, what would you say would be a reasonable amount of battles to be in?

SPEAKER_05 29:34

Well, they weren't there for 18 months, weren't they? Because they arrived in February 1918, and the whole thing ceased to be on the 11th of November, of course, of the same year. So we're talking about nine months? So half of his total serving time was spent in the front. So half of that, um he then went and did stuff. So you're asking me how many battles he was in, are you please?

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Yes. Okay. Stubby four. We'll crack on with it then.

SPEAKER_05 30:10

So any stubby um times four, first number I think of, number of letters in stubby is what, five, six letters in stubby divided by the colour orange. I think that he was somewhere around in nine months somewhere around in nine months um twenty battles. No, sure. Lower lower than twenty battles.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 30:48

Two battles.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Seventeen. Seventeen battles. It's W 14, 17 battles and four offensive. In the Western Front. You've been offensive throughout this podcast. He'd become the most decorated dog in World War One. He was promoted to sergeant. He was given a gold medal, a wound stripe, and two purple hearts.

SPEAKER_03 31:10

So who was the second most decorated dog? Sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

Go through his irons again, please, because I was trying to figure out who was the other decorated dogs, but I couldn't. So he won the purple heart, that's a major one, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

He got a gold medal, which is a gold medal. The major one, yeah. Gold medal in warfare. A wound stripe, because of returns, yeah. And two purple hearts.

SPEAKER_05 31:41

Two purple hearts, and what were they for? One was a captain. Capturing the German fella.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah, and his gallantry and his helpful as other soldiers in the trenches.

SPEAKER_05 31:52

So he didn't get anything for his invention of the submarine he made out of toothpaste and matchsticks?

SPEAKER_01 31:58

No, soldier, that's still with NASA.

SPEAKER_05 32:00

Oh, okay. Well, yeah, so yeah, he did all like the boy, didn't he? How did they attach these medals, please?

SPEAKER_01 32:06

How did they what?

SPEAKER_05 32:07

How did they attach these medals to Stubby?

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Velcro.

SPEAKER_05 32:10

That hurt though and you'd be a bit off, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah. Or superglue, something like that.

SPEAKER_05 32:15

Oh boy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Anyway, after the war, he was made the official mascot of Georgetown Hoyers from Georgetown Universitar.

SPEAKER_05 32:22

Uh sorry, so yeah, Georgetown bot.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Hoyers. Hoyers. O Y A S. Yes, it's one of their teams. Oh because at Georgetown University, and the reason it was that was because James Robert Conroy continued his law studies and actually became a graduate of law from Georgetown University.

SPEAKER_05 32:41

Did he?

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Yep. He led many parades across the US.

SPEAKER_05 32:46

And this one is who? Tom Royd or Stubby?

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Stubby.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Loads of all these different parades they have in America. He led lots of the it was at the front line but in front of them because he was so famous and everybody wanted to see him. He met presidents Wilson, Coolidge, and Harding. Oh no. He had movies made about him.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

Well no, why?

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yeah. He enjoyed fame and notoriety right across the USA and beyond.

SPEAKER_05 33:12

And where can we find these movies about him, please?

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Wherever you get your films from. There's one out there Story of Sergeant Stubby.

SPEAKER_05 33:20

Story of Sergeant Stubby. And in Story of Sergeant Stubby, is he playing himself or have they got in some actor dog?

SPEAKER_01 33:30

G I. Yeah. What do you call it? What do they call it? A what do they call it when they do something with that's it, that's the fella. Him.

SPEAKER_05 33:39

Artificial intelligence stubby.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

That's him, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

That's a shame.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Stubby was also given the lifetime membership of the American Legion.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

Didn't Stubby actually go on to become Humphrey Bogart?

SPEAKER_01 33:51

No. No, think you're a different guy. He did become a legend. He lived with Corporal Conroy, and Conroy worked for the Bureau of Investigation, a precursor of the FBI. Stubby died on the 16th of March.

SPEAKER_05 34:06

Well, he didn't build me up to that, he just dropped it straight in there. Ah, poor old Stubby.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

What else we want to do is to say, okay, see, there's a sad bit now, prepare yourself because you know inevitably things are going to happen in life and blah blah blah blah. Stubby died.

SPEAKER_05 34:20

It's not just me you've got to think about, it's the listener. I suppose the listener is wrapped at this moment.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

No, the listener's probably thinking, I wish he'd shut up and let him carry on when his bloody podcast come intervening with all this crap. Anyway, sadly, with all this living thing, Stubby died on the 16th of March 1926. He died a hero and a legend. He was put through taxidermy because they wanted to stuff him to keep him for longevity. His cremanes. His cremanes? His cremes, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

If I said to you then that what you've done is you've made a portmanteau between cremation and remains to enjoy the word cremanes.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Yes, Stephen. If you actually look that word up, it is an actual word.

SPEAKER_05 35:04

You've not just come up with it give you credit.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Right, have a look. Have a look. Yes. So what happened to his cremes? They made it permanently into the mount of which he was stood on after being taxidermed.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

His taxidermed remains on top of his cremains.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

On top of his cremes, yes.

SPEAKER_05 35:24

Why would one find these cremes and taxidermed stubby?

SPEAKER_01 35:29

He is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, which is the national National Museum of American History. Yeah. Yeah. Displayed in the Price of Freedom Americans at War exhibit. And apparently, as I know, but it is reported to still be there this day. Is he? Yeah. Here's another sad bit, Steve. Now get yourself ready because there's another sad bit coming. Right. Corporal Conroy passed away on the 25th of April, 1987. From natural causes.

unknown 36:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

But I don't think he realised all those years earlier that a stray dog he took in into his bosom would become a legend, a true icon.

SPEAKER_05 36:11

Into his bosom? Yes, no, he wouldn't, I suppose, because you just think, oh, go away, you stray dog. But no, he went frolicking in the dog grass with him, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

That is the story of Sergeant Stubby, the most decorated dog of World War One, and the only one to be promoted to sergeant through combat.

SPEAKER_05 36:29

Is he the most decorated American dog or the most decorated dog for the stock? Or were there German dogs, for example, that were decorated?

SPEAKER_01 36:37

It is said that he is the most decorated dog of World War One.

SPEAKER_05 36:41

Oh, well done, Stubs.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Well done, Stubby.

SPEAKER_05 36:44

Well done, Stubby. What a dog. And you can also do a salute, apparently, allegedly.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Yes. Yeah. Apparently he sat on his backside and did a salute. But you think of the stray dog befriended a man, this man got sent to war, Stubby got took along, dropped in the deep end, all this noise banging, men bodies lying around, all this insanitary nuts, rats and everything, things to him to sort of chase down and play and all that kind of stuff, but he didn't. He learnt to tell the soldiers of incoming attacks, saved many lives. He used to go out on his own into no man's land and comfort men that were dying or were wounded and made sure that that someone came along and rescued them and again saved all those lives and left his pooling about. But the biggest thing that he did was the morale boost. Anyway.

SPEAKER_05 37:34

That was a beautiful story. Well told, I think, don't you, listener?

SPEAKER_01 37:38

That is my that is my attempt and one only attempt at doing it.

SPEAKER_05 37:43

Come back again. Oh, it's already been cut off. It's not the easiest books, is it?

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Um well it is.

SPEAKER_05 37:50

It's not, is it? You need to be a consummate professional, I find, to make that make that happen. What you need now is someone to edit it in a friendly style to make you look even more competent. But when you do have, I don't know, let's just say something irritant, and he was constantly interrupting and asking questions and that, it's very difficult, isn't it? Luckily I don't have that when I do the story.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

No, you've got a continent professional that just adds a bit of flavour to it and not being an awkward shot.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

See, again, you've said a naughty swear. So well it falls on me, doesn't it, I suppose, to say thank you, listener. Well, you should do this, but no, I'll do this, but thank you, listener, for listening to me. You can, of course, message us on honourable mentioned pod at gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook, you can find us on Instagram, you can find us on TikTok that the kids have these days. You can get us on Discord where I remembered, where we are around to be messaged if you wanted to. We've even got some stuff on YouTube these days. Or if you're on Spotify, you can send messages directly through that. And you can listen wherever, wherever it is that you download your podcasts. And we would ask very, very modestly, please subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. You can go back and listen to a whole catalogue of previous episodes and learn some very interesting facts through history. Tell me what we like to think of as a semi-humorous styly. So you can do all of that listen and um most of all, please share, tell your friends, tell them to come on if you don't particularly don't like somebody, then by all means send them away, and um they'll probably never talk to you again after subjecting them to this rubbish. But what do you like to say, Neil?

SPEAKER_01 39:53

I'd like to say thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to listener, and have a very, very lovely whatever you're doing for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_05 40:01

Oh, that's it, is it?

SPEAKER_01 40:04

No, that's good. I'd be nice to say. So do you know what time they're gonna listen, do you? You couldn't say have a nice rest of your day, because they might be listening to it until they go to bed and fall asleep. So that'd be a waste of a waste of a good willing. Goodwill. Waste of a good willy.

SPEAKER_05 40:17

What are you doing next? Are we presenting the Oscars, perhaps?

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Or you I'm I'm gonna go and do the laundry.

SPEAKER_05 40:24

Oh, okay. I thought now you've got your big shirt.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

That doesn't that doesn't mean licking my bum hole, it means actually because if you go reference back into the five what I've just done, Steve, it's mentioned it in there.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Hello, Stephen.

SPEAKER_05 40:38

Thank you for that episode. It was a bit different. Wasn't it Neil presenting one listener? Um perhaps you'd like to contact us and tell us what you thought and say, bring back that other one. He is far more competent and more handsome. So, yes, listener, please do, and we will speak to you again next week on Honourable mentions. And everything be returning to normal then, Neil? Yes. And you've already been demanding a higher fee, or you won't be in some trepe or something like that with your agent.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

No, no, I should be coming back next week and normal stance.

SPEAKER_05 41:15

Normal stance. Well, thank you, next to uh goodbye, so long, farewell. Um, we will see you again next time.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Toodle pip. D-O-Double G, that's right. It's me, Snoop Doggy. Thank you for listening to my homeboy Neil on his special episode of Honorable Mentions. All about my great uncle Stubby. Bet you didn't know any of that. What a guy. Now, usually these things are researched by Stephen Webb. But Neil did this one all on his own while sipping on his gin and juice. Still in our cover brothers production though. And what you thinking about that theme they have? Pepe and the bandits. Me and Dr. Dre, we ain't never heard of them, but we'll be sampling that badass track. Believe me on that. In the meantime, find Pepe wherever you stream your music, and remember, subscribe to Honorable Mentions so you don't miss out on future episodes, y'all.