Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/20/the-bear-who-fought-in-world-w.html
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Wojtek! The soldier bear! Yes, he was one of the “people” I learned about from my Polish mother in law.
22nd Artillery Supply Company
Here is his statue in Kraków
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So that awesome bear calvary image isn’t as far fetched as I thought.
Edit: Also, kudos to that photographer for taking that photo from the perfect perspective
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Wojtek eventually emigrated to the US where he settled down, married and raised a litter of children. Of his descendants, one of them is best known for his work in California with a famous troupe of entertainers.
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From the great Wiki machine…
Following demobilisation on 15 November 1947, Wojtek was given to Edinburgh Zoo, where he spent the rest of his life, often visited by journalists and former Polish soldiers, some of whom would toss him cigarettes, which he proceeded to eat because there was no one there to light them for him.
This made me sad. Poor guy fought in the war and couldn’t even get a light.
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Every time I read that comic, I wonder how that is supposed to sound anything like a weapons blast, and then I realize that it’s being pronounced phonetically as if it’s an English word (not that I’m an expert on Polish pronunciation, but I have Polish relatives who I’ve heard pronounce the word Kraków).
I hate to think how the people reading this are mangling “Wojtek.”
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if WP is to believe this is the intended pronunciation. as weapon sound as fine as *pew* *pew*
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It’s not the vowel so much as I can’t imagine a weapon making a noise the ends with a ‘v’ or ‘f’ sound.
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