A brindled pit bull terrier of unknown heritage, Stubby became the first and only non-human to join the 102nd Infantry Battalion, 26th “Yankee” Division when as a puppy he was found by Private John Conroy on the army’s training grounds at Yale. After being smuggled to Europe aboard the USS Minnesota, Stubby was discovered by Conroy’s CO, but allowed to remain with the unit after giving the officer a salute with his paw. His unique skills and astounding courage under fire made Stubby a hero to the 102nd; his ability to recognize spoken English helped him to locate dozens of wounded soldiers in no-man’s land, his acute sense of smell once saved the unit from an early morning gas attack, and amid fighting in the Argonne Forest in 1918 he was responsible for the single-pawed capture of a German spy. By the end of the war, Sergeant Stubby outranked his owner.
In later civilian life, Stubby acted as official mascot of the Georgetown Hoyas, and met presidents Wilson, Harding and Coolidge. // Patrick Barrett
