In Memory of Sergeant Stubby: The Most Decorated War Dog of World War I (Who May Have Invented Football's Halftime Show)

Quick answer: Who was Sergeant Stubby?

Sergeant Stubby was a brindle stray adopted by the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division, at Yale in 1917. Smuggled to France, he served 18 months in the trenches, warned soldiers of gas and shellfire, found wounded men, and was wounded himself. He became the most celebrated American war dog of World War I.

In July 1917, a brindle stray wandered onto the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, where the 102nd Infantry was training. He hung around the drills, and Corporal J. Robert Conroy grew fond of him. When the unit shipped out aboard USS Minnesota, Conroy smuggled Stubby aboard and later hid him under his overcoat. When Conroy's commanding officer discovered him, Stubby saluted, as he had been taught, and was allowed to stay. Stubby served with the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division, in the trenches for 18 months, taking part in four offensives and 17 battles. He entered combat on February 5, 1918, at Chemin des Dames north of Soissons. In April 1918, during the fighting at Seicheprey, he was wounded in the foreleg by German grenades. He was injured by gas and returned with a specially fitted gas mask, and he learned to warn his unit of gas attacks, find wounded soldiers in no man's land, and alert men to incoming shells he could hear before they could. In the Argonne he caught a German soldier by the seat of his pants and held on until Americans arrived. Women of Chateau-Thierry made him a chamois coat to carry his wound stripes and medals. He came home a celebrity, met Presidents Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge, marched in American Legion parades, and in 1921 General John J. Pershing presented him a gold medal from the Humane Education Society. When Conroy went to Georgetown for law school, Stubby became the football team's mascot and entertained crowds at halftime by nudging a football around the field. He died in 1926, and his remains are at the Smithsonian.

Why it matters for leaders: Stubby's story reminds us that loyalty and courage are what soldiers value most in anyone who shares the trenches with them.

Q: Was Stubby really a sergeant?

A: He was popularly given the rank of sergeant and is often called the only dog promoted through combat, though there is no record of an official Army promotion.

Q: Where is Stubby now?

A: His preserved remains are part of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History collection.

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By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation