Sergeant Stubby: the true story of America's war dog hero

Part 1

Who was Sergeant Stubby

You can trace Stubby's story back to the summer of 1917, when he wandered onto the grounds near Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Members of the 102nd Infantry Regiment were training there, and a soldier named Private J. Robert Conroy grew fond of him. No one ever confirmed his exact breed, since he was a stray, but newspapers often described him as a Boston Terrier or a bull terrier mix. When the unit shipped out for France, Conroy smuggled Stubby aboard the troop ship rather than leave him behind. Stubby was discovered once they reached France, but he saluted the commanding officer with a paw to his brow, a trick he had learned in camp, and he was allowed to stay. He then served with the 102nd Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 26th Yankee Division.

Part 2

What Stubby did in the trenches of World War One

Once he was in the trenches, Stubby did far more than lift spirits. After surviving a mustard gas attack himself, he learned to warn soldiers when gas was coming. He also helped locate wounded soldiers in no man's land, listening for voices and leading medics, or the men themselves, back to the line. Over his time in France, Stubby took part in seventeen battles across four offensives. During the fighting near Seicheprey in April 1918, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel from a German grenade, and he was also hurt by mustard gas at least once. You might expect a dog to be pulled from service after wounds like that, but Stubby recovered and went back to his unit.

Part 3

How Stubby became a decorated hero

After the war, Stubby's service was recognized in several ways, and if you look him up today you will find a short list of honors attached to his name. Stubby met three American presidents: he saw Woodrow Wilson in France, then visited Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge back in the United States. His commander gave him the rank of sergeant because of his part in the spy capture, making him the first dog to be formally given rank in the U.S. military. That claim is worth holding loosely, and you can read why in the last section of this guide.

• A gold medal from the Humane Education Society, presented by General John J. Pershing in 1921.
• A wound stripe.
• Two Purple Hearts.
• Lifetime memberships in the American Legion and the YMCA.

Part 4

Life after the war and lasting legacy

Stubby became something of a celebrity once he was home, marching in parades and meeting three presidents. He marched in parades and became the mascot of the Georgetown Hoyas football team while Conroy studied law there. He died in his sleep on March 16, 1926, at about ten years old. Conroy had Stubby's body preserved by a taxidermist so future generations could still know him. The mount was first kept by Conroy, then spent more than a dozen years at a museum in Washington, before returning to Conroy's custody. In 1956, Conroy gave Stubby to the Smithsonian Institution, and since 2004 he has been part of a permanent exhibit at the National Museum of American History. If you visit, you will see him still wearing the chamois coat that women in Château-Thierry made for him, covered in his medals.

Part 5

Separating fact from legend

Stubby's story has been retold so often that some details have drifted from what the historical record actually shows, and it is worth slowing down here with your own dog's story in mind. The historian Ann Bausum found that no newspaper clipping from Stubby's lifetime ever called him a sergeant, and that the rank seems to have taken hold only after his story spread online. She also found nothing in the historical record to confirm that Stubby was a pit bull, even though that claim circulates widely. The number of battles Stubby took part in is usually given as seventeen. When you read about Stubby elsewhere, it helps to remember that some of the color came from newspapers and fans long after the war, not from the war itself.