Northern Light
Lt. Colonel
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2014
What an amazing thread! I laughed and cried, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to all who added to it.
Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! Well, maybe not tigers, but a cute little striped kitty!
Two of the more interesting military mascots were lions kept as pets by the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of American fighter pilots in the French Air Service before the United States' entry into the First World War. The squadron, which had reputation for partying as hard on land as they fought in the air, rather appropriately named the pair Whiskey and Soda.
Both were reportedly very attached to the squadron's highest scoring ace, Raoul Lufbery, particularly Whiskey, who would follow him around like a dog. The bottom photo is of Lufbery.
The two lions later went to live in the Paris zoo.
Just spent the last 30 minutes looking for these. Came to the conclusion a) Far too many photographs, b) do not remember an awful lot of them, it's like being able to entertain oneself. Handy! Still cannot find the entire collection, no idea what I was thinking....
They'll show up. Meanwhile, wish members post would their favorite era ( or kinda ) photo of pet and pet's chosen companion. Never get tired of these. Even regimental mascots were really much-loved pets. You can't fool me- animals who maybe provided some unconditional love and loyalty during a time when all was sudden death appearing from nowhere, not lurking in shadows, rocketing at them out of brilliant sky. And ' love '? At home, ' Home ' being the furtherest thing imaginable from carnage, mud and men torn limb from limb.
Ok, so maybe the camel isn't a house pet but someone love him!
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Meig's children!
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You just knew Rufus Ingalls was also a big softy for animals!
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One of the circus parades, forget where this one was. This fellow looks extremely well cared for.
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There's a rumor that there is only one photograph of a Confederate soldier and his dog? It isn't true. There really are a few, thankfully!
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No, pretty sure he's sleeping!
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I LOVE THESE!
Thank you so much!
thathank younk you will
Rip was a dog made homeless during the Battle of Britain, his family perhaps killed in an air raid. Fed scraps by an Air Raid Warden, the stray terrier mix attached himself to Wardens and began following them out as they would search for survivors amidst the rubble.
Despite having no training as a search and rescue dog Rip was a natural, his keen nose and hearing detecting survivors before his adopted human handler could. Over the course of twelve months Rip was credited with saving the lives of over 100 people and was awarded the Dicken Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. It was largely because of Rip that dogs began to be used for search and rescue work in wartime London.