The only bear soldier "Walter"
Have you ever imagined a bear carrying ammunition on a battlefield that was heavily under fire, a scene that appeared on the battlefield during World War II, and this shell-resistant bear named Walter was an excellent transporter of the 22nd Polish Artillery Transport Company.
About the origin of this brown bear from a remote place in northern Iran in 1942, when a little boy found a abandoned bear cub, due to food shortages during the war, in order to survive, the little boy sold this cub to the Polish army stationed there, when Walter was still breastfeeding, the army had nothing to give it to eat, I don't know which soldier thought of a way to use vodka bottles and good condensed milk to eat, so little Walter drank "vodka" and grew up slowly. As time passed, Walter grew bigger and bigger and did not hide it, this matter was finally learned by the company commander, who thought that the company commander would take Walter away, but did not expect that the company commander liked it very much, so he left it behind, and gave it a name Walter, which means "smiling warrior" Since then Walter's presence has slowly spread in the barracks. Later, he fell in love with wrestling, and learned to smoke and drink with the soldiers, and in order to exercise the courage of the new recruits, all the new soldiers who joined the 22nd Company had to play a wrestling match with Walter, and Walter got along with the soldiers, and this ceremony later became a tradition of the 22nd Company.
Until 1944, the stable life was broken, the 22nd Company was sent to the Italian front to fight, responsible for transporting them is the British, after seeing Walter they said that only regular soldiers can board the ship, the company commander was anxious to announce on the spot that Walter had a rank of second class and military food, so Walter successfully boarded the ship to the battlefield, the British talked about the Poles in the back and said that the Poles were crazy and let a bear go to war, but in the later battles, Walter's outstanding performance was strong and hit the British in the face. Walter was able to carry four or five shells at a time to top several strong soldiers, made a great contribution to the war, and later the 22nd Company was changed to a transport company, and the badge of their company also became the image of Walter carrying shells, according to incomplete statistics after the war, Walter's company carried a total of about 18,000 tons of ammunition, 1,500 tons of fuel, and 1,200 tons of food. For his outstanding performance on the battlefield, Walter was promoted to corporal.
After the end of World War II, Walter followed the 22nd Company to Scotland, and then Poland needed to rebuild the post-war country, and the soldiers returned to Poland, walter was left to settle in the Edinburgh Zoo for the rest of his life, and died in December 1963 at the age of 22, which is also an advanced age for a bear.
Later, in order to commemorate this legendary brown bear, a bronze statue of Walter was built in Edinburgh, and to this day Walter is also a hero admired by Poles and Scots!
From a cub to a legendary hero, the perfect showcase of Walter's legendary life!
