Friday, September 12, 2014

Very Random: Animals of Rank

It started with Sgt. Reckless.

Reckless was a horse promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the Marines for her actions in the Korean War. It was not an honorary promotion either (like Sgt. Stubby from WW1); it was a legal one.

There is a statue of her at Quantico. If traffic is ever bad enough on 95 and we're riding through, I'd love to stop and take a peek.

I sent my friend, John, the link for the article and he replied back, "Wasn't there a dog who was a general?"

It's amazing what you can find on the internet.

Nils Olav is the Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Royal Guard and knights. He's also a king penguin (in Scotland, nonetheless). John insisted that he should have a cameo in the Penguins of Madagascar movie or series. 

William "Billy" Windsor retired as a salaried lance corporal in the Royal Welsh infantry battalion. He got daily rations of Guinness and cigarettes. There was one mar on his career when he was demoted for trying to headbutt his brother in arms nether regions in a parade.

There was a horse that was a Roman senator, a cigarette chewing bear that fought the Nazis, an elephant that had to be the oldest surviving non-human animal WW2 Veteran (He passed away at 86 years old), and many many other stories. (The elephant is the first animal on the link).


It's fun to learn random things. If I can somehow tie this in to a math activity or to get my student's attention all the better.

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