Stubby- from stray to sergeant; A little hero

Not a purebred sbt but a great story none the less. Thought others might enjoy the read....



The lobby of the Hotel Majestic in New York teemed with activity. Honoured to be hosting a reception for heroes of the First World War, staff had rolled out the red carpet to welcome their guests. But what was that scruffy dog doing there? Who was going to tell the veteran soldier that his bull terrier was not welcome? The job fell to the manager. “I’m sorry, sir, but dogs are not allowed in this hotel.”


It was a pity the manager had not taken a closer look at the dog’s coat; he would have seen it was covered in military honours. If he had bothered to ask, he would have been told that the dog had survived 17 of the bloodiest battles in the last 18 months of the war and had saved countless lives by detecting the first whiff of the invisible toxic gases that plagued the trenches. Gassed, shelled, shot at and traumatised, Stubby suffered it all. A soldier dog, suffering as the soldiers were suffering.

Private John Robert Conroy reeled back and gathered his breath. “A dog?” he replied. “This is no dog. This is a war hero.”

Stubby was a not very big stray dog who was adopted by a young American soldier from Connecticut. Both ended up in the trenches of the Western Front in 1917 and both survived against the odds. Their story is a testament to devotion, companionship, faith and love.

Although America had not officially participated in the war from its declaration in 1914, many US citizens had joined the war effort including John Robert Conroy who was as enthusiastic as the next man to be part of a great victory in Europe.


When training permitted, the recruits were allowed into the nearest town, New Haven, to unwind and it was then that young Private Conroy noticed a yellowish dog – mostly American bull terrier with maybe a strain of bulldog thrown in – begging for attention and food.

“Hey, Conroy. Do you see that dog over there?” said a fellow recruit. “Have you noticed it’s been following you?”

The dog knew where to find the man and one afternoon decided he would come and wait for him at the main gates. It was the first defining moment in the relationship. Conroy immediately knew he was going to adopt the sandy dog even though he knew pets were not allowed on base and he had no idea when he would be shipped overseas.

Undeterred, he smuggled the dog into the barracks where he made a bed for him under his own bunk. It was lucky for Conroy that his sergeant was a dog lover and intelligent enough to see that Stubby offered a huge morale boost to the men. He decided to turn a blind eye to Stubby’s presence and the mascot dog joined the men in everything they did, including full combat training where Stubby was exposed to the deafening clout of ammunition and exploding shells.

He learned to drop down and crawl, his stomach brushing the ground as the men did the same beside him. He was never scared and he never ran from Conroy’s side, no matter how loud the battle noise. He very quickly developed a sense for detecting the shells overhead long before the men could hear them. Picking up the distant whine, Stubby would freeze. Months later in the trenches of France this would become a very useful early warning system for his infantry friends and many men had Stubby to thank for saving their lives.

When Conroy was shipped to France he smuggled the dog on to the truck leaving the camp and then the train to the transport ship, the SS Minnesota, bound for France.

When they arrived, Conroy’s commanding officer was amazed by his daring. As Conroy held his breath, expecting the officer to issue an order to abandon the dog, Stubby was instead made the mascot of 102nd Infantry, 26th “Yankee” Division. With that status he would be able to accompany the men into the trenches and see active service at their side.

It was October 1917 and the American Expeditionary Forces were beginning to enter the battlefields of the Western Front. The soldiers trudged through the mire passing the line of field hospitals as they went. It was this kind of horror that had Conroy holding on extra tight to Stubby. Somehow, despite the harshness of the winter, he kept Stubby alive.

On February 5, 1918, the 102nd Infantry moved to the front line, Stubby alongside them. This was the dog’s first taste of conflict and he adapted to its noises and smells without a whimper. The constant snap of rifles and the roar of the heavy artillery fire did not appear to faze him.

Gas was effective because it was a silent killer which attacked the soldiers’ eyes and had them tearing at their chests to catch a breath of air. At first Conroy and the rest of the men did not know what Stubby was trying to tell them as he ran up and down the trench barking but they never ignored the dog again and he saved many lives.


His gift for giving advance warning of a gas attack was partly due to personal experience – he had been gassed himself. As the unit advanced over open ground, a gas shell had landed and was broken by Stubby’s paws. His eyes were badly affected and he lay for days without moving. But one evening he wagged the stump of his tail and made a full recovery.

The military onslaught was relentless. It was now May 1918 and there was no sign of a let-up. Stubby was not afraid of the guns but the crazy confusion of battle caused him to howl in what sounded like anger. As he dashed from one part of the trench to another, it was as if his performance was to rouse the troops like a bark of encouragement.

If Stubby was ever absent from Conroy’s side it was because he was with a wounded soldier. He had an ability to seek out the injured and instinctively comfort them. Many a dying soldier’s last words were uttered to this loyal dog. He licked their faces and rested his paws on their hands in comfort. He also learnt to recognise the ambulance crews and would let out a low bark to alert them to a casualty.

One morning the men were awoken by Stubby howling. There, lying on his face at the top of the trench, was a German infantryman. Stubby was standing on his back and was holding his skin between his jaws. For this action, Stubby was awarded his three sergeant’s stripes for bravery, the first American dog to take an army rank.


What had started as an accidental friendship was now a partnership strengthened by hardship and the pressure to protect was running high. “Stubby, stay close now. Don’t wander,” Conroy was heard to say.

By the time fighting commenced in Chateau Thierry in June 1918, the use of artillery was taking its toll on the troops. One day as the units advanced over open ground, the men saw Stubby hit the ground and Conroy thought he had been hit. But then the dog’s front paws went up over his ears and his stubby tail stuck out behind him. Seconds later there was a huge explosion. Stubby had sensed the incoming shell and if the men had been watching him they could all have hit the ground well ahead of its impact. From that moment on the troops stayed close to Stubby.

It was ironic that it was only in the last days of the war that Private Conroy sustained a serious head injury when a stray bullet embedded itself in his skull. Almost before he hit the ground Stubby was at his side. Fortunately the doctor recognised the value of keeping man and dog together.

As a thank you to Stubby, the women of Chateau Thierry worked on a special chamois leather coat for him to wear in cold weather, covered in his campaign medals. After the war many other decorations were added, including the Purple Heart.

On his return home the war dog was presented to General “Black Jack” Pershing, the supreme commander of the American forces during the war. The YMCA gave him life membership, plus three bones a day.

And when in 1926 the great canine hero passed away, the New York Times published a half-page obituary while monuments and statues were erected in his honour. Stubby may have been a dog but he was also an inspiration and a hero.