What was the name of the soldier bear?

Wojtek the Soldier Bear
Wojtek (bear)

Wojtek the Soldier Bear
Years of service 1943–1945
Rank Kapral
Unit 3522, 22nd Artillery Supply Company, II Corps (Poland)
Battles/wars World War II Battle of Monte Cassino

What was the bear’s name in World War II?

Wojtek the bear
But ask some Polish military veterans and they’d probably cite another creature: Wojtek the bear, a 500-to-600-pound brown bear that was essentially adopted by the 22nd Transport Company’s Artillery Division in the Polish 2nd Corps, and served as a morale booster to the troops during World War II.

What bear did Wojtek fight?

Syrian brown bear
Yes, the bear. His name was Wojtek (pronounced VOY-tek). The Syrian brown bear had been traveling through the Middle East with the troops for two years after being orphaned as a cub in Iran. He ate and slept with the men, wrestled with them, and enjoyed a refreshing cool-off in their showers if he could sneak in.

Is Wojtek a true story?

Wojtek the bear was adopted by Polish soldiers early in World War II. He stuck with his unit through the end of the war, carrying supplies during fighting in Italy. A documentary has already been made about his life, and now an animated film will recount his story.

How do you spell Wojtek?

Wojciech (IPA: [ˈvɔjt͡ɕɛx] ( listen)) is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch [ˈvojcɛx], Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: wój (Slavic: voj), a root pertaining to war.

What is Wojtek short for?

Wojtek m. A diminutive of the male given name Wojciech.

What kind of Bear is Wojtek?

Wojtek (1942 – 2 December 1963; Polish pronunciation: [ˈvɔjtɛk]; in English, sometimes spelled Voytek and pronounced as such) was a Syrian brown bear ( Ursus arctos syriacus) bought, as a young cub, at a railway station in Hamadan, Iran, by Polish II Corps soldiers who had been evacuated from the Soviet Union.

Was Wojtek the bear a morale booster for Polish soldiers?

But ask some Polish military veterans and they’d probably cite another creature: Wojtek the bear, a 500-to-600-pound brown bear that was essentially adopted by the 22nd Transport Company’s Artillery Division in the Polish 2nd Corps, and served as a morale booster to the troops during World War II.

How did Wojtek get his name?

In exchange for a few tins of food, some chocolate, a Swiss knife and other trinkets the boy parted with his cub, and the soldiers named their adopted pet Wojtek. It was a common Polish name, but given the bear’s future military career, the choice turned out to be somewhat prescient. Wojtek means “happy warrior”.

How did they take care of Wojtek the bear?

Nursing the bear with a bottle of condensed milk in a vodka bottle, the soldiers treated Wojtek like a baby, perhaps because their own families had been torn apart by the war, she explains. But pretty soon, as bear cubs are wont to do, Wojtek grew up.