I'm sure some of you will know the story of Wojtek, but I certainly didn't. Wikipedia gives a very full account of his life, but I'll make it brief ...
This bronze sculpture stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh and was erected in honour of the Polish men and women who gave their lives during the Second World War.
Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear bought, as a young cub, at a railway station in Hamadan, Iran, by Polish soldiers who had been evacuated from the Soviet Union. In order to feed and transport him, Wojtek was enlisted officially as a soldier.
He accompanied the soldiers to Italy. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, in 1944, Wojtek helped move crates of ammunition and became a celebrity with visiting Allied generals and statesmen. After the war, mustered out of the Polish Army, he was billeted and lived out the rest of his life at Edinburgh Zoo. He died in 1963, aged 21.
Great story