This Famous Georgetown Veteran Was a Good Boy

As we celebrate Veterans Day, GM wants to revisit a famous veteran from Georgetown’s past: Stubby.

As the Smithsonian explains:

Stubby the dog, known to many as “Sgt. Stubby”…was the mascot of the 102 Infantry 26th Yankee Division in World War I. He showed up at training camp one day on the grounds of Yale University, and was such a hit with the soldiers that he was allowed to stay (he would drill with them, and even learned to salute). When it was time to ship off for Europe, Stubby went along for the ride to Newport News, Virginia, and was smuggled by Private J. Robert Conroy aboard the SS Minnesota. Upon discovery by Conroy’s Commanding Officer, the story goes, Stubby saluted him, and the CO was so impressed he allowed Stubby to remain with the troops. Stubby took to soldiering quite well, joining the men in the trenches. He was gassed once, and wounded by shrapnel another time, and once he disappeared for a while, only to resurface with the French forces who returned him to his unit. Stubby even captured a Hun (that’s WWI slang for a German soldier)!

After the war, Stubby’s caretaker enrolled at Georgetown University. Stubby, already a celebrity, became the mascot for the Hoyas. Stubby passed away in 1926 and was the subject of multiple newspaper obituaries. He was stuffed and eventually donated to the Smithsonian, where you can see him today, draped in about a dozen medals.

In the photo above, Stubby is being inspected by none other than the great Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing.

So here’s to Stubby, the original Georgetown bulldog.