Sergeant Stubby: The Most Decorated War Dog of World War I

A stray with no papers became the most decorated American war dog in history. Sergeant Stubby was smuggled to the front in a soldier’s overcoat and came home a national hero who had met three sitting presidents.

Who Stubby was

Stubby was a brindle Boston Terrier mix who wandered onto the Yale campus in 1917 while the 102nd Infantry Regiment was training there. Corporal James Robert Conroy took to him, and when the unit shipped out for France, Conroy hid the dog aboard the troop ship and smuggled him ashore under his coat. Stubby became the unofficial mascot of the 26th “Yankee” Division and went to war for real.

What he did on the Western Front

Over 18 months Stubby served in 17 battles and four major offensives. His hearing and sense of smell made him genuinely useful: he learned to warn soldiers of incoming gas attacks before the men could detect them, located wounded soldiers in no man’s land, and — in the story that made him famous — grabbed a German soldier by the seat of his trousers and held him until American troops arrived. He was wounded by shrapnel and recovered. For catching that soldier, he was promoted to sergeant, the only dog to earn the rank through combat.

The legacy

Stubby came home a celebrity. He led parades, met Presidents Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge, and was decorated many times over — the most decorated war dog of the Great War. After his death in 1926, his remains were preserved and eventually given to the Smithsonian, where his coat, mounted over a plaster cast, is held by the National Museum of American History. A stray nobody claimed ended up in the national collection.

Stubby is one of the definitive stories in our guide to the most famous hero dogs in history, and he appears in the internet’s most famous dogs.

Frequently asked questions

What breed was Sergeant Stubby?

Sergeant Stubby was a Boston Terrier mix, a brindle-coated stray who joined the 102nd Infantry while it trained at Yale in 1917.

How did Stubby become a sergeant?

He was promoted to sergeant after grabbing and holding a German soldier by the seat of his trousers until American troops arrived — the only dog to earn the rank through combat.

Where is Sergeant Stubby now?

Stubby’s preserved coat, mounted over a plaster cast, is held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.