The WW2 soldier bear who was just one of the boys
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I was amazed to read about Voytek the ursine 2nd Polish Transport Company army recruit who carried ammunition along the lines during battle the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. The troops adopted the orphaned bear when they were in Palestine in 1942 and he soon become one of the boys enjoying his beer and cigarettes. The troops were billeted in Hutton in the Scottish Borders after WW2 and Voytek was a popular local figure. After demobilisation Voytek took up residence at Edinburgh Zoo.
There are now calls for Voytek to by honoured by the erection of a statue in Scotland. I’d never heard of Voytek before these recent articles although I now live in Berwick upon Tweed, only a few miles from Hutton. A local teacher, Garry Paulin, is about to publish a children’s book about the bear.
The statue may well materialise as the WW2 canine hero Bamse, a crew member of a Norwegian minesweeper stationed in Scotland, is now immortalised in Montrose in Angus.
