Near Hamadan in Iran, Polish soldiers met a young shepherd with a Syrian brown bear cub in a sack. They got the animal for a Swiss Army knife, canned beef, and chocolate.
They named him Wojtek, short for Wojciech, Polish for joyful warrior. Bit by bit, he came to trust them.
When it was time to leave for Europe, a problem appeared. To travel with them, the bear had to be enlisted in the army.
Wojtek got a rank, a serial number, and his own paybook. He lived with the men in tents, or in a wooden crate hauled by truck.
How does a soldier like that help in a fight?
At Monte Cassino, an exhausted soldier nodded at a metal crate of shells and jokingly told him to carry it. Wojtek rose on his hind legs, took the load, and headed for a nearby gun.
After that he carried 100-pound (45-kilogram) ammunition crates, more than half the weight of a man of about 165 pounds (75 kilograms).
He never dropped one.
Allied soldiers said they were stunned to see a bear hauling shells. A picture of Wojtek with a shell became the company's emblem, and he was promoted from private to corporal.
They enlisted him so they would not leave him behind.
He helped them carry the weight of the battle.
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