OK I'll start, how about a llama?M

Twin A says 'cow'
Twin B says 'dog'
I'm guessing elephant

Mmmmmm, this is going to take some thought, it can't be too small if it carried ammunition. What could it be, Mmmmmmm, more thought needed.

Annette

I KNOW! I KNOW!

My Dad told us about him when we were kids! Daddy was a student of all things pertaining to wars, from the Civil War on.

Janie

Yesterdays trivia makes me wonder if that's where the term 'chicken' derives from?

Another scorcher today.

What a brave soul. I'll guess .... man's best friend, a dog.

A wild guess -- I can think of an animal that would be cute enough to adopt when little, but big enough to carry ammunition-- The little ones love to have their bellies rubbed and can be trained to do all sorts of things. There's one here in NC (whose photo I posted on my blog last fall) who paints pictures.

Cameron

I just looked it up and I was TOTALLY wrong! WOW!

TM, you sure it's an animal and not a bird? If a bird I'd bet it was a Seagull which has it's own top secret built in ammunition.
Said Seagull was trained to hover over enemy machine gun nests and start squawking when it received a secret signal.
Being totally surprised by the strange sound the enemy looked up only to have their faces plastered and eyes blinded by this top secret ammunition.
Being rendered helpless the allied forces soon made short work of the enemy.

But then, you said it was an animal, Mmmmmmm, must give this more thought.

Annette

I think the answer is a pig. He had bigger problems than explosions with the hungry Polish troops dreaming of turning him into a kielbasa.
Patti

ThinMan when I started reading I was guessing in Hinney, I remember the discussions of past....
I LOVE Patti's answer!

Big enough to carry ammo would have to be more like donkey or mule size. The only thing I can think of would be an ox.

Nell

My girls and I also looked it up.... they were so amazed!!! They'll being telling the tale of Wojtek at school tomorrow. You should have seen their faces when we read that the soldiers gave him beer and let him eat cigarettes.

And do you think they made a rug from him at the end of his days?

Janie

A rug? the only animal that comes to mind is a bear, my taxidermist son has made lots of bear skin rugs. Sounds very unlikely but if that was a clue Janie that's all I can come up with.

Annette

I am waiting for TM to tell us the story- don't want to be rude....

Janie

{{gwi:603252}}

As Janie knows and Annette guessed, Wojtek (voy-tek) was a bear. He was an Iranian brown bear whose mother was killed and was bought from an Iranian boy who had captured him. He was a very friendly bear who loved beer and liked to wrestle with the men.

{{gwi:603255}}The strangest thing about the ammunition carrying was that Wojtek literally held out his paws and carried things while standing on his hind legs, at least according to one account I read.

Wojtek's army company had an insignia made up after the battle of Monte Cassino.

{{gwi:603258}}Wojtek ended his days in a zoo. And nobody made kielbasa out of him, Patti! :-) To read more, click on the one account link above.

Five stars for Janie for knowing this, and for Annette, who guessed it from the rug clue.

Thank you all for playing trivia this weekend. It was fun.

TM

Thanks for the stars TM but I really don't deserve them I think Janie is the sole winner this time. I was kinda thinking out loud when I mentioned bear but really couldn't get my mind around it. Amazing story.

Annette

WOW! My Dad would be so proud! Something he told us actually came up in conversation, later in my life.

Daddy was full of stories like this. Also, he was prone to making some up, like the one about losing his hair because he caught dandruff from the mules in the Army. Or that he was flat footed because a tank ran over his feet during the war. We always believed him, of course.

Thank you for the stars, ThinMan. I will treasure them.

Janie

Hi All! Back from the Cottage. My DD(dear Dad) was actually at Monte Cassino. I have a 1000 lire note that he wrote all the places they travelled, and all of the officers he served with. He was with the Royal Canadian Engineers. He cleaned up the spent and unspent artillary after the battles. Also built bailey bridges under German fire. Never talked about it, I had to google it!!! I went to see this place several years ago. The Germans held the monastery which was on an incredibly high rock outcrop. It took several days. I don't remember about the bear, but if you read, "And No Birds Sang", by Farley Mowatt, or watch the movie, "The Devil's Brigade", it tells much of the story. I must read about the bear~~ !!!

Nancy.