A Bear named Wojtek; BBC iplayer

There’s a lovely statue of him in the Princes’ Street Gardens. Your post prompted me to look back at the photo I took of it on our visit to Edinburgh a few years ago.
I’ll check out the cartoon.

Just Googled the picture. Lovely - bears are my favourite animals.

I wonder if, excluding Paddington, he holds the record for being the bear with the most commemorative statues? I haven’t seen the one in Edinburgh. I must seek it out.

There’s also a podcast about him on The Rest is History but it’s for subscribers only so I can’t listen to it yet. I do hope it doesn’t remain subscriber only. There’s another podcast that I want to listen to that is still subscriber only; I wonder if they somehow know which podcasts I desperately want to listen to, given that 99.9% of them aren’t subscriber only!

DH could remember seeing him at Edinburgh zoo when he was a child. People threw him cigarettes . He had a rank and number in the Polish army.

MayBee just watched it. It's in Polish with subtitles. Ideal for older children and adults but to harrowing for young child. They would be frightened not of Wojtek but of the fighting . It's only available for viewing for 17 more days . But well watch seeing and some pictures of Wojtek at the end of it .

I had the great pleasure of meeting MayBee and they took me to see the book about Wojtek and told me the story . Had a wonderful few days with them in May last year.

MayBee70 I am intrigued by your statement that Wojtek "fought alongside" the Polish soldiers who raised him. Do you know what he actually did? Was he allowed to bear arms, was he an armed bear?

Joking aside, this sounds like an intriguing story, thanks for drawing attention to it.

He carried ammunition amongst other dangerous things. Indigo
I'll need to watch the film.
I have read the book.

My late DH was very involved in restoring the Great Polish Map of
Scotland, a huge relief Map of Scotland, made by a group of Polish students in the 1970s as a thankyou to the people of Scotland for all the Scots did during the Second World War to give sanctuary to the Polish army while their home country had been invaded.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Polish_Map_of_Scotland#

Whiff

MayBee just watched it. It's in Polish with subtitles. Ideal for older children and adults but to harrowing for young child. They would be frightened not of Wojtek but of the fighting . It's only available for viewing for 17 more days . But well watch seeing and some pictures of Wojtek at the end of it .

I had the great pleasure of meeting MayBee and they took me to see the book about Wojtek and told me the story . Had a wonderful few days with them in May last year.

Yes it really is more of a cartoon for adults, isn’t it ( I watched it late last night). I assume the film was true to life. The statue of him in Duns shows him standing upright carrying the ammunition. I’m away from home at the moment and don’t have the book to refer to. The podcast on The Rest is History should be very informative but it’s still subscriber only. I suppose it’s fitting that I first heard about him when I saw his book at a honey farm! I do love it when a painting or a book takes you on a journey of some kind.I got very emotional when I went to Grey friars kirkyard and saw Greyfriars Bobby’s statue and his masters grave. I want to go to Duns now to see Wojtek’s statue.

‘As an enlisted soldier with his own paybook, rank, and serial number, he lived with the other men in tents or in a special wooden crate, which was transported by truck. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek helped his unit to convey ammunition by carrying 100-pound (45 kg) crates of 25-pound artillery shells, never dropping any of them. While this story generated controversy over its accuracy, at least one account exists of a British soldier recalling seeing a bear carrying crates of ammunition.[10] The bear mimicked the soldiers: when he saw the men lifting crates, he copied them. Wojtek carried boxes that normally required four men, which he would stack onto a truck or other ammunition boxes.[11] This service at Monte Cassino earned him promotion to the rank of corporal. In recognition of Wojtek's popularity, a depiction of a bear carrying an artillery shell was adopted as the official emblem of the 22nd Company’
From Wikipedia

I have just watched it. Charming. Thanks so much for alerting us Maybee
It's in Gaelic with subtitles.
I was watching it and thinking Polish is awfully similar to Gaelic, which I know a little, before I realised.
😂😅

Grammeretto thanks for saying it was Gaelic I did wonder how they understood Polish so just assumed it was in Polish . I did think a few word sounded Gaelic now I understand why 🤦.

The Rest is History podcast about him has just been released. Going to listen to it when I get back from the shops….

Whiff. I’ve just listened to the podcast. Wojtek used to swim under the chain bridge and he used to eat honey from the honey farm! I love the place even more now.

MayBee brings it all to life for me thank you .

It was shown at Xmas on BBC a couple of years ago.

Yes I knew about this. Amazing story

We stayed at the hotel where the map is. It’s an amazing sight. Your DH must have been a kind man to help restore this map for future generations.

I hadn’t realised till I listened to the podcast, that the Polish soldiers were in Scotland because they couldn’t go back to their homeland. I’d assumed that they were stationed there. I’d love to see the map. I agree: what a wonderful thing to have done.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202501/medium-127129-img-1094.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202501/medium-912228-img-1095.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202501/medium-409624-img-1096.jpeg

These are some of the pictures from my book. It’s written in English and Polish.

Yes the Battle for Monte Cassino was fought and won by Polish Soldiers. With great loss of Polish lives. Sadly Poland was handed over on a plate to one Joseph Stalin at Yalta by Churchill and Roosevelt. To endure slavery to the Soviet rule until late 1980. Just as a thank for the Polish contribution in defending Europe from the Nazis.

Yes, we sadly do have history when it comes to things like that.

Todays Repair Shop is featuring the Polish soldiers in Scotland after the war.