Sergeant Stubby: The Stray Dog Who Became a War Hero

Picture the ultimate World War I veteran: 18 months in the trenches, 17 battles, two Purple Hearts, and the single-handed capture of a German spy. Now picture that this decorated combat hero didn't wear boots. He had paws. He was a brindle stray named Sergeant Stubby.This episode tells the gritty, profound story of how the ancient instincts of a stray dog became the perfect countermeasure to the horrors of modern warfare. Beyond the novelty, it's a look at survival in the darkest conditions and the extraordinary bond forged between humans and animals when everything else is falling apart.Found wandering Yale's campus in 1917, Stubby was smuggled to France by Corporal James Robert Conroy and won over a furious commanding officer with a trained saluteWith up to 300 million olfactory receptors, he smelled mustard gas long before humans could and sprinted the trench line barking to wake soldiers for their masksHis sharp hearing let him detect incoming artillery shells early, and soldiers learned that when the dog ducked, they ducked tooIn the Argonne he caught a German spy mapping Allied trenches, earning a battlefield promotion to sergeant, the only dog ever promoted through combatHe met three U.S. presidents, became a Georgetown mascot, and received a half-page New York Times obituary, a pure heroic vessel for a nation processing wartime trauma