>> next on "american history story of hear the sergeant stubby, a stray dog soldier y an american who became the first canine given a rank in the u.s. armed forces. heroically in world war i. in 17 battles, he kfrpted troops the trenches and alerted soldiers from incoming gas

attacks. received by three american presidents. this is hosted by the kansas library and the world war i museum. it's about an hour. >> we'll hear about a hero whose never in question he's legendary. he became a war hero. this evening, we're going share of this special dog and his soldier. bossom is an award-winning uthor of children's books with a focus on history. they captivate readers with breathless pacing, and intriguing characters. whether they fly under the radar of historical top recognition. after our visit to the national can war i museum today, i

only imagine what historical artifact has set her imagination now.otion so please welcome ann bossom. >> hello. thank you. thank you for coming out. i appreciate the work that katie stover has done to make this visit possible. and i would like to start by thanking the kansas city public world and the national war i museum for sponsoring my here. i'm very excited to be in kansas city talking to you all about and historical figure retracing some steps a little bit. i've been doing that over the the following stubby all of the places that he has been been e of the places he's is kansas city. and so i'll talk a little bit that.bout as the evening goes on. but let's go the pictures that i of historical

images to share with you. i'm going tell you a little bit own background. the story of stubby himself. behind the stories creation of the two books that 've written about him, one for adults and one for young readers and we'll save some time at the end for questions as well. first, i want to make sure we're all on the same page in terms of terminology. so for the younger members of talking nce, we're about doughboy, we don't mean this gipe. the soldiers -- the american who went over to the world war i pe in were nicknamed dough boys, and a lot of time -- innt a lot of time with them the trenches and as i said, i have the two books about him and story is one of a number that i have written about over to see s and i've come

myself as a story teller, someone who takes the true nation's past r and starts to thread them into a captivating new introduction to readers as well. of the stories that i'll mine and my clude becoming an ut wanted to be, i if you asked me what do you want to be when you grow up? to be a would want children's book author not really knowing that that some might come true. and it's not surprising i chose to write about history. in an historic town, lexington, virginia which has a lot of civil war history. can't -- in my child-like understanding of the world, i the way that b you could measure how historic you

body count of historical e and figures buried in your town. so we had a lot of them. lee chapel. the horse, traveller has a grave. the line at w humans. animals were important. jackson, another confederate general is buried. when his horse died, they said let's stuff him and be it him in the museum. after i was a kid school, this was one of my favorite museum artifacts to go nothing better to do. was story just by now flowing through my blood. thinking lder, i was of other ways to write. i retained that interest in history. until i was quite

a bit older, majored in english in college. in to lloyd college wisconsin. did all sorts of professional writing, i had kids writing a all of the great public literature in our do l library that you may yourself that i reconnected with that genre and said i should see if i could write for children. i began experimenting. my kids are now grown-up. this is a long ongoing experiment. they're in their 20s and beyond college. watched them grow up, they watched my career advance until had 11 books publiced with national geographic including recently these two about stubby. so that helps you understand how got to this stage. and let me just jump right in nutshell e you the description of stubby. and if you haven't read either books, maybe this will

so.ourage you to do and even if you are over the age look atou're allowed to the kid's book too because it has great pictures in it. there's lots of crossover potential here. and his favorite doughboy. james robert conroy. he two of them originated in connecticut. on the east coast. the town of new britton is where born.y was he and stubby connected up in new haven after wood rowe wilson. been this community has studying world war i with great enthusiasm and so you would -- well versed on the fact that even though the fighting broke out in 1914, it until 1917 that the united states made the ommitment to send troops to europe to join the fight. so it was, there were these

regional training camps that ere set up around the country, including in new haven. and late lit rally on the campus f yale university, some of the training took place inside the athletic stadium in the yale bowl and on the playing fields it.nd there were camps set up with tents and parade grounds and so forth. place if you t were a dog to hang out. here was lots of excitement, the a lot of cooking because you have all of these hungry soldiers. dogs were attracted to this encampment, including stubby and take long before had connected.oy here we have private conroy, his isters, look who's already in the family picture. of 1917. august his is a friend or perhaps brother, conroy's brother.

attached to he was conroy and conroy to stubby even before it had come time to ship out for europe. and when it did come time to ship out for europe, it just happened that stubby went along. he was more or less assisted by in the camp when the tents were struck and the aboard troop bed training late at night to head virginia to newport news. it was trickier to get a dog onboard. but there was some time that passed before they had to ship out. was smuggled aboard with connections that conroy had ade with one of the crew members on the ship.

he was snuck onboard the ship coal of time hidden in a bin and not until the ship was well out to sea did stubby materialize. and at some point, stubby was by not just the fellow, but the commanding officer. it presented a little problem. necessarily ot supposed to be there. that had been given orders no dog were supposed to make this trip. but stubby was a study of the military. understood bugle calls. he knew which one this was, dinner time. commanding a officer showed up, military protocol required if you were in stubby's position with a dog

body, you needed to sit down and front paws and raise your right paw up to your soberly at very this commanding officer until he salute and then you had given the due respect. commanding that, the officer said, fine, okay, he's our mascot. you go keep them and off to the front. so they get to france. there's more training. before long, they're loaded to boxcars and travelling to the war front. territory in is france which has been overrun by forces and this is -- by it's february of the, so almost a year after wilson has declared -- asked congress to declare a war. the phase of the

warfare known as trench warfare. they're not fighting, they ave these -- sorry, these bumpers that they are able to take shelter in. we have a sketch that one of conroy's friends had made showing probably conroy in one of their underground bunkers. if you look real closely, look who's in the covers? that?e you got stubby, probably stubby though he's not officially labeled. they are, in the bunkers, when they're not in the they're above ground. this is the german side. machine guns.e there's a little bit of cover where you have some safety and security that protected you as being out here on became n area of what

known as no man's land because it was no place for anyone to hang out and stay alive. so here you'd have, for example, the german trenches. back over omewhere, in that next room, you can allied we've got the trenches. lots of cross fire going back and forth. machine guns, artillery gun, of all shapes and sizes including large shells being fired by the naval guns. were called railway guns because in order to get them to fire, the troops literally had to lay railroad tracks to draw munitions forward. okay, so this is going on constantly. barrages back and forth. soldiers become adept about doing anything in the trenches. cover, sleeping, taking

or fighting or whatever else needs to be done. stub bifipg euros out this is his new home and he better adapt to it. and so he does. he learns how to hang mout with the troops when it's appropriate. low when it's not. if there's major fighting going go downas encouraged to underground to the bunkers. played the role of official rat patroller. one of the duties was to capture the ats running around in trenches. he shat guard with the soldiers someone was doing guard duty. bito ncommon for stub cuddle up and keep him company on a cold night. perhaps the most useful skill at this point in the war was that he learned very early on how to detect when a gas attack was to occur. who studied up a little

bit about world war i knows serious use of chemical warfare in world war i capsters filled with were being fired over at the opposing sides and this could cause serious discomfort, injury, and even death. so soldiers had a gas mask. gas of the animals had masks because otherwise they ould be injured like the people. stubby could accommodate with have acute e dogs sense of hearing and smell could tell when it was going to be bark an alarm up and down the trenches and he became quite valuable for his ability to do that.

was credited by going through underground nkers and woke the soldier who fell the p and didn't hear larms was able to get the soldier to wake up and put his gas mask on too. when i know you're in the trenches, people get injured. serious battle of april of 1918 called the battle of sheshecray and a long extended eriod of fighting and it seems like it was just about over. stubby crawled out to con noiter and pieces of that metal hit the dog shell in his chest. he seemed to be quite seriously risked his own life to climb out of the trench

and rescue stubby and bring him of the trench.er tried to dress his wounds. when the soldiers were allowed trench, soon after he carried stubby back in to camp. doctor took a look and dressed the wounds further go to said he needs to the hospital and orpderred the dog to be placed into the the other long with soldiers and stubby was taken to a field hospital, perhaps like one, these were simple can see here. you they have grass floors or dirt floors. hese aren't regulation hospitals like we would find in our communities. was sentheless, stubby to this hospital. was dutifully stitched up. spent about six weeks recovering but did recover and back and rejoined the

is reunited re he and by now the war is shifting. germans are beginning to ake one last attempt to press forward towards paris and the americans are joining the french back and to push them so they're now fighting in these open wheat fields with little french towns and so forth. stub bi's military unit joins this particular he's part of rea, yankee division. the german assault collapses and andgermans begin to retreat allies keep pushing them back to germany. everyone is on the move. so is stubby, the war dog. the places they pass

small french s community in france. while they're there helping to because e town occasionally the germans will turn and attack again, stubby there's going be gas and sounds his usual barked alarm. not only does he work to help soldiers but also the citizens that live in the town. and so now he's got all of these fans too. good y, the soldiers are friends. the french ans in town. they say he needs a uniform. bi'ss literally where stub little military coat comes from. him this jacket. nd explains he's in the 102 infantry, has a patch on, an

official one just like the army do.n the military you know buttons and so forth. he's truly a war dog now. own uniform. he keeps learning and keeps skills.new combat comes, he becomes a rescue dog. job to help the medics find the injured soldiers. dogs are better than people at telling when someone dying on the ground is dead or alive. they have that sense that says this person is alive. they were able to pick out the taken who needed to be

care of first. stub and the other dogs could ind people hidden in the tall grass or the wheat who were out carry t and they would little supplies if the soldiers badly wounded could take out the bandages to dress themselves. be content to be just a guard dog, he started to the german prisoners of war. these were german prisoners of captured as been the allies were moving forward pursuing the german troops. these military dogs develop all kinds of instincts and xperience based on what they have observed during the war. able to tell was the difference between the american and german. mostly by smell. if you think about it, each army

is eating its own diet and so forth. here's going to be a different body odor associated with that. so stubby knew very well before germans whatarding a german looked and smelled like. in ained particular fame september of 1918 when he german all by himself. the details of this are a little in dispute. ut what is clear on one evening, stubby was out on his prowls. the soldierswol as would joke, absent without leave. show up again. on patrols like his own little gaurd dog. some people say he was a german trying to figure out where the american troops were in the troops were.

some said he was just lost. he got removed from his union. knew he didn't belong where he was. the soldiers were like stop starts to charm him with german doggy charming have impact doesn't n stubby except to make him bark longer. quick runners.e he's not a big dog. he's this tall. he's a strong dog. he takes off. very farer doesn't get before stubby lunged at him and to the not to knock him ground. grabs a big hunk of the guy's hunk of the guy

oo and he says whatever the equivalent of "i surrender" is. ll of that barking, they know stubby is up to something. they get there, they discover soldier.ured his own he wasn't held in high esteem already, he is now. one of the traditions of the captured if you someone, you got to keep war booty. metals, those became yours. an american with one of the helmets.iked he's come by it that way or found it on the whatever.ld or this particular soldier that stubby had captured won a german of theoss, which was one distinguished medals that would warded to german

soldiers so by rights owed to does have a uniform after all. taken picture is sometime later. i'll point out where they iron cross.ang the you can just see it hanging in very polite position on the back of the dog's uniform there. stubby has one more distinction. added to him. there's a war going on. there's all kinds of destruction course, e are, of eaths, and much sadness and trauma associated with the war as well. but it does come to an end and great jubilation on armistice day, november 11,

1918, when the guns stop firing. there's a cease fire that marks the end of the fighting and the beginning of the process that to the negotiation for a peace treaty. so the war has ended, stubby has survived. survived.s and over time, the prossz begins of getting the -- the soldiers home. and this time, stubby does not to be smuggled aboard the ship. he's considered a veteran of the is like everyone else and able to march onboard the ship. is off of the ship, seeonsidered -- and you can him here in a parade, this one was in new orleans some years after the war. he the dog was so clever, was actually put in charge of leading different units of the parade. a color ow to follow

guard. he knew the commands to stop and start. he knew when you went past the reviewing stand and you were iven the order to turn your eyes right as a form of salute to the dignitaries of the viewing stand. head to uld turn his the right. when the command came to look to ight again, stubby knew do that. he was very much a military -- a milita veteran, was honored in all kinds of parade. this was a parade specifically animals. ventually he was given the harness with all of the tags listing all of the battles that is also in, which to allow him to carry well. as general per thing head of all

of the military officers in urope was gladly bestowed a metal on stub bicreated to honor society.y the humane the o this apparently is only time he pinned the medal on the dog. great dignitywith and stubby is putting up with it well. here were other dogs that wanted to be as famous as stubby. jigs.nt major he was not old enough to have been in world war i. have any particular skills. he had a cool hat and he was drop dead ugly. that, he and m stubby were -- although they knew one another, they would the same events togeth ogether, stubby cast a much

longer shadow than sergeant major jigs. the dogs of the president too. they would compete for the from time to time. harding's dog, and coolidge who pets at the of but stubby was eclipsed to all of these dogs and so well known and regarded that he met both of these presidents as well as wood wilson. he met woodrow wilson while they were -- the soldiers were still europe and wilson had come ver to negotiate the peace and reviewed. where the president. he was invited to visit the white house when calvin coolidge was president. of these would make

headlines. he was constantly in the news. "the new yorks in times." people recognized him. ou think of how the population knows the president's dogs or or whatever, a it's the same sort of idea with stub bi. he wasn't content just to retire military. so he picked up a new career hen he came home and became a football mascot. both for catholic university and for georgetown university and -- he has his own little it.form with the big g on he would come out in halftime at the games and someone would start a football going and would chug after it and then push it around with his head. sport ght that was great and he would just zigzag around field chasing the football until someone told him to stop. he did that for several years. i came across gs

the research ng was that this custom of having the interruption of the game at outtime with the dog coming and so forth being the origination of the halftime show. so since stub biseems to have we so much else, i think can give him credit for the halftime show. completely plausible. was, mehow how famous he he's having his portrait painted. couldn't get enough of him. let's take a break. i'll give you background about from, how tory came it became -- became a book. or two books. i've got additional photos that time to e you back in stub bi's lifetime and to his kansas city. so like most people, i had never of stubby.

i found out about him by accident when i did research on unraveling lled freedom. world ward i and what the life in the united e states. while the fellows were overseas war.ting in the and there was an illustration in i needed to write caption for. this is a piece of art that was created before we had joined the how they're an see personified by dogs. here's america, i'm neutral, not afraid by any of them. there's an american bull terrier. i'm not a dog person. i've never heard of the american terrier. i want to do a good job of writing a caption. of d a google search american bull terrier. instead of finding anything helpful about them, i found all weird websites about unusual dogs, including this dog amed sergeant stubby with this

pedigree that's unbelievable and joke, right? a like the websites, you have to the internet. you got to be careful about what there.nd i figure they've made it up. smithsonian and there's an object record of stubby and at the end of preserved.fe, he was washington, to d.c., you can see this famous dog. i was on a deadline. i needed to finish my caption. i knew i found an interesting story. i made a note about it. over the years, i kept nurturing the idea. in love , i had been with the stuffed horse, so seriously to take stuffed dog. over time, that became the idea stubby.

the research for this book was problematic. there wasn't a lot of out there about stubby. a good deal of it seemed to not be accurate. but i did know that because the at the smithsonian, that was a good place to start. i knew there was a scrapbook and it was at the smithsonian. on two different occasion, i went in and visited the mithsonian and made it a careful record of the scrapbook. scrapbook.credible these are giant black page shioned archival scrapbook and souvenirs from while they were on europe.h in this is all monte carlo. you can see little train tickets allow nroy had to buy to him to take a dog on to the

means of conveyance that they would use as they travelled around. he was on vaudeville in the and there's a flyer and the invitation for him to come and be on stage. this was like opening king tut's omb to find your way to the world of stubby. the scrapbook is filled with newspaper clippings. of them are helpfully labeled. most look like this so you have idea where it was published, what date it was published. that's okay. little they are the treasures. the ymc card for stubby making life member, making him good for three bones a day. for good meds, it's good for a place to sleep. when news broke about

id card, the membership will. this created ill one of the pages of the scrapbook has a couple of it that were letters to the editor from veterans complaining about him. honestly, we've got homeless veterans and we're taking better care of our dogs than our vets. of things you might expect. and legitimate concerns. so conroy cuts them out, slaps them in the scrapbook, and underneath in his -- he was a totally optimistic man and we'd is pr sense before even really invented public relations. o he writes underneath, criticism of stubby which proves he is famous. good at spinning just about anything. and of course while i'm in visit ton, i have to stubby every day. and just kind of communed with as part of the research.

nd stubby's jacket is at the smithsonian. withnot on display with -- the dog because the -- the from is this de very thin leather and the medals heavy and if that jacket were to hang forever on dog eventually the leather would tear. carefully stored very in an archival container. i was fortunate to be able to curators at the smithsonian who let me see the jacket jacket. and there's a detailed listing shown on the jacket. is thes big blob of gold medal that per thing pinned on the dog. smithsonian.

i visit a lot of areas on the east coast. westhaven, this modest museum. this is a place filled with people who have not forgotn't stubby. a lot of stubby there. is where that portrait is. archives hadersity a lot of material of the yale phase of training. found great material and wonderful photographs in illustrating the book. good to go to the fields, the yale bulldog, the college mascot. but just to see the places where conrad stubby would have met and trained there. went to the town where he had been born and went to the various houses he lived, went to graves, all of the things you're trying to do when it's your mother's grave that you're to understand

better about the family. archives.tic it's thanks to all of the you're seeing, the kinds of images that are here in the books as illustrations for this history. what are some of the pictures? the other dogs that are in the war? stubby, but this gives you the idea the dog with the gas mask. the soldiers with the gas mask too. the french, the german, the dogs and d official official duties, part of the canine core that was part of the military. united states did not develop canine core until well ii.o world war this is a very important dog ntil after the war delivering

bods of beer. it was not uncommon for dogs to pull carts during the war as of them to teams ork together pulling supplies, -- ing ammunitions, except these are some red cross workers. lots of mascots. one here an see this with the first division troops. troops not nearly as well behaved as stubby. on a ave to put this one leach. draw the line t at dogs. this is a wild boar that seemed for an appropriate mascot reasons unclear all to the rest motorcycle unit, combat. troops in his is fannie the goat, one of the mascots for the yankee

infantry.n the 101st and certainly stubby and fannie may not have liked one another but known one another. pictures here illustrates what it was like after stubby conroy came back. inseparable. not uncommon for stubby to hut reunions, for special photographs. he and conroy moved to after the d.c. soon war. mat cotting at the universities. pair shared house early n in the 1920s when a group of guys, all veterans, all who had known stubby in the war, must have been a lot of fun for all of them to be together.

and they were constantly reunions after the war. groups of soldiers, these are from connecticut. stubby here. edwards, roy, general the leader for most of the war of the yankee division. 1941, if you're up on your local history, you know that's the year that the for the dedicated liberty memorial. and the american legion holds convention in kansas city the s taking part in celebration. badges, nts are given stub bi's kansas city badge on his uniform. are represented on official article of

clothing. several had artifacts on it, pass that he guess was written out for robert conroy. and stub bi, the famous war dog legion in american kansas city. the menus from the train trip when they were travelling by train and aside of the prices, all of interested in that stub f meat from d have chosen from this is just a couple of scenes. crowds that he turned out for the parades. stub biwas right there leading arts of the connecticut

.oldiers who had come this was one of the highlights for the entire endeavor. doing this research, finding great stuff. then i'm running out of material. and i'm having a big problem great pr guy robert conroy is so good at promoting stub bithat there's nothing historical the record. the last thing we know about him 1954, he appears in a story in a washington newspaper he's been at a -- the apartment building he's living caught fire. it has to be evacuated and you brought girl has wisely her pair keets. the mother, of course, remembers to bring her baby. he flees, when

brings stubby. obviously 1954, stubby is not alive. you start to look at stubby, he little odd. and that's because he's stuffed. this is conroy's most prized and possessions still. after stubby is given to the smithsonian. vicariously through the random clippings that i was sent librarian, i was able to find some information that led grandson this is conroy in life and his grandson. and i became friends with kurt. quite a after i gained bit of trust, he's gotten other queries about stubby before. the story of the little sam sonnite suitcase. know, my you

grandfather gave me a suitcase. sister's t's in my house in washington. sometime and find it. they make plans to go to washington, d.c. and find the suitcase.te they turn out no not to be as easy as that. since empty. sister can't find the box. excited. we're not finding it. finally, 11:30 at night, we find garage and i do the strangest archival work i've of her e on the hoot suv. we start pulling out all of treasures from this -- these are the most cherished had saved conroy that he did not give to the smithsonian.

keep es to help him connected to this friend that he credited. and then things that finally us to understand conroy's story too. the enlistment records. this is where we find the that i showed you early on that no one had remembered. published before until it was published in my book. and the original photograph, the pr photo for stubby and his uniform. the last story i want to tell you is the story of ann and her dogs. told, not since i was a little kid had i been close to dogs. had se all of the dogs i known in my family had all died tragic deaths. i'm starting with pooh, the hit by a that was car. until i had pretty much become a cat person. and that is why i thought that would be helpful because i would impartial when i was writing about this famous dog. but the more i wrote about him,

he more i thought, man, dogs are cool. this is might be nice to have a dog. down from i came working on stubby and i looked ut to my back yard and there was this dog. he's like, lady, you've been asking for a dog. here i am. was really tough. because i travel a lot. here i am. doesn't seem like a nice thing to a dog. so i took the volunteer to the shelter and immediately was somebody who is a much better person to take care of a dog. stubby that ffed keeps me company and you have the books. so i would be delighted to answer questions. use these come and microphones so that everyone can you. and you're -- your questions are recorded. so go ahead. >> thank you. [ applause ]

in the photo where perishing is pinning on the award to the dog? yes. sitting where we were, there was a young man just beaming? yes. >> that was conroy. i meant to point that out. >> yes. >> and do you know the person in back that was looking like right at the camera? was an attache there, a member of his staff in uniform. pleased too inks a fancy hat and so forth. she's a representative of the had helped ty that to sponsor the award. we meant to make that shorter, thank you. color?isn't there any >> why isn't there any color in the photos? is that the question? what a good question. this is an appropriate question for someone your size. because there were a few

eople who figured out how to take photographs and hand color them, it was a time consuming and the technology had not been invented yet that would photographsul color like we have today. and something like digital photography or cell phones that pictures, no one had imagined something like that was possible. everybody was pleased to have picture.nd white that is why you're stuck putting up with them. yes? i bet somebody could lower this mic so our young people are to hear. okay. perfect. thank you. >> do you have any more of those stuffed stubbies? >> i'm at my publisher saying you have to manufacture these. writing group of friends that we get together once a month and we share our work with one another. us has a book come

out, we celebrate. they celebrated by making me my own stubby. they even -- they even put the german cross -- the iron cross the right place. and so, yeah. the prototype. you're right. yes. >> how long did it take you to book. ach >> how long did it take me to make the book? stubby in the land of years.good two and having written -- first i the children's book. i didn't know i would be asked to write an adult book until i book.ed the children's but i had done a good chunk of research already and i went back and was able ore to write a fresh text for the adult book. yes? what kind of dog is it? >> what kind of dog is stubby? there's a lot of debate about that. some day there will be scholars who will be stub bi's scholars argue about this.

but i would say he's mostly a mut. but he was alive in a time when lot of effort was put into breeding what's called a boston terrier today. beginning, the boston terriers were bigger, they didn't necessarily all look and white the way we tend to think of them looking now. so he's pretty close to a boston terrier. but he might have a little bit of bulldog mixed in and maybe some other flavors just for fun. thanks. >> do you know precisely why stubby's name was stubby? >> this is an excellent question. you're helping to remind me of all of the things i should have earlier. so this is do you want to help me guess? if you take a good look at stubby, what do you think it might be. the tail.

a short tail. at some point, his tail had been breeders will sometimes shorten tails to make dogs look a certain way. stubby's tale was very short. he had a stubby tail. he became stubby. but news reporters didn't always the facts right back then. just like now, things get mixed up. come across the newspaper articles from the era and they y was alive call him stuffy. let's see. hubby. ometimes the articles would refer to him as a she, even a boy.it's but stubby because of the short tail. yes? he got hurt, did he make it? >> did he make it after he got hurt. up.e was pretty shaken i don't know if unconscious. anywhere te that down if he was. when he was taken away to the ambulance, the soldier, the

friends, they didn't know if he was going to make it. but eventually he did recover it that helped to make possible for him to come home again and march in all of those parades. any people --have i mean children? >> was he a dad? if he was, he kept that secret too. has been -- there have mention of stub bi-related puppies, think he's the one and only. question. >> when did stubby die? > he died in 1926 and we don't know when he was born because he was a stray dog. but we figure he was maybe 10 or years old. seven years ed for war ended.

he get hurt? or maybe illery shell a grenade exploded. and these shells, if you think f what the cannon ball looks liking, the shells are like that too, they're more pointed like a rocket. around them, when it lands, it blows up in the chunks shrapnel.are called and if the shrapnel hits your penetrate iting to just like a bullet would. it becomes almost like a weapon. metal cut stub biopen where they hit him. it's serious. shrapnel e die from wounds. he was lucky he didn't. yes. injured was he injure? >> how serious was he?

pretty seriously injured. they weren't sure if he was going to make it. we're lucky he did, yeah. >> was it taken out? stitched up.en the wounds were stitched up again. did the war find the dog. >> ask that again? dog?w did the war find the >> how did the war find the dog? you mean by that? you mean how did the dog and the war end up mixed up together? you know, sometimes things just ork out that you don't even plan or imagine. the dog just happened to be born at a time when the war was going happened to fall in love with and be fallen in love with by these troops who were so they d to him that

couldn't imagine going off to war without him. enough of them came back to celebrate it that we now know of stubby's story. that help? okay, good. >> how and when did conrad die. he lived to be to 85. he die in the 1980s. he had been in the fbi. career. varied he had public relations which wasn't too surprising. very, very active with veterans' y and and so forth and

died there. he was married twice. had another dog. stubby was the only dog he ever had. that was his dog. ?o you want to ask a question okay, go ahead. > my question is that like -- the black and white kind of like gray picture. >> right, yes, it's not in the book. >> it's in the adult book. >> oh. >> and that's because when we -- -- you are very observant. i see a publishing job in your future. eople get paid money to notice stuff like that. so that book got sent off to press really early because it the pictures in it. and it had already gone to press blue i got to see the bookcase.

we didn't know about that picture when that book went to press. being worked was on and we were able to fit that in. i said we've got to put that in the book. and so we did. okay? >> thank you for coming and making a great story greater. >> thank you. >> in my question is, what are you going do about the movie? >> i'm going to buy popcorn as opens. it you gnus connect me up with your producer any time. stubby a sergeant? >> okay, this is another -- this is a copy editor here. proofreader here in the works. hearing first started about stubby on the internet, he was consistently referred to as sergeant stubby. the story you'll read about on he internet is stubby was officially given military rank because of his service and a lot connected it to that

capturing of the german spot. this seemed reasonable. i read every single newspaper article that i could find about stubby. historical gh the record and read all of these proclamations and so forth that war.een made in the i could find no evidence of this whatsoever. and further more, none of the accounts of stubby written in the dog's lifetime ever, ever call him sergeant. he is just stubby. that some well individuals or referring to him as sergeant stubby as the internet became our go-to source answers to questions. and so this is -- this rank was at owed on him by his fans some point down the road. and somebody is welcome to argue with me about that and prove me do not think that the military has done that. yeah, they certainly could. why they eason

shouldn't. but so far, it has not happened. yes? >> why did you name the book did it take tong write it? >> so "stubby the war dog," authors name the books and sometimes editors do. and i think my editor came up and came one the title for that book. it kind of all runs together. where the -- you know, when i one, working on the other, working on them both time.e same so i probably spend about nine months researching the book and nine months writing each of the books. six or so other months helping to finish with the production of them. it all up and it's two years or so working on the books. could be here we until that ball game startles. think -- i think there's a

ball game some folks may want to get home for. i'm going to take -- i see some here.ar faces is there anyone here who hasn't asked a question yet that's in line. have the last question. sorry, no, the young lady. > what countries did stubby go to? >> oh, my. think only uld -- i would have been in france. some of the troops went to went to efore nay france. stubby did not. his unit departed from france. after the soldiers war were sent into germany to establish the occupation and peace while the treaties negotiated. but the 26th division did not. france and the united states. that would be it. so i am very glad to be able to here.been

i know there are books in the lobby and i'd be happy to talk with you further and answer questions, sign books. you can find out more about stubby through my author me on facebook. and thank you very much. [ applause ] you're watching "american history tv." on ours of programming american history every weekend on c-span 3. c-span s on twitter at history for information on our schedule, upcoming programs, and latest up with the history news. > all weekend long, american history tv is featuring madison, wisconsin. u.s. citiesonly two isthmus.an on an isthmus. together with our charter