How does a Syrian black bear get adopted in Iran by the 2nd Polish Army Corps during World War II, serve as a registered private with the 22nd Artillery Supply Company traveling through Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt, drink coffee, beer and smoke cigarettes with the troops, fight alongside the British Eighth Army during the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944 by carrying 100-pound crates of 25-pound artillery shells on the battlefield, get officially promoted to corporal in the Polish army, then live out the rest of his life comfortably in Scotland at the Edinburgh Zoo, and have bronze statue erected in his honor? Well… that’s how!

Bronze statue, 2013
West Princes Street Gardens
Edinburgh, Scotland

09.09.25