03/17/2026
One Hundred Years Ago This Week, America Lost a Hero 🐾
On March 16, 1926, Sergeant Stubby — the most decorated war dog in American history — died in Washington, D.C. A century later, he is still remembered.
Stubby's story began in New Haven in 1917, when this scrappy stray wandered into the camp of the 102d Infantry Regiment. His human, Private J. Robert Conroy, smuggled him onto the boat and across the Atlantic to the battlefields of France.
He served through some of the bloodiest fighting of the Great War: Seicheprey, Château Thierry, and the Meuse-Argonne. He was wounded in action and carried on. He alerted his men to gas attacks, located the wounded in no man's land, and once held a German spy by the seat of his trousers until soldiers arrived.
When the 102d came home, Stubby marched with them. The photo above, taken at the homecoming parade on April 30, 1919, shows him in his element — chest out, medals gleaming, a grateful Connecticut crowd stretching out behind him.
General Pershing personally decorated him. He met 3 presidents, and even dabbled in vaudeville!
When he died, on March 16, 1926, papers across the country reported on his death. The New Britain Herald, the paper from Conroy's hometown, published his obituary on it's front page, and announced his body would be preserved and presented to the Smithsonian Institution as one of the great war dogs of all time — where he remains today.
As the Meriden Journal wrote at the time: he was a war dog, not a dog of war.
To the men of the 102d, to Connecticut, and to the nation — Stubby was more than a mascot. He was proof that loyalty and courage have no species. Rest easy, Stubby. 🐾
