Cats in the Military

[artu44]

I'm starting a new topic I think it will have short life cause dogs had the major role. Nevertheless also cats had their moment of glory in Europe carrying messages, God knows if things were successful. In this pic a communist cat ready to start for a mission.

[Salvage Sailor]

Nice gesture Artu,

 

But as this is the USMF, I'll offer you an American cat along with her WWII crew

 

USS WANDANK (ATO-26) Assigned to the 5th Naval District, Wandank operated out of Norfolk for the United States Atlantic Fleet in the Hampton Roads-Virginia Capes area. During the summer of 1939, she operated off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, first to assist in rescuing 33 crewmen from the sunken submarine USS Squalus (SS-192) in May 1939, and later to assist in raising the submarine herself, including towing of the raised submarine to shallower water in August 1939.

 

[pchepurko]

Cool!

[artu44]

Nice american kitten, but not in active combat.

[Jarhead8007]

Been going on for at least 100 years.

 

Mascots of the Lafayette Escadrille: lion cubs, Whiskey and Soda (don't know which one is in the photo)

[gwb123]

I'm starting a new topic I think it will have short life cause dogs had the major role. Nevertheless also cats had their moment of glory in Europe carrying messages, God knows if things were successful. In this pic a communist cat ready to start for a mission.

 

Who knows what that commie cat is up to? The Soviets during WWII experimented with dogs carrying anti-tank mines. They trained the dogs by always feeding them under a tank. Then in combat, they would let them get hungry, and then set them loose, along with a mine strapped on their back to run towards the German tanks.

 

Despite some successes one significant flaw soon developed.... the dogs could not tell the difference between Soviet tanks and German tanks. The program was discontinued.

[artu44]

They made a mistake. They had to teach dogs to detect german motor oil smell. Here a partisan unit trained his dog to bark at the smell of german boot grease to avoid ambushes.

[Salvage Sailor]

 

Nice american kitten, but not in active combat.

 

 

 

Tell that to the rats who dared come aboard this man o' war.

[artu44]

Ah ah. Harbour rats usually are bigger twice than that poor little kitten. LOL

[plick27]

slide #4 wins

 

http://www.slate.com/slideshows/news_and_politics/cats-of-war.html

[artu44]

slide #4 wins

 

http://www.slate.com...ats-of-war.html

 

Excelelnt hilarious idea. Beautiful funny pics The Normandy one is superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GITom1944]

By coincidence, I just scanned some small photos of my father yesterday by enlarging & cleaning them with Adobe PS I was able make out what was going on here. He was an armorer with the 72nd Fighter Squadron. I think these were taken on Oahu in 1944 after the squadron returned from Makin. Pic 1 is for cats, Pic 2 for context.

[fstop61]

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad had a great ad campaign during WWTwo utilizing their long-time Chessie the Cat logo. They sent Peake to join the war effort. Note the Transportation Corps badge on his overseas cap.

[J_Andrews]

Cats have long been fixtures in military camps and aboard ships -- because they catch rodents and they need little care.

 

In the pre-WWII Army, every mess hall and most barracks buildings had a resident mouser. In 1983 at Ft Meade MD, my USAR unit moved into a "new" (!?) 1941-vintage building that came with a resident cat (Lucille). Her name -- not awarded by us -- came from one of the facility eng guys, who knew her and her mother before her. I fell heir to one of her kittens, Fred AKA The Fearless.

[doyler]

Lil'l friend on Iwo..............

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

"Here is 'Bilgewater,' the mascot of the Coast Guard Academy, circa 1944.  He's modeling the new wartime grey cadet uniform.

 

[Salvage Sailor]

From the Naval Historical Center

"Ten Old Salts", USS HARTFORD, 1877

 

 

Undoubtedly, Petty Officer Puss has sailed the seven seas and beyond too.

 

[T Ambrosini]

I'll join in on this one...  From the May 10, 1943 edition of the Golden Gate Guardian, the Presidio of San Francisco's post newspaper

 

Tom

 

[DoubleEnvelopment]

This is my favorite historic photograph of all time. It's a photo of the USS Lehigh Crew on the James river featuring their mascot cat and chicken. Borrowed from Navsource.

 

"Some of the enlisted crew on the monitor Lehigh pose on deck of their ironclad. The boredom of blockade duty on the James River in Virginia was broken by a photographer's party that recorded several images of monitors on the James. These men thought enough of their ship's mascots to include them in this group photo. One sailor (left of center) holds the ship's cat while the sailor in the center holds a fighting cock. The original negative is # 111-B-25 in the National Archives. Image # 524442a from the National Archives at College Park, (NARA)"

[TheCrustyBosun]

This cat must have lost its hearing. 
 

Photo comes from the book Bomber Command by Ethell. 
 

Sits on the dash of B-25 from the 90th Photo Mapping Squadron- Ole C. Griffith. 
 

 

[aerialbridge]

Dogs and cats are on the A-list of God's creatures.   Cats and sailors have long had a close bond.  American short-hair cats came over on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims.  Besides being apex predators to keep disease-bearing rodents from over-running the ship,  they bring good luck on a voyage and protect the ship and sailors from evil.  Sometimes they even get rated.    Here's Gun Captain Cat and Shellman Dog, on the gunboat USS Tulsa,  China side, at Canton on 4 May 1929,  back in the days when we ruled that sea.  

 

 

[doyler]

another image from Iwo. I understand the Marine survived the war.

 

 

[doyler]

[doyler]

 

 

[doyler]

Korea 1952

 

 

 

 

In the middle of the Korean War, this kitten found herself an orphan. Luckily, she found her way into the hands of Marine Sergeant Frank Praytor. He adopted the two-week-old kitten and gave her the name “Miss Hap” because, he explained, “she was born at the wrong place at the wrong time”. There’s a juxtaposition between the soldier and the human. He’s dressed for war but hasn’t lost the ability to care for another living creature.

In the photograph, Praytor is seen leaning against sandbags with a pistol holstered to his hip and his helmet resting on his knee. In his left hand he holds a kitten, nursing it delicately with a medicine dropper. Praytor wrote that the kitten was one of two who were orphaned after a soldier shot their mother for “yeowling”. The marine who adopted the other kitten killed it after rolling over on it in his sleep.