Sergeant Stubby

by Ann Bausum

  • During the summer, Conroy and Stubby take part in defensive, and then offensive, campaigns along the Marne River, including the liberation of Château-Thierry in late July. Grateful women from that city make Stubby a uniform.

  • Conroy and Stubby participate in the St. Mihiel campaign starting on September 12. The 26th Division retakes the desired territory from the Germans in four days.

  • Allied forces begin the Meuse-Argonne campaign on September 26, an undertaking designed to defeat the German forces and end the war. It lasts for weeks with varying degrees of intensity along multiple points at the front lines. The Yankee Division, including Conroy and Stubby, take part in a diversionary operation when the campaign begins; Stubby captures a German soldier during this maneuver.

  • Conroy receives his second and final military promotion, to corporal, on September 30.

  • On November 2, Conroy is “wounded in action slightly” by poison gas when the Germans attack the Bois d’Ormont north of Verdun during the Meuse-Argonne campaign. Stubby is likewise injured. Both Conroy and Stubby make a full recovery following a brief hospitalization and return together to the battlefront.

  • The warring nations sign an armistice agreement, and all combat ceases on November 11 at 11 o’clock in the morning.

  • Later that fall, the Yankee Division settles into its winter quarters at Montigny-le-Roi, France, awaiting its return to the United States.

  • President Woodrow Wilson spends Christmas Day, December 25, with the Yankee Division. Stubby reportedly shakes hands with the President during his visit.

  1919

  • On March 13, Conroy and Stubby begin a two-week furlough, intending to visit the south of France, but Conroy becomes ill with influenza and requires hospitalization in Paris. Stubby receives permission to stay with him. Conroy is discharged in time for the pair to visit Monte Carlo before their furlough ends on March 27.

  • Conroy and Stubby depart from Brest, France, on March 31, sailing on the Agamemnon with other members of the 102nd Regiment and the Yankee Division. They reach Boston Harbor on April 7.

  • Stubby leads the 102nd Regiment in the Boston victory parade on April 25, celebrating the return of the Yankee Division.

  • On April 26, Conroy receives an honorable discharge from the U.S. military. He and Stubby depart for visits and celebrations in various Connecticut cities.

  • Stubby begins a three-day engagement on May 1 at the Bijou Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, appearing with Conroy as part of a vaudeville show of live performances and other entertainment.

  • On May 8, Stubby receives a lifetime membership in the YMCA, good for “three bones a day” and “a place to sleep.”

  • Representatives sign the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, marking the official end of World War I; however, the U.S. Senate subsequently rejects the agreement, and a separate treaty is negotiated later on. It is signed and ratified in 1921.

  • Stubby accompanies Conroy to the first convention of the newly formed American Legion when the veterans’ organization meets in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 10–12.

  1920

  • Stubby receives a Hero Dog Award in February at the Eastern Dog Club show in Boston. Later that spring the group awards him a silver medallion and ceremonial harness.

  • That fall Conroy moves with Stubby to Washington, D.C., and enrolls in the law school at Catholic University. Stubby becomes the mascot for the university’s football team. In 1921, he becomes the mascot for the Georgetown University Hilltoppers (later known as the Hoyas) after Conroy switches to that university’s law school.

  1921

  • Stubby is awarded a “special prize” from the Boston Terrier Club in Washington, D.C., on March 7.

  • Stubby is one of the featured participants in a mid-May animal parade in Washington, D.C., organized by the Humane Education Society, an animal rights group.

  • Stubby and Conroy attend a party for wounded veterans, held on the grounds of the White House on June 8. They meet President Warren G. Harding and First Lady Florence Harding during the event.

  • On July 6, General Pershing presents Stubby with a medal from the Humane Education Society to celebrate his work as a rescue dog during World War I and to commemorate his participation in the society’s recent animal parade.

  • Conroy and Stubby join other veterans during October for an American Legion convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Military leaders from the Allied forces gather with veterans to dedicate the site where the Liberty Memorial will be built, commemorating the Great War. In subsequent years Conroy and Stubby take part in American Legion conventions in New Orleans (1922), St. Paul (1924), and Omaha (1925).

  1923

  • Conroy interrupts his law studies to join the Bureau of Investigation at the Justice Department, forerunner of the FBI. He begins his service in July and resigns 16 months later on October 11, 1924.

  1924

  • Congress passes the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, known as the Bonus Act, offering Great War veterans deferred compensation for their military service, payable in 1945.

  • On October 29, Conroy and Stubby are invited to visit the White House to meet with President Calvin Coolidge.

  1925

  • Conroy begins working on Capitol Hill, serving as secretary for Congressman Edward Hart Fenn, Republican from Connecticut. Later he serves as clerk for the Committee on the Census, chaired by Fenn.

  • Charles Ayer Whipple, the artist for the U.S. Capitol, paints a portrait of Stubby wearing his jacket and military honors.

  • Conroy and Stubby attend their final American Legion convention together when they travel to Omaha, Nebraska, during October.

  1926

  • Stubby dies at home, cradled in Conroy’s arms, on March 16. Conroy immediately makes arrangements to have the mascot’s remains preserved.

  • Conroy graduates from law school on June 12, having completed his studies at National University. He gains admission to the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia on October 11, 1927.

  1927

  • Conroy marries Ruth M. Burghardt on June 4. They separate about seven months later. Their daughter, Elaine Virginia Conroy, is born on July 20, 1928, in Washington, D.C.

  • On December 7, Stubby’s remains go on exhibition at the headquarters of the American Red Cross, on long-term loan from Conroy.

  1932

  • Depression-era veterans in need of funds organize a Bonus Expeditionary Force that descends on Washington, D.C., seeking early payment of their World War I service bonuses. After weeks of encampment, the protesters are routed from the city and dispersed, only to return in subsequent years until their demands are met in 1936.

  1941

  • The United States joins the Second World War (which began in 1939), following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by the Japanese on December 7. Conroy registers for military service in 1942 and reportedly works stateside on military intelligence.

  1954

  • Conroy and Stubby make the news when Conroy flees a burning high-rise in Washington, D.C., on April 21, carrying the stuffed remains of Stubby under his arm.

  1956

  • On May 22, Conroy presents Stubby to the Smithsonian Institution along with the mascot’s scrapbook, medal-bedecked jacket, collar, and ceremonial harness.

  1975

  • Conroy, who has retired to Florida, marries Margaret Elmyra Cooper on December 20 at age 83, his second marriage.

  1987

  • James Robert Conroy dies in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 25 at the age of 95. His remains are cremated and laid to rest in that city.

  2004

  • Stubby goes on permanent display at the Smithsonian in the “Price of Freedom” exhibit at the National Museum of American History.

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