Wojtek the Bear immortalised in Krakow
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
20.05.2014 09:15
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Wojtek the Bear immortalised in Krakow. John Beauchamp speaks to Richard Lucas, the initiator of the project to erect a statue of the 'Soldier Bear'.
On Sunday, a statue of an unlikely war hero was unveiled...
On the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek the Soldier Bear gets his very own statue at Park Jordana in the southern city of Kraków, 18.05.2014. Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk
Wojtek the Soldier Bear was just a cub when he joined the ranks of the Polish Army led by Wladyslaw Anders during World War II.
He became the mascot of the 22nd Artillery Company and even secured his own rations, when not munching on cigarettes or drinking beer. But jokes aside, the bear helped carry munitions during the Battle of Monte Cassino, and so it was fitting that this Polish veteran be given his own statue on the 70th anniverary of that decisive battle which claimed so many lives.
Reporter John Beauchamp spoke to Richard Lucas, a British entrepreneur in Poland’s southern city of Krakow, who was the brains behind the Wojtek statue.