揭祕二戰傳奇“熊大兵”：喜歡香菸和啤酒
British campaigners call for tribute to 'soldier bear'
Soldier-bear during World War II
Scottish campaigners are calling for a memorial to a soldier-bear which joined Polish troops on the front line during World War II and died in Edinburgh, media reported Saturday. Voytek, a 113-kilogram, 1.8-metre (249-pound, nearly six feet) brown bear, was adopted by the Poles after they found it in Iran in 1943.
They gave the animal beer and cigarettes, trained it to carry mortar shells and even enlisted it as a soldier so that it could keep travelling with them.
At the end of the war, the troops were billeted to southern Scotland and Voytek went along too, before being sent to Edinburgh Zoo when they were demobilised.
The animal remained at the zoo until its death in 1963.
Now a teacher from southern Scotland, Garry Paulin, is writing a book about the bear and a campaign has started to have Voytek's life commemorated in a statue.
Campaigner Aileen Orr said she first heard about the bear as a child from her grandfather, a Scottish soldier.
"The story is totally amazing and it would be good if we could have some memorial in Scotland, to celebrate the bear's life," she told the Scotsman newspaper.
Polish veteran Augustyn Karolewski, who still lives in Scotland, added: "He was like a big dog -- no-one was scared of him.
"He liked a cigarette, he liked a bottle of beer -- he drank a bottle of beer like any man."
據媒體上週六報道，蘇格蘭社會活動人士日前呼籲爲一隻“熊大兵”修建紀念碑，這隻熊於二戰期間加入波蘭前線軍隊，後來在愛丁堡去世。
這隻名叫“沃耶泰克”的棕熊重113公斤，高1米8，它於1943年在伊朗被波蘭部隊發現並收養。
波軍士兵給它喝啤酒、教它抽菸，訓練它運送追擊炮彈。後來爲了能讓它隨部隊同行，軍隊索性將其“徵召”入伍。
二戰快結束時，波軍到蘇格蘭南部駐紮，沃耶泰克也隨部隊來到了這裏，之後因軍隊被遣散，它被送往愛丁堡動物園，直到1963年去世。
蘇格蘭南部的一名教師蓋裏•鮑林目前正在撰寫一本講述“沃耶泰克”事蹟的書，蘇格蘭當地也興起了呼籲修建沃耶泰克紀念雕像的運動。
運動參與者艾琳•奧爾說，她小時候聽身爲蘇格蘭軍人的祖父說過這隻熊的故事。
她在接受《蘇格蘭人》報的採訪時說：“沃耶泰克的故事讓人驚歎，如果我們在蘇格蘭能有個紀念物來紀念他，那就太好了。”
仍居住在蘇格蘭的波蘭老兵奧古斯汀•卡洛勒維斯基說：“他就像一隻大狗——大家都不怕他。”
“他喜歡來根香菸和一瓶啤酒——他就像人一樣，會喝上一瓶啤酒。”
