Wojtek ( bear ) Wojtek ( 1942 – 1963 ; ) usually spelled " Voytek " in English , was a Syrian brown bear cub found in Iran and adopted by soldiers of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps . During the Battle of Monte Cassino , Wojtek helped move ammunition . The name " Wojtek " is a diminutive form of " Wojciech " , an old Slavic name that is still common in Poland today and means " he who enjoys war " or " smiling warrior " . History . In 1942 , a local boy found a bear cub near Hamadan , Iran , whose mother had been shot . He sold it to Irena ( Inka ) Bokiewicz , a young Polish refugee walking across the Elbruz mountains as she escaped from the Soviet Union . When he became too big she donated him to the Polish Army . As the bear was less than a year old , he initially had problems swallowing and was fed with condensed milk from an emptied vodka bottle . The bear was subsequently fed with fruit , marmalade , honey and syrup , and was often rewarded with beer , which became his favourite drink . He also enjoyed smoking and eating cigarettes . He enjoyed wrestling and was taught to salute when greeted . The bear became quite an attraction for soldiers and civilians alike , and soon became an unofficial mascot of all units stationed nearby . With the company he moved to Iraq and then through Syria , Palestine and Egypt . Private Wojtek . To get him on a British transport ship when the unit sailed from Egypt to fight with the British 8th Army in the Italian campaign , he was officially drafted into the Polish Army as a private and was listed among the soldiers of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps . Henryk Zacharewicz and Dymitr Szawlugo were assigned as his caretakers . As one of the officially enlisted " soldiers " of the company , he lived with the other men in their tents or in a special wooden crate , which was transported by truck . According to numerous accounts , during the Battle of Monte Cassino , Wojtek helped his friends by transporting ammunition – never dropping a single crate . In recognition of the bear ' s popularity , the HQ approved an effigy of a bear holding an artillery shell as the official emblem of the 22nd Company ( by then renamed to 22nd Transport Company ) . Postwar . Following the end of World War II in 1945 , the bear was transported to Berwickshire in Scotland , along with parts of the II Corps . Stationed in the village of Hutton , near Duns , Wojtek soon became popular among local civilians and the press . The Polish - Scottish Association made Wojtek one of its honorary members . Following demobilization on November 15 , 1947 , Wojtek was given to the Edinburgh Zoo . There Wojtek spent the rest of his days , often visited by journalists and former Polish soldiers . Some of whom would toss him cigarettes , which he then proceeded to eat because there was no one there to light them for him . Wojtek died in December 1963 , at the age of 22 . At the time of his death he weighed nearly and had a length of over 6 feet ( 1 . 8 meters ) . The media attention contributed to Wojtek ' s popularity . He was a frequent guest of BBC ' s " Blue Peter " program . Among memorial plaques commemorating the bear - soldier are a stone tablet in the Edinburgh Zoo , plaques in the Imperial War Museum and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa , as well as a sculpture by artist David Harding in the Sikorski Museum in London and a carved wooden sculpture in Weelsby Woods , Grimsby . There are proposals to erect a memorial in Edinburgh . On 25 April 2013 , Kraków council decided to erect a statue of the bear in a park of the city . On 30 December 2011 , a film , " Wojtek – The Bear That Went to War " , was aired on BBC2 Scotland . On September 16 , 2013 the City of Edinburgh Council has approved of the project for a bronze statue of Wojtek to stand in the Princess Street Gardens . The statue is to represent Wojtek and a Polish Army Soldier walking in peace and unity . A 4m long relief will present his journey from Egypt to Scotland alongside the Polish Army .