'Winnie's Great War' Tells Story Of World War I Through Beloved Bear's Real-Life Journey
In 1914, Canadian veterinarian Harry Coleborne was making his way from Winnipeg to Quebec to deploy for battle in World War I, when he met an orphaned bear cub at a train station in White River, Ontario.
Coleborne purchased the bear for $20, reboarded his train with members of his unit, and named her Winnipeg — after his hometown — or Winnie for short. The bear traveled with him to England, where she became a regiment mascot for the soldiers training for the battlefield.
That real-life bear became the inspiration for one of the most loveable characters in children’s literature, Winnie the Pooh. Author Lindsay Mattick, the great-granddaughter of Coleborne, spoke with Here & Now in 2015 about the picture book she wrote about Winnie, “Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear.”
Her new children’s,” introduces young readers to World War I through the lens of her great-grandfather’s pet bear. But what possessed Coleborne to buy a wild animal on his way to war? Mattick () tells ‘s Peter O’Dowd it’s a question she’s thought about a lot.
