'Winnie's Great War' Tells Story Of World War I Through Beloved Bear's Real-Life Journey
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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.
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