A dog helped kill Baghdadi, joining a long history of canine war heroes

The artillery barrages of World War I were long dormant when Gen. John J. Pershing readied an award for a wounded combat veteran. The soldier took shrapnel to the chest in the brutal Seicheprey campaign in France, survived gas attacks and caught a German scout.

Pershing, the commander of U.S. forces in the war, summarized his valor in a speech and pinned a medal to the soldier, who did not say a word that day in July 1921.

“He merely licked his chops and wagged his diminutive tail,” the New York Times wrote of Stubby, a Boston bull terrier already famous as a four-legged version of Sgt. Alvin York.

On Sunday, another dog was added to the hall of canine heroes: A Belgian Malinois that tore after Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a darkened tunnel in Syria. Baghdadi killed himself with a suicide vest as the dog closed in, and the pup suffered minor wounds before returning to duty.

A photo of the dog, assigned to the Army’s secretive Delta Force, was posted by President Trump, who said the dog did “a GREAT JOB” in the Saturday raid. The dog’s name is classified, Trump and the Pentagon said, though Newsweek reported its name is Conan (after the comedian, not the barbarian).