Well Done, Warrior

When General Jack Seely left his home in 1914 to take command of the Canadian Cavalry Corps, his beloved thoroughbred stallion, Warrior, went with him to the Western Front. So began one of the most amazing animal stories of World War I.

During the next four years, Warrior took part in some of the most ferocious and pivotal battles of the Great War.  He saw action at the Battle of the Somme, Ypres, Cambrai, and Passchendaele, and in 1918 he led a cavalry charge against the Germans at Amiens, in a battle that proved crucial in bringing the terrible war to an end. Warrior never gave in, despite being buried in mud and rubble, trapped in burning stables, and charging through intensive barrages of machine-gun fire and mortar shells — it was no wonder he became known as “the horse the Germans couldn’t kill”. Having survived it all, Warrior and Seely returned home to the Isle of Wight, where the famous stallion lived a peaceful life until his death in 1941 at the age of 32.

In 2014, a century after the start of the Great War, Warrior posthumously received the PDSA Dickin Medal (also known as “the animals’ Victoria Cross”), the highest honor an animal can receive in Britain for acts of bravery while serving in a military conflict. Warrior is the only recipient to predate the medal’s institution in 1943, and was chosen to receive the honor on behalf of all the brave animals that served in World War I. 

Well done, Warrior!