Montrose Bamse Memorial Trail – Scotland - Atlas Obscura

Montrose Bamse Memorial Trail

This belowed wartime mascot has been honored with not just one, but two statues. 

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This legendary St. Bernard dog, who served in the Norwegian navy during the Second World War, has his own memorial trail in Montrose in Scotland.

Although Bamse served together with the Norwegian Captain Hafto onboard the Norwegian minesweeper Thorodd his contribution to the war effort gave him a legendary status in the Scottish town of Montrose. Although under Norwegian flag the Thorodd was stationed in Montrose and the tales of Bamse’s adventures, courage and kindness spread. During action he would stand guard in the foremost gun tower of his ship in his personalized steel helmet and not move until the hostilities were over. In port he would walk around to the pubs of Montrose to get the crew back to the ship before curfew and if there was a fight he would stand on his hind legs

In 1940 captain Hafto left the Thorodd to serve in another location which almost caused a mutiny at the Thorodd. The crew just wouldn’t allow Bamse to leave and realizing that Bamse had become essential to the morale of the ship Hafto let him stay with the crew.

Bamse had four and a half years of official and unbroken service onboard the Thorodd until his death in 1944. By this time he had become so popular at that schools were closed and 800 children lined the streets on his route to his graveside funeral.

Today visitors to Montrose can view a statue of the heroic Bamse, visit his grave and follow in his footsteps and even to this day visit some of his favorite bars in the town where he was once stationed.

 

 

Sources (where has this gone?):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose,_Angus#Bamse

Know Before You Go

The statue of Bamse and his grave are located in the harbor of Montrose and are accessible 24/7. For maps and directions please look at the Montrose Heritage Trust Bamse Project page.

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