Corporal Rags
Rags was born a stray in the slums of the Montmartre
and was discovered by Private James Donovan
On Bastille Day, 1918.
A terrier of mixed breed, he became the
1st Infantry Division’s mascot.
Earning his stripes carrying messages
across the front,
Rags was wounded with Private Donovan,
and they were both evacuated to Fort Sheridan, Chicago.
Donovan died of his wounds in 1919
and Rags was reunited with his beloved
18th Infantry Regiment at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn,
a year later.
Corporal Rags died in the spring of 1936 and was buried
in Silver Springs, Maryland at the age of twenty.
– Burt Baldwin, Bayfield
