Last week , I tell you about a unfearing goat namedSergeant Bill , who served in France in World War I as part of Canada ’s 5th ( Western Cavalry ) Battalion . Another goat to serve his country was Air Commodore William de Goat , DSO DFC , of the British 609 ( West Riding ) Squadron , a Royal Air Force champion squadron .
William , a British Toggenburg , a British breed related to regularToggenburg goatsyet more or less large , get together the Royal Air Force in July 1941 , when he was given to Belgian pilot Vicki Ortmans by the landlady of a pub near the Biggin Hill airbase outside of London . Although just a nestling at the meter , he was immediately commission with the rank and file of Flying Officer . William remained with his squadron until its disbandment in 1945 , when he retired in England with the lofty social station of Air Commodore .
William ’s squadron include flier from Great Britain , the United States , Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Belgium and Poland . On some days the squadron fly up to 150 missions . During the warfare , 73 of William ’s boys were killed in action , include Ortmans , who bottle - raised baby William .
William fly with the squadron on several occasion , include across the English Channel , where he disembark in Normandy and subsequently served at 12 different airbases in France , Holland and Germany .
During his two years with the British 609 ( West Riding ) Squadron , William sniff atomic number 8 bottles and consumed innumerable cigarettes along with top private maps , file and records . William was sprout at but never attain . He did , however , bloat badly after pigging out on mattress dressing , and he almost expire of dull poisoning . That happened because as William originate through the rank and file , his boy used dingy “ aircraft dope ” to paint bars denoting his social status on his horns . William , who liked the preference of the paint , would swipe his horns across his front branch and drub the pigment off . Just prior to deployment to Europe , he became deathly ill . That ’s when the airbase ’s medical ship’s officer fix that the blueish paint on William ’s trumpet was toxic . After that William ’s horns remain undecorated .
In 1944 , William attained the rank of Group Captain , making him the highest ranking policeman in the squadron . Even the unit of measurement ’s commanding ship’s officer , Squadron Leader J.C. Wells , salute him before read off for process . His boys loved William and believed his bearing brought them luck .
William wrote a book about his wartime experiences with the aid of his friend , Squadron Leader Brian Waite , RAF . It ’s calledWilliam de Goat : The Story of Air Commodore William de Goat DSO DFC , the extraordinary Mascot of 609 ( West Riding ) Squadron during the Second World War . It ’s a British book by you may corrupt it at Amazon if you like . Check it out . I count you ’ll be beaming you did .
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