Upon the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914, Lt.
Harry Colebourn of
The Fort Garry Horse, a Canadian cavalry regiment, volunteered his service. On 24 August, while en route to
Valcartier in
Quebec to report to the
Canadian Army Veterinary Corps (CAVC) as part of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force, he purchased a young bear cub for at a train stop in
White River, Ontario. Before leaving for France, Colebourn left Winnie at
London Zoo on 9 December 1914. – providing the inspiration for his father's stories about
Winnie-the-Pooh. In Milne's introduction to his first book about the bear,
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), he writes:So when Christopher Robin goes to the Zoo, he goes to where the Polar Bears are, and he whispers something to the third keeper from the left, and doors are unlocked, and we wander through dark passages and up steep stairs, until at last we come to the special cage, and the cage is opened, and out trots something brown and furry, and with a happy cry of "Oh, Bear!" Christopher Robin rushes into its arms. Now this bear’s name is Winnie, which shows what a good name for bears it is, but the funny thing is that we can’t remember whether Winnie is called after Pooh, or Pooh after Winnie. We did know once, but we have forgotten... ==Recognition==