Legion Magazine carried many wartime stories by columnist Strome Galloway. Here’s a peacetime one sent in by Capt. Hugo Saudino, secretary of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Association in Toronto.

Col. Galloway was commander at Fort Churchill, Man., and I was on his headquarters staff. We were preparing for a visit in February by a group on course at the National Defence College.

“They will want to see a polar bear,” said the colonel, who had been on a previous NDC visit. I remonstrated that the polar bear season would be past. “Find them a polar bear,” he said.

The visitors arrived in due course and were told at their first briefing to keep a sharp lookout for polar bears. When their buses started on a tour of the camp, a polar bear suddenly emerged over the crest of a nearby snowbank. Cries of “Stop the bus, I see a polar bear,” came from inside the buses.

The conducting officers warned: “Don’t get close, they’re dangerous.”

The busses emptied and cameras were focused, whereupon the bear stood up and saluted. The polar bear rug from the mess wall was soon back in place.

Capt. Saudino does not identify the bear.