Minnie the Mule

I was watching the Antiques Roadshow, and there was an old Chindit who brought along a couple of horse-shoes that belonged to 77th Brigade's Minnie the Mule. I never caught the whole story, but you should be able to see it later here Click

Mike

 

As mentioned in the linked article various bits of Minnie were preserved and are held by the FusilierMuseum in Bury. One of the hooves is certainly currently on display.

 

Thank you for sharing I have enjoyed reading your link.

 

Thanks Mark. I think this is the chap who brought the objects along Click

Mike

 

Thanks Bill. Glad you enjoyed it, and hope the link to TV prog works, if not, will add it later when the show is uploaded.

Mike

 

I too watched the Antiques Roadshow and it was quite clear that Minnie was a pony, not a mule. Interesting that Mike Calvert arranged for her to be flown back to India, as he was not renowned for care of the pack animals. Mules were quite regularly carried by air, both in Dakotas and in gliders. The main problem (once you had persuaded them to board) was that their temporary stalls were made from green bamboo which made a tempting meal for a bored mule. The trick was to get them out again before they ate themselves loose!

Chris

 

I was just reading some Gurkha muleteer memoirs from 1943, a few of them claim to be the only man to bring his mule out alive from Operation Longcloth. Officially only two mules were credited with this feat, 'Mabel' and 'Yankee' from Column 3. 'Yankee' carried the wireless set on behalf of Mike Calvert for over 1500 miles.

 

This is a good link for mule stories in Burma:

http://www.chindit.net/Mules.html

 

" Interesting that Mike Calvert arranged for her to be flown back to India, as he was not renowned for care of the pack animals. "

He wasn't renowned for not caring for pack animals, was he?

Mike

 

I think the man who brought in the hooves is the guy who runs the Lancashire fusiliers website as it was mentioned on their message board the other day. I wouldn't like to look at them myself but am fascinated by the mule stories. My father was appalled at having to look after mules and ponies at all, but I think got quite fond of them in the end. Later in life he always got severe asthma and hay fever from them and wouldn't go anywhere near them!

 

good day mikky,m,yesterday.07:36pm.re:minnie the mule,thank you for a pleasant post.minni was highly regarded .and his memory still is,it is nice to hear a mascot could be so well liked,have a good day,regards bernard85

 

Ps there is a feature on the LF website about Minnie.

 

On this thread back in 2013, I mentioned one of the few surviving mules from Operation Longcloth, was Yankee from Missouri. Tonight I wrote out his story on my website, please scroll down alphabetically:

Roll Call U-Z