Teddy Bears (mil col)
 

The Royal Military College of Canada and the Royal Military College Saint Jean sell teddy bears in their kit shops, which feature their military badges.

The RMC Saint Jean has a brown bear wearing a Mil Col button, pillbox hat, and waist sash. The RMC has a polar bear wearing a Mil Col button, pillbox hat, and waist sash.

I am curious about the tradition of military teddy bears (or other stuffed characters) in general, and in particular as regards the Canadian Military Colleges.

BEARS
 

I don't anything about the stuffed bears in the store, but my grandfather was in the 160th Bruce Battalion in First World War and they had a black bear as a mascot...maybe others did also?

Winnipeg, the bear that Winnie the Pooh was based upon, was the mascot of a Canadian unit in WW1. They left it with the zoo when they went to France. It was too big to take back to Canada 4 years later, so they gave it to the zoo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_the_Bear

There is a well known photo of a young Christopher Robin Milne actually playing with the bear while his father can be seen looking down on this from a window. See here:

http://www.poohcorner.com/A-Short-Hi...nd-Winnie.html

Interestingly, Cotchford Farm, in East Sussex, where A A Milne wrote Winnie the Pooh, was later sold to the Rolling Stone's Brian Jones. He drowned in the swimming pool in 1969.

Winnie the Pooh statue at London Zoo - Photos taken by my daughter.

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is the proud owner of Senior Under Officer E Bear. He's the mascot of the (now defunct) Edward Bear Club for those cadets who passed a basic para course wile at RMAS. He has his own parachute made by Irvin and used to jump with each course. He has rather more foreign jump wings on his smock than allowed in the rules!
Eddie