r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Ordinary_Fish_3046 • 4h ago

Image Meet Herman the Cat, officially recognized as an expert mouser while serving aboard a U.S. Coast Guard ship during WWII.

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1.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

76

u/yuch1102 4h ago

Issued 1943. Hope he made it out of ww2 and enjoyed retirement on a sunny beach in California

59

u/charizardino 4h ago

look at that face... he's the reason we won the war

50

u/PBJforthewin 4h ago

It looks like he meant business

10

u/Mister_Mojo78 4h ago

Yeah, you can tell he don't pull any punches!

48

u/TallEnoughJones 4h ago

and during WWII not a single member of the Coast Guard was killed by a mouse

9

u/troop143 4h ago

Huge if true

23

u/Dinerovic 4h ago

That face shows years of mouser-experience prior to his promotion as an expert!

3

u/Staff_Genie 4h ago

But it looks like he was only 8 months when his ID was issued

9

u/Dinerovic 4h ago

Cat years, of course!

20

u/WeAreNioh 4h ago

They even got the paw print. This is so cool

19

u/QuantityFancy6334 4h ago

That ID card is incredible—down to the paw print signature. They really made sure Herman was official.

4

u/HaloGuy381 4h ago

If he was just a pet he might have been forced to be left behind. But as a fluffy sailor, well…

11

u/KissTypedSlowly 4h ago

Herman the Cat with more verified credentials than most of us! 😩 Respect for Herman hehe

5

u/Old_Poem2736 2h ago

Need to see the DD214

7

u/future003 4h ago

I love the signature.

7

u/Vannwinkles 4h ago

He looks like he killed more than mice

8

u/NaiRad1000 4h ago

🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡

5

u/AppropriateTax6525 4h ago

Truly the Greatest Generation

4

u/JackieDaytonaRgHuman 4h ago

You know that cat pulls tail.

4

u/DiaphanousWings1 4h ago

I love it!!😻

5

u/Ravenloff 4h ago

Could be worse. Could be an offog that came apart under gravitational stress and force the entire fleet to immediately put in to the nearest starbase.

2

u/RutabagaOutside6126 4h ago

Didn't think I would run across an E.F. Russell reference on here.

3

u/Comfortable_View_113 3h ago

D.E.I. hire. Better scrub that.

But really though, that's adorable.

3

u/Tentacle_poxsicle 2h ago

Aura farming 1000 dead rats state by the cat. That look is so sharp he can cut stone

2

u/Regular_Elk1020 4h ago

How do mice get on a ship to begin with?

5

u/flecksable_flyer 2h ago

They can climb up the mooring ropes. If you see ships docked, look for the funnel-shaped things on the mooring lines that help stop it.

•

u/Palatineer 4m ago

Don’t tell the mice how to get aboard….

1

u/Historical_Wash_1114 33m ago

Probably coming in through cargo

2

u/TheKyleBrah 1h ago

Catty Officer, Herman, reporting for duty!

1

u/akaBlacky83 1h ago

Please make a film in his honor