Happy 77th birthday, Smokey Bear!

[SheltieLover]

https://www.localmemphis.com/mobile/article/entertainment/places/happy-birthday-smokey-bear/51-b74a457b-62d2-41df-b8ed-7a4af1748b48

Smokey Bear looks pretty good for 77, wouldn't you say? After all these years, he's still working hard to help prevent forest fires.

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — "Only YOU can prevent forest fires." We all know who said that famous phrase. You can probably picture his furry face, too.

It's the slogan of Smokey Bear, and each August we celebrate his birthday.

According to the USDA, Smokey Bear was born on August 9, 1944, when the U.S. Forest Service and the Ad Council agreed that a cartoon bear would be the symbol for their joint effort to promote forest fire prevention.

More at link.

[Sneederbunk]

1. Smokey Bear died November 9, 1976. He was an ardent opponent of cremation.

No one knows his birthdate.

[krawhitham]

4. More info

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/10/archives/smokey-bear-dies-in-retirement.html

[underpants]

2. Fear of Japanese attacks

Some of the posters are genuinely evil looking

https://www.military.com/off-duty/2019/08/07/wwii-veteran-smokey-bear-turns-75-year.html

The U.S. Forest Service faced a crisis during World War II. Able-bodied firefighters were joining the military, and there were fewer experienced men left behind to put out wildfires.

Japan also tried to start fires on the West Coast first by firing shells into oil fields, then by launching more than 9,000 fire balloons laden with bombs or Molotov cocktails that were carried to U.S. soil by the jet stream. Hundreds landed, and one managed to kill a mother and her five children in Oregon in 1944.

[Celerity]

3. Smokey Bear keeps it green