Manic Monday Bonus--This Post Exists Solely To Make My Readers Go "Awwwwwwwwwwwww!"

Life is funny sometimes. It turns out that there WAS a real Smokey Bear-but he was named after the fictional one!

In 1950 a huge wildfire tore through Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. Some troops were sent in from Fort Bliss in Texas to assist in firefighting efforts.

They ended up trapped behind the fire, but managed to survive...

But they weren't the only survivors:

Aw!

Aww!!

Awwwww!!!!

Aaawwwwww!!!!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, enough of that for awhile...

But he is so damned cute...

Awwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aawwwwwwwwww!!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!

And then...

He's all grown up now? Not so cute? Ah, to hell with him!!

True fact: Smokey was so popular that he received as many as 13,000 letters a week, and the Post Office gave him his own ZIP code. In other words, almost 700,000 Americans per year could not tell the difference between a fictional mascot and a real bear named after him. Which explains so much about us...

From The True Story Of Smokey Bear (1969)