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To Neptune! The Navy and the Pig who Became King

When the item up for bid hit the auction stage it was hard to tell what the eager crowd noticed first. It was huge, somewhere between 200 and 300 pounds, and the colors of red, white, and blue struck deep into the hearts of the people of Illinois who still had the attack on Pearl Harbor fresh in their minds. In the era of World War II pork was hard to come by and when the bidding for the pig began it rained in with a fury. Someone offered $100 for a leg, another offered $300 for the shoulder, and amid it all the pig stood blinking calmly while his price rose higher and higher. When the bidding ended he had brought in thousands of dollars and his new owner was ecstatic, but only for the one minute that he owned him. At the end of the night the pig went home with the same person he arrived with and the bidders went home with their fistful of papers. They all knew they were never actually going to go home with a piece of meat, and they were fine with it. This was no ordinary pig, this was King Neptune, and he was going to build a battleship.

When King Neptune was born at Sherman Boner’s farm in 1942 he was the runt of the litter and Sherman’s daughter Patricia decided to raise him as a project for her local 4-H Club. The farm was located in West Frankfort, Illinois, less than an hour away from the hometown of Navy recruiter Don C. Lingle. The Navy was deep in efforts to construct new battleships and Lingle was looking for ways to raise funding for the building of the USS Illinois, a ship scheduled to be completed in Philadelphia by May 1st 1945. Money for the ship was hard to come by, but so was pork and Sherman told Lingle he could donate the pig to him to use for a fundraising pig roast. When Lingle picked up the pig, originally named Parker Neptune, he found that he could not bring himself to slaughter the animal, stating later in an interview that Parker was “an innocent looking thing.” He soon came up with an idea to keep the pig alive and still raise money for the ship. He would symbolically auction off Parker but instead of a piece of pork the bidders would walk away with war bonds.

World War II advertisments for war bonds.

Partnering with auctioneer L. Oard Sitter, Lingle took Parker Neptune to a fundraising event in Marion, Illinois and billed him as a new mascot for the Navy. Parker’s coloring was red and white and before he was presented to the masses Lingle draped a navy blue blanket over his back, pulling at the patriotic heartstrings of everyone present. When the bidding started it took off like wildfire with people pledging hundreds of dollars for a “part” of Parker. By the end of the night he raised over $11,000 and earned himself a new name, King Neptune.

King Neptune. Image via The Collection of Union County Historical and Genealogy Society: Cobden, Illinois.  

King Neptune’s next appearance proved that his success at the first auction was no fluke. The bidding was furious and the enthusiasm for the patriotic pig only grew stronger. Soon Lingle and Sitter were accompanying him to fundraising events all over Illinois, arriving at each location in a special truck provided by the Future Farmers of America. The blanket was eventually replaced by a purple and gold robe emblazoned with his name, his hoofs were painted, and he wore a gold crown gifted to him by the Illinois Women's Club. After every auction the winner was technically allowed to claim King Neptune and bring him home, but no one ever did. They would “own” him for one minute before officially handing him back to Lingle and going home with their war bonds and stories of winning the great King Neptune.

Illustration of King Neptune appearing in the St. Louis Post - Dispatch on June 18th 1950. Image via npr.org.  

Everyone loved King Neptune and with each event he not only raked in the donations but he also collected a number of honorary memberships to many of the Elks lodges that sponsored his appearances. As his popularity grew, so did the bidding and each auction was regularly pulling in $50,000 or more to go to the Navy and the USS Illinois. At one point someone even paid $25 to “own” a squeal from the King. On March 6th 1943 one of his hairs sold for $500, but that was not the most stunning bid of the night. At the same auction Dwight H. Green, the governor of Illinois, bought King Neptune on behalf of the state for the price of one million dollars. But, like so many before him, he happily claimed his one minute and then returned the pig to Lingle to continue his fundraising efforts.

As the original completion date of May 1st 1945 came and went the USS Illinois was still under construction. King Neptune raised a staggering nineteen million dollars for the effort (today’s equivalent of 250 million) but it was still not enough to save the ship. The project was officially cancelled on August 11th 1945 with only 22% of the ship complete.

The USS Illinois shortly before construction was ceased. Image via wikipedia.

With the USS Illinois officially cancelled and World War II coming to an end later that year, King Neptune’s fundraising days were complete. He raised a huge sum of money and was approaching a hefty 500lbs when it was decided that it was time for him to retire. Shockingly, King Neptune was originally supposed to end his days in the meat packing plants of the Chicago Stockyards but Lingle would not allow that to happen to his friend. He gained ownership of King Neptune and arranged for him to live the rest of his days in comfort at a farm owned by Ernest Goddard. The Goddard family treated the pig true to his name, chauffeuring him around in the back of their trucks and guiding him around the farm by tapping his shoulders when his weight of 700lbs partially impaired his vision.

King Neptune lived happily on the Goddard Farm until succumbing to pneumonia in 1950 just short of his eighth birthday. Upon his death he was given an official Navy funeral with full military honors and buried just outside Anna, Illinois with a headstone remarking how he “helped make a free world.”

Over time wear, vandalism, and the construction of a highway took its toll on the pig’s tombstone and it was replaced with a sturdier and more prominent flat marker. Today the memorial for King Neptune can be found at the Trail of Tears Tourist Information Center in Anna, Illinois nestled amid the oak trees and next to a bench where tourists can sit and read the simple inscription for the “Navy Mascot Pig”:

“Raised by Patty Boner, West Frankfort; Given to Navy recruiter Don Lingle, Anna; and auctioned by L. Oard Sitter, Anna; around the state of Illinois for over $19,000,000 in WWII war bonds.”

King Neptune memorial. Image via wikipedia.