From the Friday Vault: The Dickin Medal
Chips and owner John Wren
We love our animals. Humans always have. More than mere pets, they become treasured, deeply-beloved family members. As we all know, animals possess remarkable sensitivities and unique intuitive skills that allow their training as allies for humans in need of assistance, such as medical issues. Not surprisingly, since antiquity, humans have also found inventive ways to employ their help in military matters. And to have honored them for their service.
Students of ancient history need no reminders concerning the horse Buchephalus, Alexander the Great’s famous warhorse and chief companion from childhood to conqueror. Readers of Livy recall the great story of Juno’s sacred geese alerting slumbering Roman soldiers with all their honking and cackling noise to a midnight raid of the Capitoline Hill by an invading army of Gauls. Every year, Romans celebrated their pivotal role in saving Rome by honoring them with a procession through the city until seated on purple pillows before the riotous crowd. (I won’t mention what the geese were seated to witness about the dogs who failed to bark.)
More recently, in 2019, a Beluga whale turned up on the Norwegian coast wearing a harness that appeared to have a mount for a small camera. The suspicion remains that it was trained as a spy for the Russian navy. British military officials reported in 2023 that Russia appeared to be training dolphins for combat against Ukraine (to counter enemy divers).
We know that the United States employed dolphins (with attached cameras) in Cuban waters in 1973 to patrol its harbors for unauthorized divers. They were also used to attach an acoustic apparatus on a Soviet nuclear submarine to surveil its propulsion.
China’s Ministry of State Security claimed this month (June 2026) that foreigners were using fish, turtles, and other sea creatures to conduct surveillance. “Spy turtles” and “spy fish” were allegedly collecting and stealing sensitive maritime data through various types of espionage—such as fitting them with sensors to transmit information to overseas satellites.
All of this got me to thinking about an award bestowed by the UK on animals who demonstrated great courage alongside their humans during the Second World War. Have you ever heard of the Dickin Medal?
Created in 1943 by Maria Dickin, a social reformer and advocate for animal rights, this is the highest British military honor awarded to animals who demonstrated courage and honor in battle. It is the animal equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
The PDSA Dickin Medal
Maria Elisabeth Dickin CBE (September 22, 1870 – March 1, 1951)
Its first recipients were three pigeons. By 2018, the PDSA Dickin Medal had been awarded to more than 70 animals The honor roll includes four horses, thirty-eight dogs, thirty-two pigeons, and one cat. Simon the feline wonder received his medal posthumously for “gallantry under fire” while on board HMS Amethyst. Despite being seriously injured by shrapnel, he bravely killed off ship rats during the Yangtze incident in 1949.
Simon
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 54
Date of Award: 1949 (posthumous)
Simon's Dickin Medal citation reads: “Served on HMS Amethyst during the Yangtze Incident, disposing of many rats though wounded by shell blast. Throughout the incident his behaviour was of the highest order, although the blast was capable of making a hole over a foot in diameter in a steel plate.”
He remains the only cat to receive the award.
Pictured at the top of the post is a German shepherd-collie-husky mix named Chips. He was one of more than 11,000 dogs enlisted in the Second World War to serve in the Army and Marine Corps. Chips spent nearly four years in the Army. He served in North Africa, Italy, France, and elsewhere in Europe. In one reported instance of bravery, an Italian machine-gun crew had U.S. forces pinned down on a beach in Sicily. Chips was released by his handler and charged the enemy’s hut. Moments later, a soldier emerged, with Chips at his throat. Three more snipers followed, hands raised in the air. Chips had been seriously injured in the attack—a wounded scalp and burns to his mouth and left eye. He later met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt. Oh, and also General Dwight Eisenhower… but when the mastermind of D-Day reached to pet Chips, the dog nipped him, having been trained to respond only to his handler.
Chips
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 77
Date of Award: 2018 (posthumous)
Chips was awarded the Dickin Medal for bravery and devotion to duty during the Allied invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. A German Shepherd–Husky cross serving with the U.S. Army, he reportedly charged an enemy machine-gun position and helped secure the surrender of enemy soldiers.
He was the first U.S. military working dog to receive the PDSA Dickin Medal.
Here are some additional notable Dickin Medal recipients.
Winkie
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 1
Date of Award: 1943
Winkie, a homing pigeon of the Royal Air Force, became the first recipient of the PDSA Dickin Medal. In February 1942, after an RAF Beaufort bomber was forced down in the North Sea, Winkie was released by the crew and flew approximately 120 miles back to her home loft. Her arrival helped rescuers determine the aircraft's location, leading to the rescue of the surviving airmen.
Winkie's Dickin Medal citation reads: "For delivering a message under exceptionally difficult conditions and so contributing to the rescue of an air crew while serving with the RAF in February 1942."
Commando
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 22
Date of Award: March 1945
Commando, a red checker cock pigeon, served with the National Pigeon Service during the Second World War. He completed more than ninety flights carrying confidential messages between occupied France and Britain. He received the Dickin Medal “for successfully delivering messages from Agents in Occupied France on three occasions: twice under exceptionally adverse conditions, while serving with the NPS in 1942.”
Rip
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 36
Date of Award: 1945
Rip, a mixed-breed terrier, became the first search and rescue dog used by the Air Raid Precautions service during the Second World War. Found as a stray following a bombing raid in Poplar, London, in 1940, he was taken in by Air Raid Warden E. King and soon began assisting rescue crews searching for people trapped beneath bombed buildings. Rip is credited with locating more than 100 victims during the Blitz.
His Dickin Medal citation reads: “For locating many air-raid victims during the blitz of 1940.”
Judy
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 37
Date of Award: May 1946
Judy, an English Pointer, served as the mascot aboard HMS Grasshopper. Following the fall of Singapore in 1942, she became part of the travails of Allied prisoners held by the Japanese. In June 1944, Judy was among the survivors when the SS Van Warwyck was sunk during an air attack. She later received the Dickin Medal “for magnificent courage and endurance in Japanese prison camps, which helped to maintain morale among her fellow prisoners and also for saving many lives through her intelligence and watchfulness.”
Rob
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 38
Date of Award: January 1945
Rob, a collie, identified as War Dog No. 471/332 with the Special Air Service, served with British forces in North Africa and Italy during the Second World War. He was reported to have made more than twenty parachute descents while attached to Special Air Service operations. His citation reads: “Took part in landings during North African Campaign with an Infantry unit and later served with a Special Air Unit in Italy as patrol and guard on small detachments lying-up in enemy territory. His presence with these parties saved many of them from discovery and subsequent capture or destruction. Rob made over 20 parachute descents.”
G.I. Joe
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 43
Date of Award: August 1946
G.I. Joe was a U.S. Army homing pigeon whose most notable flight took place on 18 October 1943 during the Allied campaign in Italy. Flying approximately twenty miles in twenty minutes, he delivered a message that arrived in time to prevent Allied aircraft from bombing British troops at Calvi Vecchia. The PDSA citation states: “This bird is credited with making the most outstanding flight by a USA Army pigeon in World War II.”
Sergeant Reckless
PDSA Dickin Medal No. 68
Date of Award: July 2016 (posthumous)
Sergeant Reckless was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal for bravery and devotion to duty during the Korean War. A Mongolian mare serving with the United States Marine Corps, she became famous for her actions during the Battle of Outpost Vegas in March 1953, when she made 51 trips in a single day carrying ammunition to front-line positions and transporting wounded Marines to safety under enemy fire.
She was the first American horse to receive the PDSA Dickin Medal.