Upon further research......

The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in World War II. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown, and pale blue. It is awarded to animals that have displayed "conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defense Units". The award is commonly referred to as "the animals' Victoria Cross".

The first recipients of the award, in December 1943, were three pigeons serving with the Royal Air Force who contributed to the recovery of aircrews from ditched aircraft. The most recent recipient is Hertz, a German shorthaired pointer who served with the RAF Police in Afghanistan.

As of February 2022, the Dickin Medal has been awarded 74 times, plus one honorary award made in 2014 to all the animals who served in the First World War.
-Wikipedia

Canine pet cemetery and training area in Vietnam, during the war.

Looks like it may have been a better cemetery than a training area.

Iwo Jima, 1945.
Inspecting the Japanese cave from the outside. And from within.

That looks pretty intimidating.

I don't think that would encourage me to come out.

She was a civilian, but this was my girl Ginger. I just lost her at Christmas after 16 faithful years. Thanks for letting me post her picture here.

This is Bing, a Alsatian-Collie cross born on 1942, who due to wartime rationing, Bing’s owner, Betty Fetch, had to give him up.



In Jan 1944, Bing was selected from the Army War Dog Training School in Hertfordshire and given the service number 2720/6871.

Bing served with the 13th Lancashire Parachute Battalion and was one of only three dogs to successfully complete the parachuting training course with the ‘scout and sniper unit’. During his service, he jumped into action seven times, working hard to keep the men in his Battalion safe.

On June 6, 1944, Bing was dropped near to the town of Ranville in Normandy. However, the jump into German occupied France did not go to plan and the paratrooper dog became stuck in a tree. Under fire, fellow paratrooper Sgt Ken Bailey fought to free Bing from the tree, eventually cutting him loose.

Bing and Bailey spent the next few months fighting side by side as they made their way through France and towards Berlin. During the journey, Brian sustained minor injuries but continued to perform his duties as a sniffer and sentry dog with distinction

Bing’s last jump was during the final airborne assault of the war, Operation Varsity, which involved thousands of aircraft and 16,000 Allied paratroopers. After pushing across the Rhine, into the German heartlands and seeing the end to the bloody war, Bing remained on duty in occupied Germany. He was eventually returned to the Fetch family in Loughborough. Bing died on Oct 1955.

For his excellent service, Bing was awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. The citation read “For excellent patrol work and qualifying as a paratrooper, Airborne Division, Normandy, June 1944.”