Sergeant Gander (12 page)
Winnie and Harry Colebourn.
named her Winnie (after his hometown of Winnipeg). Winnie became the mascot of Colebourn's infantry brigade. She sailed to England with her new friends and ended her journey at England's Salisbury Plains, the principal training ground for British and Commonwealth troops during the war.
Winnie slept in Colebourn's tent (under his cot) and became like a pet to many of the men training there. She would follow them around, playing with them and entertaining them with her antics, and “her presence helped take their minds off their ongoing soggy circumstances and off the prospect of the conflict to come. Group photographs frequently included Winnie, front and centre, a position of honour.”
2
Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately for Winnie) Winnie's days a mascot were coming to an end. In early December of 1914, Colebourn was given orders that Winnie needed to be removed from Brigade Headquarters as the unit was preparing for departure to France. A bear cub simply could not be accommodated in a war zone. Colebourn made arrangements to “loan” Winnie to the London Zoo. The Canadian bear went on to become one of the Zoo's star attractions, and one of her biggest fans was a young boy named Christopher Robin Milne, whose father was a writer. Christopher Robin named his own teddy bear after Winnie and his father wrote several stories about the boy and his bear. At the end of the war Colebourn officially donated Winnie to the London Zoo, and she lived there until her death in 1934.
Another Canadian animal that actually did experience war belonged to Dr. John McCrae, author of the poem “In Flander's Fields.” Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, McCrae was given a horse as a gift. He took the horse to Europe with him, and frequently travelled by horseback to make his medical rounds and to reach the wounded men on the battlefield. The horse, named Bonfire, earned a special place in McCrae's heart, and McCrae often mentioned Bonfire in his letters home. In one such letter, he wrote, “I have a very deep affection for Bonfire, for we have been through so much together, and some of it bad enough. All the hard spots to which one's memory turns the old fellow has shared, though he says so little about it.”
3
One can only imagine the horrors witnessed by both McCrae and Bonfire during McCrae's time as a field surgeon on the front lines.
John McCrae and Bonfire, 1916.
McCrae would also send letters to his sister's children, written by Bonfire.One, written to his nephew Jack Kilgour, October 1, 1916, reads as follows, “â¦do you ever eat blackberries. My master and I pick them every day on the hedges. I like twenty at a time. My leg is better but I have a lump on my tummy. I went to see my doctor today and he says it is nothing at all. I have another horse staying in my stable now; he is black and about half my size. He does not keep me awake at night. Yours truly, Bonfire.”
4
The letters were always signed with a hand-drawn hoof print. When McCrae died during the final year of the war, Bonfire marched in his funeral procession.
Working animals and mascots have both been involved in heroic acts that have earned them the PDSA Dickin Medal; intended to acknowledge an animal's gallantry and devotion to duty while with the military or civilian defence, it has been awarded sixty-two times as of December 2008. Its recipients have included horses, pigeons, dogs, and a cat.
Other PDSA Dickin Medal Stories
Pigeons have won more PDSA Dickin Medals than any other animal. Their incredible
“homing” instinct made them an integral part of military communications. Man-
made communication systems, such as telephones and telegraphs, were often difficult to
set up in battlefield conditions and were vulnerable to destruction by the enemy, so pigeons
were often used to carry messages in tiny canisters attached to their legs. Many fell victim
to bad weather, sniper fire, or to hawks and other birds of prey that the enemy would
use to attack the
pigeon post.
Winkie receivâing her PDSA Dickin Medal from Maria Dickin.
Irma.
Winkie and Mary of Exeter were
two pigeons used during the Second
World War whose service earned them
the PDSA Dickin Medal. Winkie was
aboard a badly damaged Royal Air
Force plane that was forced to ditch in
the North Sea. The plane, riddled with
enemy bullets, was returning home
from a mission in Norway. The crew
was thrown into the water and found
themselves clinging to debris. Winkie's
broken container had also been thrown
from the plane and she freed herself.
Her wings were covered in the oil that
was leaking from the wreckage, but
she managed to take flight and head
for home. She returned to her loft the
next morning, soaked with both oil
and water. A sergeant from the RAF
Pigeon Service was able to identify
which plane she had been on and to log
a route to the plane wreckage, using
wind direction, and predicted flight
timing from the time the plane ditched
and when Winkie returned home.
A rescue team located the downed
airmen. Just over a year later, Winkie was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, “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.”
Mary of Exeter was another member of the British National Pigeon Service.
She served her country for five years and was wounded twenty-two times, most often
by enemy birds of prey. After one
mission, Mary returned with three
bullet wounds and part of her wing
shot off. Despite being badly hurt, she
still completed her mission to bring her
message home.
Simon, playing while in quarâantine.
The only cat ever to be awarded
the PDSA Dickin Medal was a black
and white tomcat named Simon.
Simon joined the crew of the HMS
Amethyst
in 1948. On a mission on
China's Yangze River, the
Amethyst
came under fire from Communist
shore batteries. A direct hit on the
ship's captain's cabin badly injured
Simon â his whiskers were burned off,
his fur was singed, and he sustained
several shrapnel wounds. Pinned
down on the river by enemy fire, the
Amethyst
was besieged all summer.
Rats on board the ship began spoiling
food and stealing from the supplies.
The men were fearful and depressed.
Simon spent his days patrolling the
ship, hunting to help control the rat
population. In the evenings he visited
the sick bay, providing comfort and companionship to the injured sailors. In July
1949, after being stranded for three months, the
Amethyst
finally broke free from
the river. Simon's contribution throughout the ordeal was widely recognized by his
ship mates, and his commanding officer recommended him for the PDSA Dickin
Medal. Unfortunately, Simon's medal had to be awarded posthumously. During his
six-month quarantine after his arrival in England, Simon became ill and died. His
citation reads, “Served on the 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.”
The PDSA Dickin Medal has been awarded to dozens of dogs for a wide variety
of heroic acts. During the Second World War thousands of bombs were dropped on
the City of London. After each round of bombing, rescuers combed the debris in
search of survivors. Dogs, with their keen sense of smell, were an integral part of this
rescue effort. Margaret Griffin had two Alsation dogs, Psych and Irma, who were
well trained in performing search and rescue missions. Griffin kept extensive and
detailed records of her dogs' work throughout the London Blitz. A typical diary entry
reads as follows,
Call to Osborne Road, Tottenham at 21:00 hrs. In house No. 1 Irma
found two live casualties. In No. 2 Irma again gave good indication
just to one side of [a] fairly large and fierce fire burning through
collapsed house debris ⦠Family of five found. In No. 3 a strong
indication from Irma over the debris. Rescue found a live cat.
Working over No. 4 I got another clear indication under a collapsed
floor, later had report from Rescue Leader on this site that 4 adults
had been taken, 2 more located and one was suspected lying behind
the 2 located onesâ¦.
5
Irma located twenty-one live victims and 170 dead victims, as well as several
pets. She was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal for “being responsible for the rescue of
persons trapped under blitzed buildings while serving with the Civil Defence Services
in London.”
There was also a group known as the Animal Rescue Squad who were determined
to help recover any pets that were trapped beneath London's bombed out buildings.
One of the group's officers, Bill Barnet, used his terrier Beauty to help locate
victims. Beauty eventually rescued over sixty trapped pets, often digging amidst
the rubble until her paws were bloody
and sore. Beauty's PDSA Dickin
Medal was awarded to her for being
“the pioneer dog in locating buried
air-raid victims while serving with a
PDSA rescue squad.”
Beauty.
The Ilford PDSA Animal
Cemetery is the final resting place of
over 3,000 animals, including several
of the PDSA Dickin Medal winners.
Dating back to the 1920s, the cemetery
is located just behind the Ilford PDSA
branch. Its design reflects the colours
of the PDSA Dickin Medal ribbon â
brown, green, and blue, colours that
symbolize the land, sea, and air forces.
Those interested in paying their respects
to animals who served in the war are
encouraged to visit this cemetery. A
quiet and reflective place, it is a fitting
memorial not only to much loved pets,
but to those animals who served their
country in its darkest hours.
