A to Z Challenge 2024

 

A to Z Challenge 2024

This year my blog posts for the April 2024 Challenge will be about the recipients of the Dickin Medal, which you can read about here. They are in alphabetical, not chronological order, within the different letters.

C

Chips 1940-1946

                                Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Chips was a mixed-breed dog, a combination of German Shepherd, Collie and Malamute. He lived with his family until the USA joined the war in 1941 and was very attached to the young daughter. He followed her to school daily, resting under her desk. At playtime, he defended her against other children if they appeared to be about to hurt her, pulling her away.

 The ‘Dogs for Defense’ programme asked for civilians to donate their dogs for training and Chips was given to the war effort in 1942. He was trained as a sentry dog and, with three other dogs, he was attached to the 3^rd Infantry Division and saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. He was also part of the security team for the Roosevelt-Churchill Casablanca Conference of January 1943.

Six months later he was in Sicily with his handler, Private John P. Rowell, under fire on the beach from Italian soldiers in a concealed machine-gun nest. Suddenly, he broke away from his handler and jumped into the nest to attack the gunners. John Rowell said later, ‘There was an awful lot of noise and the firing stopped. Then I saw one soldier come out of the door with Chips at his throat. I called him off before he could kill the man.’ All four gunners surrendered. Chips sustained a head injury and powder burns from the gunner’s firearms.

Later that same night, Chips was on sentry duty with his handler and alerted him to ten Italian soldiers attempting to creep into the US camp. So that day, Chips was responsible for the capture and surrender of fourteen Italian combatants.

In November, 1943, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Cross for Bravery and the Purple Heart, ‘for courageous action in single-handedly eliminating a dangerous machine-gun nest and causing surrender of its crew.’ These awards were later withdrawn after some people complained that they should not be given to animals. In response, the men in his unit gave him an ‘American Theater Ribbon with an Arrowhead’ to denote his participation in an assault landing, and eight Battle Stars for the campaigns in which he was involved. He epitomised the motto of the 3^rd Infantry Division, ‘Not fancy, just tough.’

After he was discharged in 1945, Chips returned to his family, but died about a year later from his injuries, aged six. There is a statue of this brave dog in Lasdon Park, Katonah, New York. His courage was recognised anew in 2018 when he was posthumously granted the DM. A year later he was awarded the ‘Animals in War and Peace Medal of Bravery.’

Cologne

Cologne served with the National Pigeon Service and successfully completed more than 100 missions with Bomber Command, several times homing from downed aircraft. The citation for the action which earned him the DM for bravery in service read, ‘For homing from a crashed aircraft over Cologne although seriously wounded, whilst serving with the RAF in 1943.’ It was awarded in 1947.

Commando

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The war pigeon, Commando, accomplished over ninety assignments. He was given the DM in 1945 ‘For successfully delivering messages from Agents in Occupied France on three occasions: twice under exceptionally adverse conditions, while serving with the NPS in 1942’. The medal was put up for auction by Sid Moon’s granddaughter in 2004.  It was valued between £5,000 and £7,000 but was sold to a British collector for £9,200.

                                        Red chequered pigeon

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Commando was a red-chequered pigeon, bred by Sid Moon, a pigeon fancier in Sussex UK, who had served with the Army Pigeon Service in the First World War. Sid Moon offered his pigeons to the war effort in 1939. Messenger pigeons were taken into occupied territory and war zones by British paratroopers. Commando carried vital information from spies in France, in June, August and September 1942. The intelligence included the location of injured British soldiers, industrial sites and the whereabouts of German troops.