Dickins Medal

We know that men and women give their lives overseas, fighting for our country. We receive news of their heroic stories and are so proud of our troops. But these humans are not the only ones serving our country. Some dogs help out in combat or other forms of war from sniffing out bombs to rescuing survivors of disasters or attacks. Other animals also help out in important missions and duties. Some of these special animals are awarded something called the Dickins Medal, named after Maria Dickin.

Recently, a dog named Theo worked with Lance sniffing out roadside bombs. One day, Lance died in a firefight. Only hours after, Theo had a seizure which caused his passing. Lance’s mother is still convinced that Theo died of a broken heart.

Theo was the 28^th dog to have been awarded the medal. Around 32 pigeons have been awarded the medal for carrying information from the frontline, one of which carried valuable information to stop bombing that would have taken the lives of over 100 allied soldiers in a different country. Three horses have been awarded with the medal, and only one cat has received the medal for keeping up its duties of killing rats on a ship even after being injured while the ship was trapped in Chinese waters.

Its really amazing how humans and animals can communicate to such an extent that a pigeon is able to get important messages to the exact location it needed to deliver it to. I have no idea how they trained pigeons to do that. I’m not judging but, I’m not sure how the cat got this medal. I love cats, I do, but I’m not sure how much of an impact rats could make on a ship. Maybe I am just out of some big loop that obviously states that rats were a danger to the people in some big way.