Animals in War Memorial

On the edge of Hyde Park is a beautiful monument to the animals who served and died in World War I and II. I pass this memorial at least once a week on the bus and it always makes me a bit sad. I've always been very tender-hearted when it comes to animals suffering so I decided to get a closer look at the statues and carvings. 

"They had no choice" is such an accurate description of the use of animals in war. So many of them showed exemplary heroism and they didn't even know what it was for. 54 animals received the Dickin Medal(an animal's Victoria Cross or Medal of Honor) including 32 pigeons, 18 dogs, and 3 horses. 

Rip the dog was one of these animals awarded with the Dickin Medal. He was a stray found in Poplar by an Air Raid warden and became the service's first search and rescue dog. Rip wasn't trained in search and rescue but he took to it instinctively. In one year, he found over a hundred victims of air raids in London. He wore his Dickin Medal on his collar until the day he died. 

Simon the cat was the ship's cat on the HMS Amethyst. As a malnourished kitten he was found wandering the dockyards in Hong Kong and taken aboard. He was known for his cheekiness because he would leave dead rats in sailor's beds and slept in the captains cap. He was wounded by cannon shell during an attack in the Yangtze Incident but survived with help from medical staff. He returned to his duties by managing a rat infestation and raising morale. 

G.I.Joe, a carrier pigeon for the United States Army Pigeon Service, delivered a message stopping the Allies from bombing a town that the infantry division had just taken over. He flew over twenty miles in twenty minutes. He was the first non-British recipient of the Dickin Medal. 

Judy was a ship's dog on the HMS Gnat and HMS Grasshopper. She alerted crew to incoming aircraft, found fresh water for the crew when stranded on a desert island, survived a crocodile attack, and was taken as a prisoner of war, the only dog to be officially considered so in World War II. 

I am so impressed with the sacrifice made by animals during times of war. Now when I pass this monument I'll think of Simon and all the other amazing animals who not only kept up morale but completed important jobs throughout the war.