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Winkie (pigeon)
After an RAF aircraft came down in the North Sea in 1942, Winkie flew home to Dundee. Her return helped rescuers find the missing crew. She was one of the first three pigeons awarded a Dickin Medal, in December 1943. Her preserved specimen is pictured here.
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Beauty (dog)
Beauty was accompanying a PDSA rescue crew in London when she started digging in the rubble and helped them find a trapped cat. She joined the rescue squad, and the PDSA credits her with finding 63 animals during the war. She received the medal in January 1945.
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Rifleman Khan
When a boat capsized off Walcheren in the Netherlands in November 1944, Khan brought his handler, Lance Corporal Jimmy Muldoon, back to shore. The rescue earned him the Dickin Medal in 1945. He eventually lived with Muldoon after the war.
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Rip (dog)
An air raid warden took in Rip, a stray in Poplar, London. The dog helped rescue crews locate people trapped under bombed buildings. He received the medal in 1945 for his work during the Blitz, and a 1941 photograph shows him sitting on the rubble.
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Mary of Exeter
Mary carried messages from France back to Exeter. After a serious neck injury, her owner, a bootmaker named Charlie Brewer, made a small support to hold up her head. The 1945 medal recognized her endurance on wartime service despite her injuries.
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Judy (dog)
Judy was aboard HMS Grasshopper when it sank in 1942. She later shared captivity with airman Frank Williams and survived the war. The citation for her May 1946 medal credited her with helping to sustain prisoners’ morale and saving lives.
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G.I. Joe (pigeon)
After Allied troops reached the Italian village of Calvi Vecchia ahead of schedule in 1943, G.I. Joe carried the message that called off a planned air raid. The PDSA awarded him the medal in 1946. The photograph shows his preserved specimen at Fort Monmouth.
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Pigeon DD43 T139
In 1945, this Australian Army pigeon carried a distress message from a stranded boat to Madang during a tropical storm. Help reached the boat in time to salvage it and its cargo. His 1947 award citation records the rescue, and the Australian War Memorial holds the mounted specimen pictured here.
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Upstart (police horse)
Upstart was on duty in Bethnal Green when a bomb exploded nearby. He stayed calm while his rider helped control traffic and made room for rescue workers. He received the Dickin Medal in 1947. In the photograph, Upstart stands on the right, beside fellow recipients Olga and Regal.
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Simon (cat)
Simon was wounded when HMS Amethyst came under fire during the Chinese Civil War in 1949. As he recovered, the cat hunted rats aboard the stranded vessel. The medal recognized his work under those conditions. He died in quarantine before the presentation.
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Gander (dog)
This Newfoundland dog accompanied the Royal Rifles of Canada to Hong Kong in 1941 and died protecting Canadian soldiers there. Veterans Affairs Canada records that the Dickin Medal was awarded posthumously in 2000. The photograph shows Gander with the regiment before it reached Hong Kong.
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Sergeant Reckless
During the Korean War, Reckless carried supplies for U.S. Marines and brought wounded men back from the fighting. In this photograph, taken around 1953, she wears a pack saddle during training. She received the Dickin Medal posthumously in 2016.
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