MARIA DICKIN

Maria Dickin founded the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in the United Kingdom in 1917.  I assume it's equivalent to our SPCA.  The PDSA instituted an award called the PDSA Dickin Medal in 1943. It is awarded to an animal that displayed gallantry and devotion to duty while serving in a military conflict.  

By my count, 61 medals have been awarded to date.  The most recent was an honorary award to all war horses from World War I.   (If you saw the movie War Horse, you can relate to this.)

Here is the breakdown of who received the medal.  Three (3) went to horses plus the honorary noted above.  Twenty-five (25) went to dogs.  Only one (1) went to a cat.  Thirty-one (31) went to pigeons.

Surprised?

The cat was a ship's cat that killed rats on a British vessel that got stuck on a river in China.  The pigeons, of course, carried messages during World War II.

Where else could you get information like this?
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