Lucky was a dog who received the

Dickin Medal The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in World War II. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried ...

in 2007 from the

People's Dispensary for Sick Animals The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is the UK's leading veterinary Charitable organization, charity, carrying out more than one million free veterinary consultations a year. It was founded in 1917 by Maria Dickin to provide care f ...

for bravery in service during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

Military service

Lucky was a

German Shepherd Dog The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally b ...

, trained by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

to track terrorists. His RAF identification number was 3610 AD. Lucky was one of four dogs posted to the conflict known as the

between 1949 and 1952. The other three dogs were called Bobbie, Jasper and Lassie. They were used to track Communist forces in the jungles of Malaysia including assisting in the capture of Lan-Jang-San in February 1951. They were attached to a number of different regiments during this period, including the Gurkha Rifles and the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

. Long (2012): p. 167 During this period, Lucky's handler was Corporal Beval Austin Stapleton. Lucky was the only one of the four dogs to survive their time in Malaysia.

Dickin medal

Lucky was posthumously awarded the

by the

on 6 February 2007 at a ceremony at the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

in London alongside another dog, Sadie. It is considered to be the animal's equivalent to the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

. The medals were awarded by Princess Alexandra, and Lucky's was received by Corporal Beval Austin Stapleton, who said "Every minute of every day in the jungle we trusted our lives to those four dogs, and they never let us down, Lucky was the only one of the team to survive our time in the Malayan jungle and I'm so proud of the old dog today. I owe my life to him." It was on behalf of the four RAF tracker dogs posted to the Malaysian campaign between 1949 and 1952.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

External links

PDSA Dickin Medal, including "Roll of Honor" PDF
{{Dickin Medal Individual dogs awarded the Dickin Medal German shepherds Royal Air Force personnel of the Malayan Emergency British Army animals Individual dogs in the United Kingdom