Rob (1939 – 18 January 1952) was a

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...

dog who in February 1945 was awarded the Dickin Medal, considered to be the animals'

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. He was alleged to have made over 20 parachute descents during the North African Campaign, serving with the

SAS SAS or Sas may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers * ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series * Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...

. However, in 2006, his actions were revealed as being a possible hoax perpetrated by members of his regiment in order to prevent Rob leaving after his original owners requested his return.

Early life and military service

Rob was a working dog on a farm in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

until 1942, when his owners, Basil and Heather Bayne, enlisted him as a war dog. Assigned to the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-ter ...

at the base in

Wivenhoe Park Wivenhoe Park is a landscaped green space of more than at the eastern edge of Colchester, England. It is the site of Wivenhoe House, a four-star hotel, based in an eighteenth-century Grade II listed house. Wivenhoe House is also home to the Ed ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Rob's official designation was war dog No 471/322. He was used as a messenger and a guard dog.

Dickin Medal

Rob received his medal in London on 3 February 1945. The citation read "For service including 20 parachute jumps while serving with Infantry in North Africa and SAS Regiment in Italy." Rob won other medals for bravery, including an RSPCA silver medal. The Dickin Medal is often referred to as the animal metaphorical equivalent of the

Hoax

According to Quentin Hughes' autobiographical account of his time in the 2nd SAS, ''Who Cares Who Wins?'', the actions which led to Rob's Dickin Medal were in fact a hoax. He reported that instead of completing parachute drops as reported, the dog acted as a companion to the regiment

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

, Tom Burt. Lll Hughes wrote that when hearing that the family which donated Rob to the

Army Veterinary and Remount Services An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

had requested the dog back, he and Burt worked together to keep Rob by exaggerating his exploits. At one point they attempted to carry out a parachute jump with Rob but weather conditions were unfavourable and they could not follow through with the jump as Hughes wrote, "We had a suitable parachute harness and I phoned through to the RAF and made arrangements for Rob to have a short flight, unfortunately, quite a strong wind blew up during the flight and the RAF decided it would be dangerous to drop Rob on that day." They had planned to send a letter to his owners following the successful drop, and after the failure decided to send it anyway. Rob's owners passed the letter about the dog's actions to the PDSA, resulting in Rob's Dickin Medal in January 1945. Although Hughes died in 2004, the possibility of a hoax wasn't revealed until 2006 when a painting of Rob was featured in an exhibition entitled "The Animals War" at the Imperial War Museum in London. According to Hughes' friend Mickey King, who remembered the author discussing the incident, "Quentin said that nobody survived 20 parachute drops, let alone a dog. You were lucky to survive three."

Sold at Auction

Rob's Dickin Medal was sold by auction at

Noonans Mayfair Noonans Mayfair, formerly Dix Noonan Webb, is an auction house based in London. It specialises in coins, medals, jewellery and paper money. Since being established, the firm has sold over 400,000 lots. Noonans was established in 1990 as Buckland D ...

in London for a record price of £140,000 on 12 October 2022.

Later life

Following his military service, he returned to his owners in Tetchill, Shropshire. He died in 1952 and was buried on the family farm, marked with a stone memorial which reads:

In literature

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

has been written about Rob, entitled ''Rob the Paradog'', written by Dorothy Nicholle and published by Blue Hills Press.

Notes

External links

PDSA Dickin Medal, including "Roll of Honor" PDF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rob (Dog) Individual dogs 1952 animal deaths 1939 animal births Hoaxes in the United Kingdom British Army animals Special Air Service 1940s hoaxes Individual dogs awarded the Dickin Medal British Army personnel of World War II Military animals of World War II