Able SeaCat Simon, RN

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70 years ago, on 28 November 1949 Simon died at the Hackbridge Boarding and Quarantine Kennels in Surrey aged about 2. Nothing is known about his previous life in the Hong Kong Docks but his life was changed forever when he was found wandering on the docks and smuggled aboard HMS Amethyst.
His job in the Navy was to kill mice and rats on board the ship and keeping up the morale of the ship's human crew. Wounded by opposing shellfire on the Yangtse River he survived. Some of his human crewmates did not. Returning to England he was a celebrity. Sadly his injuries overcame him and despite of excellent care at Hackbridge he died. He won the Dickin Medal, and the award for the Amethyst Incident. Simon was buried the PDSA pet cemetery in Ilford, Essex, Many of his human shipmates attended his burial. He is the first and only cat to awarded the Dickin medal.

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The feline Hero!
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32650332/simon