Rob, The Parachuting Dog

Social reformer and animal-welfare pioneer Maria Dickin founded the British veterinary charity the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in 1917 to provide humane veterinary care to pets whose owners could not otherwise afford it.

The PDSA Dickin Medal, otherwise known as “the animals’ Victoria Cross,” was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Miss Dickin to honor 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 on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue. It is awarded to animals that have displayed “conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defence Units.”

The medal was awarded 54 times between 1943 and 1949 to acknowledge actions of gallantry or devotion during World War II and subsequent conflicts. The recipients were 32 pigeons, 18 dogs, three horses and a cat. The awarding of the medal was revived in 2000, and as of February 2022, the Dickin Medal has been awarded 74 times, plus one honorary award made in 2014 to all the animals who served in World War I.

The most recent recipient is Hertz, a German Shorthaired Pointer who served in Afghanistan, awarded for detecting electronic equipment during the war.

Rob is the most famous of all the dogs to have received the medal. He was a black-and white Collie/Retriever bought as a puppy from Colemere Farm near Ellesmere in Shropshire in 1939 for five shillings, and lived his early years with the Bayne family of nearby Tetchill as their farm dog and family pet. Rob’s owners volunteered him as a war dog in 1942 and he was signed up in May that year.

Following action in the North African campaign, from September 1943 Rob served with the Special Air Services Regiment (SAS), the first war dog to do so. With the regiment, he took part in operations in Italy, parachuting in on sabotage missions.

Rob was awarded the Dickin Medal in February 1945, the only dog to have been nominated by the War Office. The citation read: “War Dog No 471/322 Rob took part in the North African campaign with an Infantry Unit.

“Since September 1943 he has served with a Special Air Force Regiment and took part in operations with that Unit in Italy most of which were of an unpleasant nature.

“He was used as patrol and guard over small parties who were lying up in enemy occupied territory.

“There is no doubt that his presence with these parties saved many of them from being discovered and thereby captured or killed.

“The dog has made over 20 parachute descents.”

Rob was demobilized in November 1945. He returned to the Baynes’ and settled back into life on the farm; however, he had picked up the habit of leading from the front, as he did with men in the S.A.S., so was no longer much good for rounding up cattle. He would often look back and bark, unable to understand why the cattle would not follow him.

Occasionally he made public appearances to help raise funds for returning prisoners of war and their families. He led the Wembley Parade of 32 war dogs in July 1947 in front of 10,00 spectators, being the only dog present to hold both the Dickin Medal and the R.S.P.C.A. Red Collar and Medallion for Valour.

At the time of receiving the award, Rob’s owner, Edward Bayne, said how caring he had been as a farm dog: “He used to help settle the chicks in their house at night, picking them up in his mouth when they had strayed away and tucking them in under their mothers.”

The Baynes’ son, Basil, learned to walk by holding onto Rob’s tail or clutching his coat, and if the child was crying Rob put his front paws on the pram, soothed him and made him laugh.

Rob died in 1952, aged 12. He was buried in a nearby churchyard.

If only he could have written his autobiography – to have lived a quiet family life on the English/Welsh border; sent away into an unknown future; dropped from the sky into an alien country with no knowledge or understanding of what was happening; paraded through the streets of London, then finally living out his retirement where it all started.

Over the many years I have been writing for Dog News there have been very few occasions on which I have feature just one item or subject; this, I think, is one of those deserving occasions.

Auction house Noonans in their Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria sale on the October 12 are selling this emotive and well-documented medal awarded to Rob together with an extensive archive of books, photographs, manuscripts, a portrait and other related material with a guide price of £20,000-30,000.

They have come to auction from Basil Baynes and the proceeds will be given to the Taylor McNally Foundation, whose objectives are the advancement of education in agriculture and primary food processing and food marketing by all appropriate means.