Simon (ca.1947 - 28 November 1949) of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amethyst_(F116)" class="extiw" title="en:HMS Amethyst (F116)">HMS Amethyst</a>; veteran of the Yangtze Incident, 1949, receiving the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Dispensary_for_Sick_Animals" class="extiw" title="en:People's Dispensary for Sick Animals">PDSA</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickin_Medal" class="extiw" title="en:Dickin Medal">Dickin Medal</a>, the animal V.C. Despite being badly injured in action, he carried-on under fire, ridding HMS Amethyst of rats; particularly Mao-Tse-Tung, a giant rat that had evaded all human attempts at capture. Surviving action and returning to England, he died in quarantine. Simon was buried with naval honours at the Ilford Animal Cemetery, attended by the entire crew of HMS Amethyst and hundreds of mourners. He is commemorated with a bush planted in his honour in the Yangtze Incident Grove at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Memorial_Arboretum" class="extiw" title="en:National Memorial Arboretum">National Memorial Arboretum</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire" class="extiw" title="en:Staffordshire">Staffordshire</a>.
Image still from a video taken at 2pm. on 01 Sept. 2010 at Ilford Animal Cemetery. Camcorder: Sony HDR-HC7E, cropped and processed in Photoshop CS2 on 02 September 2010.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Acabashi" title="User:Acabashi">Acabashi</a>
CC BY-SA 3.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>