First cat to receive the Dickin Medal

The first cat to receive the PDSA Dickin Medal animal gallantry award was Simon (originally found in Hong Kong), who was ship cat on board the British vessel HMS Amethyst during the Yangtse Incident (April-August 1949), who was awarded the medal in August 1949. He received the accolade "for disposing of many rats though wounded by shell blast. Throughout the incident his behaviour was of the highest order, although the blast was capable of making a hole over a foot in diameter in a steel plate".

Introduced in 1943 by the founder of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), Maria Dickin, the Dickin Medal is an internationally recognized animal honour for conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving in a military conflict - the animal equivalent of the British Victoria Cross for human valour.

The first recipients, who were each awarded their medal on 2 December 1943, were three carrier pigeons – White Vision, Winkie and Tyke – for successfully delivering messages that led to the rescue of three ditched Allied aircraft during World War II.

As of September 2021, Simon is the only cat to have ever received the Dickin Medal. His service was considered above and beyond because, despite multiple shrapnel wounds, he continued to catch rats on board the HMS Amethyst, helping to preserve the ship's already dwindling food supplies when it was stuck in the Yangtse River for over two months. The dispatching of one particularly large and notorious rat on board the ship, who was even known to attack human crew and was nicknamed "Mao Tse-tung", earned him a promotion to Able Seaman as well as later a campaign ribbon for "distinguished and meritorious service… single-handedly and unarmed stalk down and destroy ‘Mao Tse-tung’ a rat guilty of raiding food supplies which were critically short. Be it further known that from April 22 to August 4, you did rid HMS Amethyst of pestilence and vermin, with unrelenting faithfulness."

Simon became a global celebrity with a Lieutenant Stewart Hett designated "cat officer", put in charge of dealing with his fan mail, which included toys and cat food.

Simon was brought back to Plymouth, UK, on 11 November 1943 but sadly passed away a few weeks later from a virus while in quarantine, before he could officially receive the medal, however the ceremony took place posthumously.