Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The emotive and extremely well-documented P.D.S.A. Dickin Medal for Gallantry - “The Animals’ V.C.” - and R.S.P.C.A. Red Collar for Valour awarded to War Dog Rob, for his gallantry and outstanding service during the Second World War, during which he undertook 20 parachute descents while serving with Infantry in North Africa and the 2nd S.A.S. Regiment in Italy

People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals Dickin Medal for Gallantry, bronze, the reverse inscribed ‘“ROB” War Dog No. 471/322 Attached 2nd. S.A.S. Regt. February 1945 A.F.M.C. No. 998 11’, pierced with ring suspension, and attached by riband to the recipient’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Red Collar For Valour leather collar, this complete with integral R.S.P.C.A. For Valour medallion, with accompanying campaign ribands for the 1939-45 Star, Africa Star and Italy Star, good very fine (lot) £20,000-£30,000

Instituted by Maria Dickin, C.B.E., the founder of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, in 1943, the Dickin Medal has since been awarded on 71 occasions - 32 of them going to pigeons, 34 to dogs, 4 to horses, and 1 to a cat. The vast majority (and all those awards to pigeons) were granted in respect of acts of bravery in the Second World War, but more recently a number of awards have been made to Arms and Explosives Search Dogs of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps for their gallantry in Iraq and Afghanistan.

P.D.S.A. Dickin Medal for Gallantry awarded 8 February 1945.
The accompanying P.D.S.A. (The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals) and A.F.M.C. (Allied Forces Mascot Club) certificate states: ‘This is to certify that Rob, War Dog No 471/322 has been awarded the Dickin Medal for Gallantry for outstanding service including 20 parachute descents while serving with Infantry in North Africa and SAS Regiment in Italy. Signed M. E. Dickin (Founder).
Inscription to the reverse reads: ‘War Dog No 471/322 “Rob” took part in the landings 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, a black-and-white collie-retriever, was bought as a puppy in 1939 for 5 shillings, and lived his early years with the Bayne family of Tetchill, Ellesmere, Shropshire, as their farm dog and pet. When Rob was still a small puppy, he went on an exploration beyond the boundaries of Tetchill and was brought home by John Brunt, then a schoolboy at Ellesmere College. John became a frequent visitor, taking Rob for walks when time allowed. After leaving college John joined the army and led a distinguished career until he was killed in action. On the day that Rob received the ‘animal V.C.’, it was announced that John had been posthumously awarded the V.C., a strange but sad coincidence that the boy and a dog who roamed the Shropshire fields together should both have received the highest honour.

At the time of receiving the award, his owner, Edward Bayne, told the Oban Times how caring he had been as a farm dog: ‘He used to help settle the chicks in their houses at night, picking them up in his mouth when they had strayed away - he had a wonderful mouth - and tucking them in under their mothers.’
The Baynes’ son, Basil, had learnt to walk by holding onto Rob’s tail or clutching his coat, and if the child was crying Rob put his front paws up on the pram, soothed him and made him laugh.

Rob’s owners volunteered him as a War Dog in 1942 and he was signed up on 19 May of that year.
Following action in the North Africa campaign, from September 1943 Rob served with the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), the first war dog to do so. With the regiment, he took part in operations in Italy, parachuting in on sabotage missions. According to official War Office records, Rob completed more than 20 parachute descents, 3 of them operational.

An account included with the lot gives further details of his war-time exploits:
‘At nearby Sousse, the 2nd S.A.S., then virtually unknown, had their training base. Captain Burt was a very worried man. The commanding officer was away ill and stores were disappearing in a most disconcerting way. Captain Burt asked the holding section for 2 dogs. One developed skin disease and was returned - the other was Rob, who proved more than equal to the task. He soon became race conscious and pilfering Arabs became honest men over night!
It was from there that the 2nd S.A.S. practised their parachute drops and one day the men smuggled Rob up in the plane for a ride. It was all they could do to prevent him from jumping out after the men. So they borrowed a harness from a nearby American base who were trying to train dogs to jump and on the next flight up, again took Rob with them. This time Rob jumped and on landing the men ran to him to release him from the parachute. He had made a perfect drop, falling silently without panic through the air. It was only at this point that the commanding officer was informed of the fact that Rob had been airborne and from then on his training began in earnest.’
The account tells how Rob later completed three separate sabotage missions behind enemy lines.
A letter from Jennifer Hodges, daughter of Victor (Sam) Redhead, Rob’s S.A.S. handler, confirms Redhead’s account of how Rob would ‘eagerly parachute ahead of my father and his S.A.S. group and then bring them together as soon as possible after they had landed’. The letter continues: ‘While the soldiers were sleeping Rob would patrol round them and lick their faces to bring them to instant wakefulness at the slightest sound. On one mission, he went missing for five weeks but in that time he rounded up all the widely scattered members of his 2nd S.A.S. patrol and they returned home safely’. (letter included with lot refers).

Rob was the first War Dog attached to the S.A.S. to be awarded the ‘animal V.C.’, and was reportedly the only War Dog to have been nominated for the Dickin Medal by the War Office. He was presented with his Dickin Medal by Major the Hon. W. P. Sidney V.C. M.P. (later Viscount de L’Isle, V.C., K.G., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O.), the Anzio beachhead hero, at a ceremony at the Prisoner of War Funds Exhibition in London on 8 February 1945.

Demobilised on 27 November 1945, Rob led the Wembley Parade of 32 war dogs on 16 July 1947 in front of 10,000 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.

Following his wartime exploits, Rob was returned to the Baynes and settled back into family life on the farm, occasionally making public appearances to help raise funds for returning Prisoners of War and their families. In February 1948 he disappeared for five days with his companion, the Baynes’ other dog, Judy, a spaniel. Extensive press coverage accompanied the disappearance, with some papers expressing the fear that Rob might have been kidnapped, The Daily Graphic describing him as ‘the no. 1 canine hero of the war’. Five days later he was found by a neighbouring farmer, his face gashed and suffering from exhaustion, with Judy standing guard over him, his collar and ribbon missing. It appeared that he had been caught in a rabbit hole. His damaged collar, now missing its buckle, was later recovered, and is included in the lot.

Rob died in 1952, aged 12.

Footnote:
Jimmy Quentin Hughes’ book Who Cares Who Wins includes a controversial passage setting out to debunk Rob’s story. Hughes states that Rob’s parachute jumps can only have been training exercises as ‘the [S.A.S.] regiment was not on operations in North Africa’, and ‘No one did more jumps than were necessary to train one to land safely behind enemy lines. Twenty for a dog seems excessive and unlikely.’
Hughes also refers to an anonymous letter sent to the Baynes at the end of the war, which from Jennifer Hodges’ account clearly came from her father Corporal Victor (Sam) Redhead, Rob’s 2nd S.A.S. Regiment handler. Hughes states that an operation as described by the Radio Times in which Rob was said to have taken part ‘did not take place’.
Hughes goes on to allege that when he served with Major Tom Burt at Wivenhoe Park later in the war, Burt became depressed by a letter from the Baynes family asking for the return of Rob, to whom he had become very attached. Hughes writes that he arranged to take Rob up in a plane for a parachute jump so that he could write up a report saying how indispensable the dog was ‘and you can keep him until the end of the war’. In the event, poor weather meant the flight was cancelled but Hughes stated that he wrote a letter to the family anyway and they used it to approach organisations to lobby for Rob to be recognised.
Although, as Hughes notes and the original letter (in this consignment) attests, the War Office told the Baynes that Rob’s handlers were killed on active service, this was not true, as Sam Redhead survived the war and lived to the age of 78, dying in March 2000.

However, Hughes’ account does not tally with other evidence. As letters from the War Office to the Bayne family included in the consignment here show, it was the War Office itself that recommended Rob for the Dickin Medal and the R.S.P.C.A. Medallion for Valour. Another War Office letter to the Baynes, signed by a Major H. A. Clay on behalf of the Brigadier, Director of Army Veterinary & Remount Services, dated 29 January 1945 and headlined SECRET, confirms that Rob ‘has made over 20 parachute drops, including 3 operational, during the last 18 months.’

Evelyn Le Chêne’s book Silent Heroes also contradicts Hughes’ claims. Despite S.A.S. hero Alastair McGregor writing to Heather Bayne late in life saying that although he had visited Rob at Wivenhoe in 1944-45 he could not remember Rob on his various missions, a contemporary account states that McGregor’s mother had written to Edna Bayne after reading about Rob after the war to say her son ‘had been forever speaking of Rob and Rob’s courage and exploits.’
Le Chêne also goes on to investigate which operations Rob might have been involved in. Discounting at least two missions for logistical reasons, she alights on Operation Pomegranate of 12-24 January 1944, to knock out German reconnaissance aircraft based at San Egidio in preparation for the Anzio landings in Italy. The operation was led by a Major Widdrington, who was killed, and a Lieutenant Hughes, who was severely wounded. Le Chêne writes: ‘Of Rob’s presence with Widdrington on that occasion there can be no doubt, given the testimony of Widdrington’s mother after the war.’

It is also notable that it was Major Philip Sidney V.C. M.P., the Anzio beachhead hero, who was chosen to present Rob with his Dickin Medal.

Sold with the following extensive archive:

i) A framed portrait of Rob the Dog, oil on canvas, 730mm x 530mm.
ii) The recipient’s original Collar, with ‘War Dog 1939-1945’ medallion, this lacking buckle and in relic condition
iii) The recipient’s P.D.S.A. and Allied Forces Mascot Club Certificate for the Dickin Medal, dated 8 February 1945; together with the original War Office letter dated 24 January 1945 announcing the award of the Dickin Medal to Rob; and original War Office letter dated 5 November 1945 announcing Rob’s R.S.P.C.A. Medallion of Valour award.
iv) Typescript Extract from Miss Marjorie Anderson of the Overseas Division relating her broadcast at the presentation of Rob’s Dickin Medal, including the following regarding Corporal Victor (Sam) Redhead, who had been his 2nd S.A.S. Regiment handler: ‘While he accepted the admiring pats of the crowd milling round him I had a chat with Sam, and he told me that he and the dog always made their parachute jump together – “He’s never done one without me” – said Sam proudly.’
v) A 21-page, untitled, hand-written manuscript relating the imaginary story of Rob the Dog as a dialogue between Rob and the Bayne’s other dog Judy, written by Mrs Edna Bayne, Rob’s owner; together with a typewritten service memoir as though written by Rob the Dog.
vi) A copy of As Brothers In the Fray, The Life Story of Britain’s Ace of War Dogs. “Rob” D.M. 471/322 - The Parachute Dog - Mascot of the 2nd Special Air Service Regiment. By Edna Bayne, typescript in 18 chapters with foreword by the Lord Stafford, dated 1949
vii) Letter dated 26 May 1948 from Rob’s original handler in North Africa Major Tom Burt M.B.E. to Mrs Edna Bayne in response to Mrs Bayne’s request for details of Rob’s war service.
viii) A folder containing plastic wallets filled with photographs and news reports relating to Rob’s history and service, including a (torn) photograph of his handler Major Tom Burt; together with a series of articles, newspaper cuttings, letters and hand-written notes concerning Rob the Dog, service animals and military figures; and various photocopies of numerous press cuttings setting out Rob’s war record, often as the pre-eminent example of war animal exploits.
ix) Correspondence with various organisations regarding research into Rob’s war record; together with a folder containing various photographs, newspaper cuttings and War Office correspondence regarding Rob’s return and award.
x) Various articles and original photographs of Rob the Dog and the Bayne family; together with a folder containing various hand-written memoirs of Rob’s life by one of the Bayne children (Heather), including specific details of how he came to complete parachute jumps at Sousse in Tunisia in 1942, and how the family met John Brunt.
xi) A letter from Jennifer Hodges, daughter of Corporal Redhead, Rob’s S.A.S. handler, with a photograph of Rob and Redhead together.
xii) A folder containing details and tributes to Captain John Brunt V.C., M.C., who as a pupil at Ellesmere College had exercised Rob the dog
xiii) A box file containing a printer’s metal slug of the photograph of Rob receiving his Dickin Medal, with print copy of the image.
xiv) A photograph of Rob and another dog apparently on manoeuvres with troops, taken from a film at the Imperial War Museum of Guelma, Algeria on 6 February 1943. Catalogue number AYY 471/2, created by the War Office Film Unit. Titled: Reconstruction of an army message dog in action in Guelma, one of four belonging to the Royal Irish Fusiliers in North Africa. Full description: Close up of Company Sergeant Major Garrett of S Company, 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers laying flat, writing a message for his platoon sergeant. He hands the message to Lance-Corporal H. Evans, with his dogs Rob and Boy. Lance-Corporal Evans places the message in a collar around Rob’s neck and releases him. Rob heads for his other kennel man, Fusilier Williams, who is on the other side of the field. Rob negotiates a stream. After running a mile, Rob dashes to Fusilier Williams. Fusilier Williams detaches the collar and hands it to Platoon Sergeant M T McHugh. Sergeant McHugh extracts and reads the message and runs off to his platoon hidden in the undergrowth. Rob is petted and fed by his master. Close up of Rob; together with accompanying CD of the film and letter from the film maker’s daughter; and further correspondence regarding the film from the maker’s daughter.
xv) Seven video cassettes, comprising Basil Bayne Dog and Football; Animal Passions, dated 2 July 1996 and 9 July 1996; 2 labelled: Rob copy of 16mm film (circa 1949) for Heather Bayne; and 2 labelled: Animals at War; together with a cassette tape of the BBC Radio Four series The Animals’ VC, with accompanying note from the BBC to Heather Bayne.
xvi) A box of 15 books relating to animal war heroes, the S.A.S., and the memoir of an Infantry despatch rider. The books include Who Cares Who Wins, by Jimmy Quentin Hughes M.C. and Silent Heroes by Evelyn Le Chêne.
xvii) Two copies of Rob the Paradog, a softback children’s book by Dorothy Nicolle.
xviii) Various sundry news articles, photocopies of photographs; P.D.S.A. booklets; cuttings from and complete copies of the Radio Times for 6-12 May 1989, featuring Rob on the cover for the Inside Story series programme Animals In War; and other ephemera.

Please note that this lot is not suitable for shipping, but can be hand delivered within mainland Britain by prior arrangement.