In 1948, 17-year-old George Hickenbottom brought a stray black-and-white cat named Simon from the docks of Hong Kong to his ship, the HMS Amethyst. Soon afterward, the Amethyst was ordered up the Yangtze River to guard the British Embassy from the Chinese Communist Revolution. Halfway there, the ship was fired on by the People’s Liberation Army. Simon was sleeping in the cabin’s quarters when a shell tore through the bulkhead, sending shrapnel into his legs and burning his face and back.
The ship ran aground and rescue attempts were deterred by heavy fire. Despite his injuries, Simon hunted the rats infesting an already limited food supply. Dispatching a particularly vicious rat nicknamed “Mao Zedong” earned him an Amethyst campaign ribbon and the honorary title “Able Seacat.” After 101 days of siege, the Amethyst made a mad dash for freedom and arrived in Plymouth, England, to a hero’s welcome. Simon is the only cat to be awarded Britain’s Dickin Medal for animal bravery and was buried with full military honors.
Read about five other heroic cats here.
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