There are many stories of animals who served during wartime efforts and gained great fame afterward for their duties. One of those animals is Simon the cat. His story stuck out to me because it is a story of resilience, and Simon pushed onwards until he simply couldn’t any longer. Simon was a cat well-loved by many, and his story will hopefully continue to be told for many more years.
In March of 1948, 17-year-old ordinary seaman George Hickinbottom of the Royal Navy found poor little Simon meandering around the dockyards of Stonecutters Island in Hong Kong. Simon was only about a year old at the time and was weak and malnourished. Hickinbottom smuggled the little cat onboard the HMS Amethyst. Once Simon was discovered by others, he was kept on by the crew due to his skills at catching and killing rats on the lower decks, as well as being friendly to all of the men onboard. Simon became known for his audaciousness to leave dead rodents in sailors’ beds, and often sleeping in the captain’s cap. Lieutenant Commander Ian Griffiths was in charge during Simon’s arrival and loved him. When Griffiths was replaced by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner, Skinner immediately loved Simon as well.
In the summer of 1949, the Amethyst Incident occurred during the Chinese Civil War, involving the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and four British Royal Navy ships, HMS London, HMS Consort, HMS Black Swan, and HMS Amethyst. These ships came under heavy fire from PLA shells and were forced to extract themselves from the area. At one point, a PLA field gun battery fired upon the Amethyst and critically injured Simon. An artillery shell blew a large hole in the bulkhead and wounded many and killed a few men. Lieutenant Skinner succumbed to his injuries from this attack, and 17 men died in total.
Despite devastating wounds, Simon managed to make his way onto the deck and, when found, was rushed to the medical bay. The ship’s surviving medical staff finished aiding the men before aiding Simon. They cleaned his burns and removed four pieces of shrapnel from his body, however, they did not expect Simon to make it through the night. Miraculously, Simon did recover and returned to his normal duties, which greatly aided in raising ship morale.
During the attack by the PLA, the Amethyst was struck over fifty times and was unable to make a full escape, leaving it stranded in the middle of the river for nearly ten weeks while negotiating with the PLA to depart safely. During this time, the ship had become overrun with rats, and Simon did his duty of hunting them down. Simon found and killed these rats, who were guilty of stealing the short supply of food onboard, and even took down one “particularly vicious” rat that the crew had named Mao Tse-tung. This achievement led to Simon’s promotion to able seacat (able seaman). When not fighting off enemy rodents, Simon spent his time boosting soldier morale alongside Peggy, the four-year-old terrier who also lived onboard and got along well with him.
Following Amethyst’s escape, Simon became a celebrity, praised in media around the world. Simon was presented with the Dickin Medal, and as of today remains the only cat to receive the award. He was also awarded a Blue Cross medal and the Amethyst campaign medal. So many letters were written to him that Commander Stuart Hett was appointed “cat officer” to handle Simon’s mail. At every stop the Amethyst made on its way home, Simon was honoured, however, like all animals entering the UK, was quarantined and sent to an animal centre in Surrey.
While being quarantined, Simon contracted a virus and, despite medical treatment, sadly passed away on the 28th of November, 1949 from a complication of the viral infection caused by his war wounds. Being found in poor condition and having a weak heart before being brought aboard, as well as his injuries gained during wartime endeavors, he was not able to fight through his health problems. Hundreds of people, including the crew of Amethyst, attended his funeral at the PDSA Ilford Animal Cemetery in East London. Simon was buried with full military honors, wrapped in cotton wool, and had his coffin draped with the Union Jack. The previously mentioned Commander Hett led a wreath-laying ceremony at his burial site and said “Simon’s company and expertise as a rat-catcher were invaluable during the months we were held captive.” He added, “During a terrifying time, he helped boost the morale of many young sailors, some of whom had seen their friends killed.”
Simon’s gravestone reads: IN MEMORY OF “SIMON”; SERVED IN HMS AMETHYST MAY 1948-NOVEMBER1949; AWARDED DICKIN MEDAL AUGUST 1949; DIED 28TH NOVEMBER 1949; THROUGHOUT THE YANGTSE INCIDENT HIS BEHAVIOUR WAS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. His Amethyst campaign ribbon citation reads: “For distinguished and meritorious service… singlehandedly and unarmed stalk down and destroy ‘Mao Tse-tung’ a rat guilty of raiding critically short food supplies. Be it further known that from April 22 to August 4, you did rid HMS Amethyst of pestilence and vermin, with unrelenting faithfulness”. His Dicken Medal award reads: “Served on HMS Amethyst during the Yangtse Incident, 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”. Simon is also commemorated with a bush planted in his honour in the Yangtze Incident grove at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. In 1950, the writer Paul Gallico dedicated his novel about another cat, Jennie, to Simon, writing, “To the late Simon, of the Amethyst.”
Article by Blade Mitchell.
Blade Mitchell is a writer from Columbus, Ohio, with a degree in Political Science and a minor in History from The Ohio State University. When not working on writing projects, Blade enjoys reading, bartending, and traveling to new places whenever possible.
Thank you to Blade for submitting this article for us for International War Animal Day.