Dogged gallantry

The Duke of Normandy and GI Joe both won the Dickin medal, the animal VC, for wartime gallantry. They were pigeons and did what pigeons do best, fly home fast. Gallant these birds may have been, but the story of Mali, today to be presented with his own Dickin medal, shows true canine courage and devotion. Mali saved the lives of British special forces, fighting their way through a six-storey tower block in Afghanistan, by sniffing out booby-traps. Though wounded by grenade fragments, the dog stayed at its post by the side of its handler. It was carried to safety and survived. Mali, a thick-coated Belgian Malinois, resembling an Alsatian, is restored to health and works as a training dog with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. It joins only 31 dogs that have won the medal. None could be more dogged.