These Two Military Dogs Won Medals for Fighting Bravely
It was during the infamous Blitz of London that Jet of Iada rightfully earned his claim to fame.
National Dog Day doesn’t take place until August 26, but just as The National Interest didn’t wait until Women’s History Month to honor badass human female warriors, we aren’t going to wait around to honor some badass canine warriors.
With that in mind, we now bring you the stories of Jet of Iada and Conan, heroic military working dogs (MWDs) of World War II and the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group, respectively.
The Story of Jet of Iada
Jet was a solid black German Shepherd dog, born in Liverpool in the Iada kennel of Babcock Cleaver on July 21, 1942. At the tender age of nine months, he was sent to the “War Dog School” in Gloucester, whereupon he was trained in anti-sabotage work. From there, he was initially stationed in Northern Ireland, where he spent eighteen months carrying out those anti-sabotage duties.
Afterwards, this ever-vigilant pooch was rotated back to the War Dog School for further training in search and rescue duties, with a Corporal Wardle assigned as his handler.
It was during the infamous Blitz of London that Jet rightfully earned his claim to fame. He was credited with saving over 150 lives therein, and if that in and of itself weren’t impressive enough, there was one particular incident wherein he saved fifty lives and won the Dickin Medal, which, according to the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), is “the highest award any animal can receive whilst serving in military conflict … recognised worldwide as the animals’ Victoria Cross. “
As Lilias Ward, the daughter of the aforementioned Cleaver, recounted in an interview:
“The reason why he got his medal was one particularly outstanding situation where a hotel had had a direct hit, they thought they’d got everybody out, that needed to come out, and everything was clear. And Jet had been there, and the handler said ‘I’m sorry, there’s someone there, up high and you’ll have to go’, ‘it can’t be’, ‘well I’m sorry, this is important, if Jet says that person’s there, and they’re alive, by his behaviour’. Because if they weren’t alive, he would just point to where they were … I think that was the story that hit the newspapers at the time, because Jet stood there and wouldn’t go, and it was evidently about eleven and a half hours that he was there, and I think it was that determination that got the imagination of the newspapers.”
Jet was awarded his Dickin Medal on January 12, 1945. Sadly, he passed away on October 18, 1949, at the relatively young (by canine standards) age of seven. He was laid to rest at Liverpool’s Calderstones Park, which was selected as the burial site, and a stone monument was erected in his honor. The inscription on the monument reads in part “JET OF IADA. Dickin Medal & Medallion for Valour. First Rescue Dog Air Raids 2nd World War.” Back in July 2016, schoolchildren of Childwall C of E Primary School learned about Jet and paid their respects to him via a cleanup of his monument.
For good measure, this heroic Alsatian was featured in a painting from the Walker Art Gallery collection and included in the exhibition “The Animals’ War,” originally held at the Imperial War Museum, London.
Good boy, Jet.
The Story of Conan (The Hunter of ISIS Terrorists)
Fast-forward seventy years and eight days from the time of dear old Jet of Iada’s untimely passing, and you get the date of the event that immortalized the next hero MWD on our list: Conan the Belgian Malinois.
That night, Conan—already a veteran of fifty missions with United States Special Operations Command—participated with 1st Special Forces Operations Detachment-Delta (Delta Force) in “Operation Kayla Mueller,” the mission in Barisha, Syria, to capture then-leader of ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. During the operation, Conan was engaged in hot pursuit of the infamous terrorist in a tunnel, whereupon the bad guy chose to take the easy way out by detonating his suicide vest. The fearless MWD was injured during the raid due to exposed live electric wires but recovered and returned to field duty.
A month later, President Donald Trump presented Conan with a one-of-a-kind medal that was the canine equivalent of the Medal of Honor (and the aforementioned Victoria Cross and Dickin Medal) at the White House. “Conan is a tough cookie — nobody is going to mess with Conan,” Trump said.
Conan was born in the Netherlands in either 2013 or 2014 and was named for late-night comedian talk show host Conan O’Brien. Sadly, Conan passed away in November 2023 due to cancer and injuries sustained in service. Good boy, Conan.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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