The Victoria Cross awarded to a heroic hound who took part in daring SAS missions during World War Two has been put up for sale.
The animal version of the medal, the highest award for bravery, is known as the Dickin Medal and was given to Rob the para-dog who served in daring SAS missions in North Africa and Italy.
He made 20 parachute jumps during World War Two and one of these included being dropped behind enemy lines with the commandos to prepare the ground for the Allied invasion of Anzio in 1944.
The courageous canine’s job was to be on guard and alert the men of any danger by licking their faces.
He also carried important messages from one part of the front to the other.
Rob, a border collie retriever, was the only dog ever to be awarded both the PDSA Dickin Medal for Gallantry and the RSPCA Red Collar for Valour - as well as a lifetime supply of biscuits.
After the war Rob was returned to his owners and died in 1952 aged 12 - 69 in human years.
Books have been written about Rob’s wartime exploits and he even featured on the front cover of the Radio Times in 1989.
Although in 2006 it was claimed his exploits could have been exaggerated as a means of keeping Rob in the army when the family requested it back.
But whatever the exact truth his owner’s son, Basil Bayne, who grew up beside Rob near Tetchill, Shropshire, has now decided to sell the heroic dog’s medals alongside his collar, a portrait painting and several photographs.
The charming trove is tipped to sell for more than £30,000 at auctioneers Noonans of Mayfair, London.
Christopher Mellor-Hill, specialist at Noonans, said Rob’s medals were the ‘most important’ of their kind ever to come to auction.
He said: “Rob the parachuting dog is the most famous of all the Dickin Medal recipients and we are delighted to be offering his medals on behalf of the family who owned him.
“Rob was the first war dog attached to the SAS 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.
“Demobilised on November 27, 1945, Rob led the Wembley Parade of 32 war dogs on July 16, 1947.
“He was the star of the show as far as the 10,000 spectators were concerned, being the only dog present to hold both the Dickin Medal and the R.S.P.C.A. Red Collar and Medallion for Valour. I believe this is the most important Dickin Medal to ever be sold at auction.”
The black and white dog was born in 1939 and he helped owner Edward Bayne on his Shropshire farm before the obedient animal was offered up for military service in 1942.
A letter included in the sale describes how Rob “eagerly followed” his comrades out of the airplane on jumps.
The account tells of how his training began after soldiers in the 2nd SAS regiment in North Africa sneaked him into their airplane on jumps.
When heir commanding officer realised Rob had gone with them, he decided to send him to Italy.
The letter reads: “It was from there (North Africa) 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 jump 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.”
Jennifer Hodges, the daughter of Corporal Victor Redhead, Rob’s SAS handler, wrote in a letter that the canine would ‘eagerly parachute ahead’ of her father.
She said: “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 rounded up all the widely scattered members of his 2nd SAS patrol and they returned home safely."
After serving with infantry in North Africa, he became the first dog to serve with the SAS when he was dropped on sabotage missions with his own special parachute in Italy.
The Dickin Medal has been awarded to 71 animals - 34 of them going to dogs, 32 to pigeons, four to horses and one to a cat.
The vast majority were granted for acts of bravery in the Second World War but several wards have been made to Arms and Explosives Search Dogs of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps for their gallantry in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rob’s medals will be sold on October 12.
