Simon wins a medal

George, a 17-year-old sailor from the ship Amethyst, saw a thin black and white cat wandering the dock at Hong Kong. The poor cat was not well and George felt sorry for him, so he smuggled him onto the ship.

He named the cat Simon, and fed him lots of good food. Simon was soon well again, and became everyone's pet. He was friendly and loved a cuddle, and the sailors loved him.

But they had to keep him away from the captain, who did NOT like cats. But Simon, the kind and friendly cat, knew how to make friends, and soon even the captain loved him.

Simon became a celebrity after the Amethyst escaped from the Yangtze and he was awarded the Dickin Medal - the only cat to ever win the award.

Thousands of letters were written to the famous cat and he had to have a 'cat officer' to reply to all his fan mail.

When the Amethyst returned to Britain, Simon had to go into quarantine and unfortunately died there. Hundreds, including the entire crew of the Amethyst, attended his funeral.

IN
MEMORY OF
"SIMON"
SERVED IN
H.M.S. AMETHYST
MAY 1948 – NOVEMBER 1949
AWARDED DICKIN MEDAL
AUGUST 1949
DIED 28TH NOVEMBER 1949.
THROUGHOUT THE YANGTSE INCIDENT
HIS BEHAVIOUR WAS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER

HMS Amethyst

By Royal Navy Official photographer - this photograph A30156 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/W/index.PHP?curid=1769916

HMS Amethyst was launched in 1943 as a naval ship to be used during WWII. She was used on anti-submarine patrols and to escort other ships for Britain.

In 1945 she attacked and sank a German U-Boat which had just sunk the HMS Vervain.

In 1949 the Amethyst was sailing from Shanghai to Nanking when she was fired on and was trapped in China until July, when she managed to escape under cover of darkness.

Simon was on board during the attack and was badly wounded, but the plucky little cat recovered quickly and returned to duties as soon as he could.