10/31/2026
As we approach Remembrance Day it is good to remember the sacrifice of all those that served and also that heroes take many forms.
In May 1948, a seventeen-year-old ordinary seaman named George Hickinbottom was walking through the dockyards of Stonecutters Island in Hong Kong when he spotted a malnourished, young black and white cat huddled in the shadows. He tucked the stray under his jacket, smuggled him aboard the British Modified Black Swan-class frigate HMS Amethyst, and hid him in the ship's lower decks.
The crew quickly adopted the friendly stray, naming him Simon. He earned his keep patrolling the lower decks, keeping the ship free of rats, sleeping in sailors' caps, and presenting his daily catches to the officers. Simon became an irreplaceable morale booster for the young crew, curled up in the mess deck and offering quiet comfort thousands of miles from home.
In April 1949, as the Chinese Civil War reached a critical climax, HMS Amethyst was ordered up the Yangtze River on a diplomatic mission to Nanjing to relieve the British Embassy guardship. On April 20, Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) field artillery shore batteries opened fire on the warship without warning. Shells battered the hull, leaving the frigate crippled and grounded under enemy guns on Rose Island.
Nineteen crew members were killed in the initial bombardment, including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner. Dozens were wounded. One shell tore directly through the captain's cabin where Simon was sleeping. The explosion severely wounded the cat, burning his back, singeing off his whiskers, and inflicting severe blast trauma. Medical officers patched Simon up alongside the wounded crew, expecting him to succumb to his injuries overnight.
Simon survived.
Weak and battered, he crawled out of his recovery box days later. The trapped ship was enduring a sweltering 101-day siege in tropical heat, and a severe infestation of aggressive rats threatened the remaining flour and grain rations. In the stifling holds, lost food meant starvation and disease for the surviving men.
Despite his injuries, Simon went straight back to work. He systematically cleared the lower decks of rodents, killing large pests that threatened the stores. Watching the wounded cat doggedly do his job gave the crew a reason to keep moving when morale hit rock bottom. Between hunts, Simon sat on the cots of wounded sailors in the sick bay, providing steady companionship through the darkest hours of the siege.
On July 30, 1949, under the command of Lieutenant Commander John Kerans, HMS Amethyst slipped its anchors under cover of darkness, ran a dangerous 140-mile gauntlet of PLA heavy river batteries, and executed a famous break for open water.
When the ship finally docked, news of Simon’s survival spread globally. He received thousands of letters, a dedicated order of service, and was awarded the Dickin Medal, the highest British honor for military animal service. He remains the only cat in history to earn the award.
Strict British quarantine laws required Simon to spend six months at a kennel in Surrey before entering the country. While in isolation, his weakened body succumbed to a viral infection. He died on November 28, 1949.
Hundreds of people, including officers and crew from HMS Amethyst, attended his burial at the PDSA Animal Cemetery in Ilford, Essex. His gravestone reads: "THROUGHOUT THE YANGTSE INCIDENT HIS BEHAVIOUR WAS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER".
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