Thanks to Life Style Extra for this news on a brave girl!
Hero Dog Sadie Wins Medal For Saving Soldiers
A brave dog of war with a nose for trouble was awarded the animal Victoria Cross today after saving the lives of hundreds of soldiers in Afghanistan.
Sadie, a nine-year-old black Labrador, took the prestigious accolade, the PDSA Dickin Medal – the equivalent of the VC – after uncovering a deadly booby trap in a Kabul UN compound in 2005.
The ice cool canine sniffed out the lethal device which had been hidden in a pressure cooker behind a two foot thick concrete blast wall within the compound.
The highly charged device was packed full of high explosives. The remarkable discovery came only minutes after suicide bombers had driven a bus into a German army convoy, killing one soldier.
The bombers had planted a secondary device with the intention of massacring scores of soldiers and civilians – but Sadie thwarted the plot by discovering the bomb.
Sadie – a war veteran who has also served in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo – is only the 61st dog to be presented with the Dickin Medal since 1943.
She was accompanied at the ceremony by her handler Lance Corporal Karen Yardley, who she has been paired with for over two years and two tours of duty in the war-torn state.
Lance Corporal Yardley, 27, spoke in tribute of the dog with whom she now has a strong bond. Sadie is due to retire later this year.
She said: “We were in Kabul clearing up following a suicide bombing. We were under orders to search the surrounding area as it is often a trick of the insurgents to plant secondary devices in the vicinity that would be detonated by troops following up from the first incident.
“Had Sadie not found the secondary bomb, scores of lives would have been lost. She discovered it in a pressure cooker packed with TNT, which would have exploded, killing and injuring both through the blast and through fragments.
“When we arrived on the scene, Sadie quickly searched the area and I noticed a sudden change of attitude. Her tail suddenly became rigid and I knew there was something there. I immediately evacuated the area and that was when the bomb disposal experts went in.
“This is the sort of job that would take a patrol of soldiers several hours to do, but Sadie was able to do it in a matter of minutes.
“There is a lot of pressure on her and me as everybody’s life depends on you and the dog is very much working on the frontline. She is a friendly, intelligent and enthusiastic dog and does not seem to be fazed by anything. She truly deserves this honour.”
