Antis’s Dickin Medal—the Animal Victoria Cross—“For outstanding courage, devotion to duty, and life-saving actions while serving with the Royal Air Force . . .”
On August 15, 1945, Robert Bozdech flew with Antis at his feet in one of a formation of Liberators as he and fellow surviving Czech airmen returned to their homeland. They passed over Germany, and there was no flak being fired at them anymore, nor any danger of being shot down. They received a heroes’ welcome, and Robert set about rebuilding his life in his native land, along with his veteran friend and survivor, Antis, the now-famous dog.
But, sadly, less than three years later Robert would be forced to flee from Czechoslovakia for a second time, in a daring and death-defying escape. The country had fallen under the control of the Soviet Union, and the Communist purges targeted anyone with links to the West—of whom RAF airmen were seen to be among the foremost targets. By then Robert was married, and he and his Czech wife had a baby son, but he knew that if he stayed in the country his life and maybe even theirs were in very real danger.
Under threat of arrest by the dreaded secret police, he was forced to leave without breathing a word to his wife, for fear that she would be punished once his absence was discovered. The one being he refused to leave behind was his veteran war dog. During a knife-edge escape into the territory of the former enemy, Germany, Antis would save the life of Robert and his fellow escapees on more than one occasion, by warning them of approaching Communist patrols, and in one case by attacking and driving off the soldiers.
From Germany, man and dog made their way to the UK, and Robert rejoined the Royal Air Force. A year later Antis was formally recognized as a war hero, when he was awarded the Dickin Medal, more commonly known as the “Animal Victoria Cross.” Field Marshal Wavell read out the citation at a ceremony attended by Antis, Robert, and many friends and fans of the famous flying dog of war: “It gives me great pleasure to make this presentation for outstanding courage, devotion to duty, and life-saving actions on several occasions while serving with the Royal Air Force and French Air Force from 1940 to ’45, both in England and overseas . . .”
In 1951, Robert Bozdech was granted British nationality, and he formally changed his name to Robert V. Bozdech (V for Václav). In August 1953, after being ill for some months, Antis passed away and was buried at the Animal Cemetery in Ilford. The gravestone has a simple inscription: “Antis, D.M., Alsatian, died 11th August 1953, aged 14 years.”
Below are two additions. The first, in English, reads:
There is an old belief
That on some solemn shore,
Beyond the sphere of grief,
Dear friends shall meet once more.
There follows an inscription in Czech, which translates as the simple truth: “Loyal unto death.”
Shortly after Antis’s death Robert Bozdech married Maureen, a British woman, and they settled in the West Country, bringing up a family. Robert continued to serve with the RAF—including a combat deployment to Suez—but he never got another dog. He refused to allow his children to get one either, for he had sworn that after Antis he would never own another.