I recently told you the story of Cat Island (Cat Island), where the Americans trained dogs to invade Japan, today we talk about those who participated in the Normandy landings... the parachuting dogs (parachuting dogs or paradogs ) . From the beginning of 1943 the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill , and the US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt , met to plan the invasion of the continent then occupied by the Germans. But it was not until June 6, 1944 when the appropriate circumstances arose, the landing in Normandy marked the beginning of the liberation of occupied Western Europe. One of the British regiments to take part was the 13th Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces (Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces), to which three dogs were assigned:Bing , Monty and Ranee .
At the Larkhill Garrison base, the dogs received the necessary training to locate mines and explosives, carry out surveillance tasks and act as messengers, they became familiar with the war scenarios so that they would not be frightened in the midst of firefights or bombing... and training specifically for jumping out of planes. In the first part of this training, the dogs sat inside the cabin for hours to get used to the noise of the engines; in the second phase, the most complicated, the paradogs they had to lose their fear of jumping from the plane . To do this, before the jump they were left without food and the instructors boarded the plane with a good piece of meat. When they reached the appointed height, the instructors jumped showing them the juicy steak... the dogs were hungry after they jumped after the meat. When they reached land, they received the precious booty. Jump by jump, they lost their fear and even seemed to be having fun. After two months, they were ready for D-Day.
On June 6, 1944, three aircraft of the 13th Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces they took off from their bases with 20 paratroopers and a dog each. Although none of the three aircraft was hit by German anti-aircraft defenses, the planes were severely shaken by nearby explosions. Monty and Ranee kept the type but Bing he became very nervous, began to bark and hid in fear under a seat. The jump would be even worse... for the three dogs:Bing's parachute got caught in a tree and he was injured before he could be rescued by paratroopers, Monty was seriously injured and Ranee disappeared.
Despite being injured, Bing managed to do his job detecting mines and even saving his teammates from an ambush on a second jump during Operation Varsity in March 1945. He was awarded the Dickin Medal , the decoration that the British government awards to animals for their actions during war conflicts. After his death in 1955, he was buried in London and a statue of him can be visited at the Museum of the Parachute and Airborne Regiment. 
Bing the day he was decorated with his owner Betty Fetch