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French army dog ​​posthumously decorated in UK

2021-04-23T04:18:20.559Z


Leuk, a Malinois shepherd in the French army, will be decorated posthumously on Friday 23 April with the highest British honor for animals, announced the animal welfare association PDSA. Nicknamed 'Leuk la chance' or 'Lucky Leuk', the dog who served in the prestigious Kieffer commando of the French navy, was killed in May 2019 by an insurgent in Mali, where “his actions undoubtedly saved the world


Leuk, a Malinois shepherd in the French army, will be decorated posthumously on Friday 23 April with the highest British honor for animals, announced the animal welfare association PDSA. Nicknamed 'Leuk la chance' or 'Lucky Leuk', the dog who served in the prestigious Kieffer commando of the French navy, was killed in May 2019 by an insurgent in Mali, where

“his actions undoubtedly saved the world. life of his unit on multiple occasions ”

, underlined the general manager of the association, Jan McLoughlin. It is the first dog in the French army to be decorated with the Dickin medal, considered to be the equivalent for animals of the Victoria Cross, the supreme military distinction of the British armies and of the countries of the Commonwealth.

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Born in 2013, Leuk joined the K9 division of the Kieffer commando, after two years of training, and began to be used to detect explosives.

He distinguished himself during a mission in April 2019 in Mali, where the French army deploys more than 5,000 men in the anti-jihadist force Barkhane.

In thick vegetation, when all other options were exhausted, Leuk was deployed to flush out two insurgents armed with automatic weapons.

He

"ran through flames and bullets, attacking relentlessly for seven minutes, allowing his team to approach safely and neutralize the threat,"

according to the association's account. He also created a diversion by attacking an insurgent, which resulted in another success.

"He fiercely attacked the enemy who was armed and thanks to that, I can speak to you today"

, declared his master, presented under the name of Forest, in a video published by the association. Leuk died in action the following month, killed by a jihadist. His remains were repatriated covered with the French flag, and greeted by a guard of honor.

To read also: Stephen Smith: "In the Sahel, France must not go astray and make the wrong enemy"

Two years after his death, a memorial honoring dogs killed in combat is to be inaugurated in France.

Created by PDSA founder Maria Dickin in 1943, the Dickin Medal rewards animals that demonstrate outstanding bravery and dedication during military conflict.

Its recipients include a total of 36 dogs, 32 pigeons, four horses and a cat.

Among them is Diesel, a Belgian shepherd female killed a week after the attacks of November 11, 2015 in Paris, during the assault by the police on an apartment where the alleged organizer of the attacks which had killed 130 people was killed.

On Twitter, messages under the hashtag #JeSuisChien had flourished to pay tribute to him.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-04-23

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