Beloved war dog’s gold medal returns home to be shown in museum

Mon­trose Air Sta­tion Museum has received a spe­cial dona­tion of a rare bravery medal awar­ded to a cour­ageous Second World War dog.

The PDSA Gold Medal – the anim­als’ equi­val­ent of the George Cross – was awar­ded to the fam­ous Nor­we­gian St Bern­ard Bamse, who died at Mon­trose in 1944.

Bamse became a heroic mas­cot of the Free Nor­we­gian Forces dur­ing the war, and a sym­bol of free­dom for the Scand­inavian coun­try. A statue of Bamse was unveiled at Mon­trose har­bour in 2006.

His gold medal will be the star exhibit of the Bamse col­lec­tions and archives to be per­man­ently housed at the museum.

The han­dover was marked in a cere­mony at the museum with par­ti­cipants from Nor­way, the Mon­trose Her­it­age

Trust and the fam­ily of the late John Aitken who all con­trib­uted to the dona­tions.

Dr Andrew Orr, chair­man of Mon­trose Her­it­age Trust, told the audi­ence:

“Twenty years ago in 2006 the Her­it­age Trust was able to cre­ate and unveil the iconic statue of Bamse on the water­front at Mon­trose, now of major inter­na­tional interest.

“In the same year the PDSA recog­nised this won­der­ful dog with the gold medal. Many activ­it­ies and events have fol­lowed, cement­ing the war­time rela­tion­ship between Scot­land and Nor­way. Now it is time to hand over the Bamse leg­acy to a per­man­ent home at the air sta­tion. The gold medal has been in the care of Vig­dis Hafto, the daugh­ter of the ori­ginal owner, in Nor­way, and it is excit­ing that it is being returned to the people of Mon­trose to be the star exhibit of the col­lec­tion.”

Mem­bers of the Hafto fam­ily from Moss in Nor­way, Steinar Hafto Myre, Kirsten Hafto and Silje Myre stepped for­ward to present the gold medal, which was received on behalf of the museum by Major Gen­eral Mar­tin Smith, Deputy Lieu­ten­ant for Angus.

Steinar Hafto Myre said:

“We are pleased to bring the medal back to Scot­land and to see it safely estab­lished in this won­der­ful museum.”

Seonaid Aitken spoke about her father’s con­tri­bu­tion to the Bamse archive which helped to get the project off the ground.

Museum chair­man Stu­art Archibald said:

“We at the air sta­tion are delighted to accept the gold medal, the Her­it­age Trust col­lec­tion and the Aitken Archive. Our long-term exhib­i­tion of the Bamse story has been a very pop­u­lar draw with vis­it­ors, and we will now ensure that Bamse and all he stands for is in safe hands.”

This article appeared in the Courier on 2 July 2026