Worried that he would be forced to have Pal put down, the original owner gave the large dog to the Royal Rifles of Canada, a regiment of the Canadian Army stationed at Gander International Airport, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The last time, Gander picked up a thrown Japanese hand grenade and rushed with it toward the enemy, dying in the ensuing explosion, but saving the lives of several wounded Canadian soldiers.
On three documented occasions, Gander, the Newfoundland mascot of The Royal Rifles of Canada, engaged the enemy as his regiment joined The Winnipeg Grenadiers, members of Battalion Headquarters "C" Force and other Commonwealth troops in their courageous defence of the island.
[1]At the insistence of survivors of the battle, his name was listed with those of 1975 men and two women on the Hong Kong Veterans Memorial Wall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
[6][7] The Forgotten Heroes monument at the Cobequid Veterans Memorial Park in Bass River, Nova Scotia, initiated as an elementary school project and designed by 11-year-old Noah Tremblay, commemorates heroic animals.