Cat honored by British Navy

Royal Navy officers are paying tribute to Simon the cat, a rat-catcher on the HMS Amethyst who continued his duties despite being hit by shrapnel and singed during shelling raids by Chinese communists on the Yangtze River in 1949. Simon stuck to his task despite injury during the 101-day summer siege that followed. The communists withheld supplies for over three months while they used the ship as a political bargaining chip. But the black and white cat kept up morale and crew credited him with saving their lives by protecting dwindling food stores from a rat infestation.