Crumstone Irma, aka Irma, was an Alsatian

German Shepherd Dog

The German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...

 who assisted in the rescue of 191 people trapped under blitzed

The Blitz

The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...

 buildings while serving with London's Civil Defence Services during the Second World War. During this period she worked with her handler and owner, Mrs Margaret Griffin, and another dog named Psyche. Noted for her ability to tell if buried victims were dead or alive, she was awarded the Dickin Medal

Dickin Medal

The Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue...

 in 1945, and is buried at the PDSA Animal Cemetery, Ilford

Ilford Animal Cemetery

Ilford Animal Cemetery is an animal cemetery in Ilford, London, England, containing over three thousand burials. It was founded in the 1920s and is operated by the PDSA. The cemetery was closed to new burials in the 1960s and gradually became neglected and overgrown. In the early twenty first...

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Rescue career

Irma was initially used as a messenger dog to relay messages when telephone lines were down. She was teamed with another dog from the same kennel, named Crumstone Psyche (commonly referred to as Psyche), and they were both retrained to become search and rescue dogs. The pair of dogs were handled by their owner, Mrs Margaret Griffin, and together the two dogs found 233 people, of which 21 were found alive.

In one incident, Irma refused to give up on the scent of two girls who were trapped under a fallen building for two days.

Irma specialised in being able to bark differently depending on whether the buried victim was dead or alive. This included one occasion when Irma signaled with an "alive" bark and rescuers dug out a victim who was apparently dead. Irma was proved correct, as the man eventually stirred.

Following their work during the Second World War they became demonstration dogs along with Crumstone Storm at the Dog School in Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

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Awards

She was awarded the Dickin Medal on 12 January 1945 with a citation that read "For being responsible for the rescue of persons trapped under blitzed buildings while serving with the Civil Defences of London." Irma, along with Jet was one of two dogs to participate in the London Victory Celebrations of 1946 held in Pall Mall

Pall Mall

-Places:* Pall Mall, urban downtown ares of Bendigo, Australia* Pall Mall, London, a street in the City of Westminster, London* Pall Mall, Tennessee, a small unincorporated community in Fentress County, Tennessee...

, London on 8 June 1946. Both wore their Dickin Medals during the parade.

Irma's owner, Mrs Margaret Griffin, was awarded the British Empire Medal

British Empire Medal

The Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service, usually known as the British Empire Medal , is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown...

for her work in training her dogs and accompanying them on rescue missions.