Judy , holder of the Dickin Medal , the dog's VC , and the only dog to be registered as prisoner of war. Her master , Mr Frank Williams , acquired her when she became the mascot of the Medan Japanese POW Camp , where as an LAC , Mr Williams was a prisoner . She was a ship's mascot in Shanghai , was on HMS Grasshopper , when it left Singapore in the crucial days of the war and was blown up . Judy survived and was picked up and interned . She accompanied her master to East Africa when he got a job on the Groundnut Scheme , and flew with him to East Africa in 1948 .