A Great Dane named Juliana received a medal during World War II for defusing a bomb by urinating on it.
A Great Dane named Juliana is credited with being awarded a medal during World War II after she defused a bomb by urinating on it.
Her far-fetched tale has been shared on social media platforms such as Facebook (archived), Reddit (archived) and X (archived), as well as in an Instagram post (archived) in December 2024 that has amassed more than 190,000 likes as of this writing.
(Instagram user @pastpreserved)
The claim is true — and, in fact, Juliana was honored with a second medal years later.
In response to a Freedom of Information Request, the U.K. Ministry of Defence wrote in an email in January 2025 that the medal “was issued by the Blue Cross charity and not the Ministry of Defence.”
The MOD cited a webpage titled “Hero pets through the ages,” which describes “remarkable animals” that have been awarded the Blue Cross Medal, which “began in 1917 during World War One for people who helped animals and today celebrates heroic pets who are changing or saving lives across the UK.”
Blue Cross is a registered animal welfare charity in the United Kingdom that helps pets and their owners.
Each year since 1940, the charity has honored “outstanding pets,” beginning with La Cloche, a dog who saved a marine from drowning.
Juliana was first honored with the Blue Cross Medal in 1941 before receiving it a second time in 1944, according to the organization’s website, which reads:
This plucky great dane was awarded the Blue Cross Medal not once, but twice. Her first act of heroism was to miraculously extinguish an incendiary bomb that had fallen through the roof of her home during the Blitz.
Three years later, the special dog alerted customers to a fire ripping through her owner’s shop. Her painting, shown here, was discovered during a house clearance at a property in Bristol many years later.
On Jan. 9, 2025, Blue Cross also shared Juliana’s story in an X post.
Juliana made headlines in 2013 when publications including the BBC and The Telegraph reported her heroic story after a medal she was awarded, along with a plaque describing her efforts, was “found in a property clearance in Bristol along with a painting of Great Dane Juliana.”
Auctioneer Philip Taubenheim told the BBC that the medal was found at a property that belonged to a relative of Juliana’s owner. Wotton Auction Rooms listed a watercolor painting of Juliana and her medal online on June 18, 2013. A description of the items read:
A watercolour study of the Great Dane Juliana (awarded a medal for extinguishing an incendiary bomb April 1941, awarded another for warning the occupants of Her Master’s burning shop November 1944, poisoned 11th May 1946) together with a Blue Cross medal dated 1944.
Guinness World Records recognized Juliana as the animal who has received the most Blue Cross Medals. Her remarkable tale is described on the British group’s website:
The most Blue Cross Medals for bravery awarded to a single animal is two, earned by a Great Dane called Juliana (d. 1946), owned by Mr W T Britton (UK). Her first medal was for nullifying an incendiary device, dropped during the Blitz in April 1941, that had crashed into the Brittons’ home by urinating on it; the second medal was for alerting her owners to a fire that had broken out in the family’s shoe shop in November 1944.
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One of Juliana’s medals and a portrait were found during a house clearance in Bristol and sold at auction for £1,100 to an anonymous bidder in 2013.