On the 9th of April, 1940, German forces invaded Norway.
King Harkin VII fled to London with his parliament and several naval and airborne craft complete with crews.
One of the naval vessels was the ex-Wailer Thorad, with a rather unusual crew member on board, named Bamsi.
He was a family pet belonging to the Haftow family in Norway.
Erling Haftow, as captain of the Thorad, was confronted by his crew, threatening all mutiny unless Bamsi came on board with them to serve alongside the UK's war effort, needless to say the crew one.
Bamsi was a fully enlisted member of the Thorad crew.
Bamsi guarded his ship and looked after his shipmates, saving the lives of two of them who had been swept overboard.
He became an Allied forces mascot and a symbol of resistance for the free Norwegian forces.
When the minesweeper Thorad anchored in Montrose Harbour, an automatic alert was sent to the local community in the form of an excitable 11 stone barrel of fur as it bounded from ship towards Tom Frost's Bakery, where there was an established welcome gift of pies.
Bamsi and the Thorad had arrived safely in port, soon there would not be one person in Montrose who was unaware of the fact.
After visiting Frosty's Bakery, Bamsi would sit outside the Caledonian Bar, which was next door, and await his bowl of beer to help wash down those delicious pies.
As the bars closed in the afternoon, many a shipmate would either be ejected or emerge under their own steam into the street, where Bamsi was waiting to escort them back to ship.
Many awayward drunken crew member of the Thorad have felt the large, cold, damp nose of authority up their butts as they were shepherded back to ship by Bamsi.
After a game of catch me if you can with the children, Bamsi would allow them to ride on his back. He would then roll over for some friendly stroked pat and tickle games from his young companions.
Bamsi brought so much joy into the lives of children in Montrose who lived every day under the dark, frightening clouds of war.
When the games were over, the local pubs would be open for business for the second session, when the crew members would arise from their sobering sleep ready to take on their second bout of beer tasting and merriment.
Meanwhile, Bamsi would be sitting in the backyard of Frosty's for his regular pie supper. Any pies not sold by the end of the day were reserved for their special visitor.
It's as though Tom Frost made extra pies when Bamsi was ashore.
Then it would be round to the pub. He knew them all. One time Bamsi went into the public bar and discovered that the family pet cat was curled up just in the spot that Bamsi wanted for himself.
So he went to the bar, raised himself up on his hind legs and gently moved the cat aside to make room for the barman to pass him in the bowl of his usual tipple at beer.
On occasion, the crew of the forehead would go for a drink out of town, so they had a collection between them to buy Bamsi a bus pass which Bamsi wore attached to his collar.
After a few excursions with his shipmates, Bamsi knew well the regular haunts and would get on a bus by himself in order to retrieve his fellow shipmates and see them safely back to Montrose Harbour.
Bamsi would stop the bus with a look and make straight for the upper deck where he would keep a keen eye out for any of his strays.
Whereupon he would give a woof for the bus to stop and let him off. Then it was the cold nose on butt routine all over again.
It wasn't unusual for crew members to find themselves in a fight situation.
Bamsi would stop the aggression by wielding his limestone body mass and his six feet of height he would stop a fight dead in no time at all.
On one occasion in Montrose Harbour a man approached a young ship's officer with a knife.
Bamsi raised himself up to his full height and put his paws on the assailant's shoulders.
This startled the would-be thief, the knife fell to the ground and with little help from Bamsi the thief fell into the harbour.
Sadly life does not go on forever, even for heroes and best friends.
For Bamsi attended peacefully in Montrose on July 22, 1944 when he was seven years old.
Bamsi was buried with military honours, transported to the graveside by six Florida sailors.
The coffin was draped with an Norwegian flag with Bamsi's sailors hat centred upon it.
The schools in Montrose closed on the day of the funeral and 800 children silently lined the way of the procession.
Local dignitaries attended and the crews of six Norwegian ships stood as a guard of honour.
Bamsi was laid to rest in the dunes in Montrose Harbour facing northeast towards Norway.
This is echoed by the statue that now stands in his honour.
Similarly the statue in Norway faces south-west.
Unique gold medal for gallantry awarded by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals to Bamsi is on display at Montrose Museum.
The award, the equivalent of the George Cross, is the only gold medal award ever to have been made retrospectively for service in World War II,
recognising the devotion to duty and life-saving actions of this legendary canine.
The tartan has been named Seedog Bamsi, Pride of Norway.
The design has been registered with the Scottish Tartans Authority, registration number 7858.
The tartans authority states, we hope that Norwegians will adopt and wear the new tartan,
which honours the life of a truly remarkable wartime canine hero whose memory remains bright in Scotland and Norway.
