'Gander was not far from me on my right,' recalls an 83-year-old veteran, Rifleman Reginald Law, speaking from his home in Campbellton, New Brunswick. 'I was standing, and I saw a grenade rolling down the hill towards us.'

Law is not sure if the grenade was aimed at the Canadian soldiers or their barking dog, but Gander raced forward and stopped the device from rolling down the road towards the troops' trench. 'He was curious. He stopped it with his nose,' Law says. 'I couldn't see if he was trying to pick it up, but then it blew up and killed him, right on the spot. There were 30 to 35 soldiers around. If Gander hadn't stopped the grenade, it would certainly have killed some of us.'

Some say Gander was just a curious canine, but others believe he somehow knew he was sacrificing himself for his comrades. Gander's bravery impressed the Britain-based People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) when the story of his exploits surfaced at a reception at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa in 1999. The next year, the PDSA posthumously awarded the Newfoundland the Dickin Medal for gallantry and devotion to duty - the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

Rifleman Fred Kelly, the dog's handler, who became a rail worker after the war, tearfully received the medal on Gander's behalf, and then presented it to the Canadian War Museum. Sadly, Kelly, who said he still loved the dog, died shortly afterwards.

Phil Doddridge, 81, a Royal Rifles veteran and the national president of the Hong Kong Veterans' Association of Canada, says there had never been a campaign to honour Gander before because the old soldiers didn't realise there were awards for animals.

Gander was the 55th animal to receive the Dickin Medal, named after PDSA founder Maria Dickin. After the second world war, the organisation awarded 54 Dickin medals: to 32 pigeons, 18 dogs, three horses and a cat.

Anthony Burger, the Canadian consul-general in Hong Kong, says he hopes a statue of Gander can be erected near the site of his exploits, and that the monument will be included in a second world war tourist trail, which the government is considering building in order to link the key elements of the Battle of Hong Kong.

'It is a good human-interest story and would attract a lot of people with children to learn the history of the defence of Hong Kong,' he says. 'It could be good for tourism, too.'

Deputy Commissioner for Tourism Duncan Pescod says if there is sufficient public interest in Gander, the government might consider commemorating the action. A statue could be put in the Museum of Coastal Defence in Lei Yue Mun, near where Gander was killed, he says. It is not known how Gander joined the Canadian army. He was believed to have been the family pet of Rod Hayden, from Gander, a garrison town in Newfoundland. Known then as Pal, the huge, dark, shaggy dog was often mistaken for a bear by visitors.

Some say Gander was given to the forces after the family feared he might have to be put down because he accidentally scratched the face of a neighbour's child. Sergeant Robert Clayton, however, says he was a stray. 'I used to see him wandering around our camp,' he says. 'We used to feed him and later took him as our mascot - a good luck symbol.'

The dog, which was big enough to pull local children around on sleds, was named Gander, after the town where the troops were based. According to local historian Tony Banham, the events that led to Gander's death began when Major-General Edward Grasett, the Toronto-born commander of British troops in China, suggested bringing two infantry battalions from Canada to improve Hong Kong's defences. The Canadian government eventually sent two regiments, the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles, the first Canadian troops sent to fight in the war.

On November 16, 1941, 2,000 Canadian soldiers, most of whom were still in their teens, set sail from Vancouver to an unknown destination. Gander went with them. After a 21-day voyage, the brigade arrived in Hong Kong and settled in Shamshuipo Barracks as part of a 14,000-strong defence force comprising British and Indian troops and about 1,300 Hong Kong Chinese volunteers.

On December 8, just after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, Japanese troops invaded the New Territories. A few days later, they proceeded to Kowloon and prepared to cross Victoria Harbour. After an offer of surrender was rejected by Governor Sir Mark Young on December 12, the bombardment of Hong Kong Island began. 'They bombed our shelters day and night,' Clayton remembers. At night, Gander slept by Kelly's bed in Lei Yue Mun Barracks.

After dark on December 18, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong Island and landed at Sai Wan, now Shau Kei Wan. When they had blasted their way through the Indian troops defending the shoreline, C Company of the Royal Rifles was brought up to help.

'We were fighting all night long and Gander was with us,' says Clayton, who was wounded twice in the action. 'He didn't like the Japanese - [He was] barking and running towards them.'

Law adds: 'It was the first time he saw action. He didn't know what was going on and that we were in a war.' At one stage, the big dog bolted for the Japanese troops, who changed their route rather than shoot him. 'Gander kept us alert,' Law says. 'When he saw somebody strange, he barked.'

On Christmas Day, the governor surrendered, and on Boxing Day, the Canadians also laid down their weapons.

Out of the 1,972 Canadian troops who were sent to Hong Kong, 220 were killed in action, and about 300 died in Japanese prison camps. Only 1,400 would return home.

In 2000, many Canadian veterans reunited at the graves of their fallen comrades and dedicated three plaques at the three sites where Canadian soldiers fought major engagements. Unfortunately, those plaques are still awaiting government approval for placement.

Jack Edwards, of the Royal British Legion, says the chances of a dog's memorial would be slim, given the government's low-key approach to war victims since the handover. Nevertheless, Gander's story still resonates.

'I don't know if Gander picked up that grenade knowing it would explode,' says Doddridge. 'He might have thought it was a stick. But the effect was that he did save some lives that night. He is a hero.'