however- there was a cat called Jim awarded the Blue Cross medal in 1942 if we are sticking to WW2.....
During 1942 in Malden, Essex, south-east England, an area subject to heavy bombing, a 19-year-old cat called Jim saved his owners when their house caught fire. He ran upstairs and woke them in time for them to be able to get up and get the fire under control. Jim was awarded the Blue Cross Medal which was instituted for animals that had helped to save human lives and was only sparingly given.
This comes from
http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/featuring/war01.h tml