Wartime winged messenger to be remembered

THE exploits of Carnlough's most famous pigeon - Paddy, a WWII messenger pigeon decorated with the PDSA Dickin Medal - are to be remembered with a feathered fly-past this week to commemorate the bird's heroism on D-Day.

By The Newsroom

Published 23rd Sep 2010, 16:10 BST

Updated 23rd Sep 2010, 16:17 BST

PDSA, Britain's leading veterinary charity, awarded the medal - the animal's equivalent to the Victoria Cross - to Paddy on September 1, 1945 in recognition of his outstanding devotion to duty whilst serving with the RAF during the Normandy Operations in June 1944.

Paddy was the first bird to reach England with a coded message from the beaches. He not only delivered invaluable news of the Allied position, but he did so in record time, covering 230 miles in 50 minutes – the fastest time of any of the winged messengers deployed during the mission.

"Paddy's contribution to the D-Day operations was a credit to the thousands of messenger pigeons donated by the racing pigeon fraternity for service during World War Two," said PDSA spokesman, James Puxty.

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