Paddy (Pigeon number NPS.43.9451) was an Irish carrier pigeon awarded the Dickin Medal after being the fastest pigeon to arrive back in England with news of the success of the D-Day invasion, out of hundreds dispatched. He flew 230 miles (370 km) across the English Channel in four hours and fifty minutes, the fastest recorded crossing, and was awarded the medal on 1 September 1944, just under three months after the crossing. Paddy was trained by Andrew Hughes of Carnlough and is the only animal in Ireland to be awarded this medal.
The medal citation reads,
"For the best recorded time with a message from the Normandy Operations, while serving with the RAF in June, 1944."
His medal was sold at auction for almost £7,000 in September 1999.
In June 2024, a memorial plaque to Paddy in Carnlough, County Antrim, which had become a minor tourist attraction, was destroyed in an act of "senseless vandalism". The Carnlough Community Association Group announced plans to replace the memorial.
See also
References
- PDSA website Archived 2008-09-22 at the Wayback Machine, Dickin Medal awardees, retrieved 2006-02-26
- Times Online, "Top 50 greatest sporting animals", retrieved 2008-04-26
- Observer magazine Dickin medal awardees, retrieved 2006-02-26
- BBC Your Place and Mine, "Paddy Power", retrieved 2008-04-26
- BBC News website, "Northern Ireland Fancier flies away with pigeon medal", retrieved 2006-02-26
- Mitchell, Elaine (10 June 2024). "Destruction of Paddy the pigeon plaque 'senseless'". BBC News. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
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