Paddy the Pigeon
Paddy the Pigeon
At the harbour you will see a plaque marking the exploits of one of Carnlough's famous inhabitant named 'Paddy' who was a homing pigeon that received the 'Dicken Medal' for Gallantry during World Ward Two, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. Raised in Carnlough, Paddy served at Ballykelly RAF Airfield on air/sea rescue missions, his owner Andrew Hughes JP (Captain) selected him for specialized training as part of a secret operation coded 'U2' and he was transferred with other pigeons to RAF Hurn in Hampshire where he was skilled up for his next mission.
From Hurn, he went to France under the command of the 1st US Army just before the D-Day Normandy landings. He was released in France on June 12th at 8.15 am with coded messages about the Allied advances. He arrived back at his base at Hurn in the record time of four hours and fifty minutes, the fastest for any pigeon during the Normandy landings. Not only was the fast he also had to evade the hawks which were trained to take out pigeons by the German army. For this feat, he awarded the 'Dicken Medal'. After the war, Paddy returned to his owner in Carnlough and lived and flew around there until 1954, when he died aged 11.