A campaign is taking flight to keep the only medal for bravery awarded to an Irish animal in Ireland. Paddy the pigeon received the Dickin medal during the second World War for being the first pigeon to reach Britain with news of the D-Day landings. His medal - the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross - will be auctioned on Saturday at Whyte's auctioneers in Dublin, and there are fears that the medal may go to a foreign collector.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence in London confirmed that 53 Dickin medals have been presented since the award's inauguration in 1914. One has been awarded to an Irish animal.
Mr Ian Whyte, director of Whyte's Auctioneers, said the Dickin medals are rarer than Victoria Crosses. "And this one is unique in Ireland," he said.
Paddy was bred by Mr Andrew Huges, of Carnlough, Co Antrim, before beginning his military career with a Northern Ireland RAF air-sea rescue team in May 1943. In May 1944 the winged hero was transferred to an RAF station in England.
His finest hour came a month later. At a time when the British could not use radio communication for fear of interception by the Germans, Paddy (registration number 100093) brought news of a successful Normandy landing from France to England.
The citation with the medal reads: "Of the several hundreds of pigeons, both service and civilian, used in the Normandy invasion, Paddy accomplished the fastest recorded time with a message of four hours and 50 minutes." Others to have received the medal, which was instituted during the first World War, include 18 dogs, four horses and one cat called Simon. Simon served as chief rat-catcher on the HMS Amethyst off China in 1949. Despite being shot several times by Communist forces he was bandaged up and continued his duties. The medal, which he was awarded posthumously in 1950, realised £23,000 sterling at an auction in 1993.
Paddy's medal, which is being sold by a Belfast collector who bought it from Mr Hughes, is being quoted at between £7,000 and £8,000.
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