DICKIN MEDAL 80TH ANNIVERSARY

 

A pigeon that flew the first message back on D-Day has been remembered 80 years after service animals were first officially honoured in Britain.

Gustav, from Portsmouth, flew over 150 miles (240km) in five hours and 16 minutes from the shores of Normandy to his wartime base on Thorney Island.

He received the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, the Dickin Medal.

It was first given on 2 December 1943 by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) founder Maria Dickin.

Each medallion bears the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath.

In 1938, Mr Jackson and many other pigeon owners across the country formed the National Pigeon Service (NPS), a volunteer civilian organisation which provided messenger birds for the war.

His granddaughter Carolyn Mason, from Portsmouth, said her grandfather was given pigeons for company after he was widowed at 39 years old.

She said "his life was his pigeons" and he would have been so proud that Gustav and his medal were still remembered.

 

Andrew Whitmarsh, curator at the D-Day Story museum in Southsea, said: "There was radio silence for security reasons, so Gustav's message was the first news of D-Day that arrived back in the UK.

Gustav was awarded his medal by Mrs A. V. Alexander, wife of the First Lord of the Admiralty and Wing Commander Rayner, in a ceremony in November 1944.

"We're proud and very honoured to present this and to remember all of the animals that served over the last 80 years."

To read the complete article, see:
Heroic D-Day pigeon from Portsmouth remembered on Dickin Medal 80th anniversary (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-67371619)

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