A MEDAL awarded to a hero pigeon in World War Two is set to sell for £10,000 at auction.
Tommy was supposed to be racing from Dorset to Cumbria in 1942 when a storm blew him into Nazi-occupied Holland.
A hero World War Two pigeon’s bravery medal set to sell for £10,000 at auction[/caption]
A postman found him exhausted and gave him to pigeon fancier and Resistance member Dick Dryver.
He identified Tommy as British from a leg ring, nursed him to fitnesses and released him with a secret message.
The Germans had become aware pigeons were being used this way, and Tommy was shot through the wing by a sniper.
But he still completed the 400-mile flight back to Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria — six weeks after he started the race in Christchurch.
Owner William Brockbank spotted the words: “God bless Queen Wilhelmina and long live Winston Churchill.”
Thinking there might be more to it, he gave it to police who passed it to intelligence services.
They found information that led to the RAF bombing a German weapons site.
Tommy was presented the PDSA Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, at the Dutch embassy in 1946 and became a local celeb.
The medal will be sold in Carlisle on Friday.
Auctioneer Paul Laidlaw said: “Tommy has a great story.”
