A to Z Challenge 2024

 

A to Z Challenge 2024

This year my blog posts for the April 2024 Challenge will be about the recipients of the Dickin Medal, which you can read about here. They are in alphabetical, not chronological order, within the different letters.

D

DD.43.T.139

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This pigeon may have had a name, but it is not recorded. He was a Blue Bar cock pigeon who served with the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. Before the mission for which he was awarded the DM, DD.43.T.139 had flown a total of 1,004 miles covering 23 flights. His citation states, ’Awarded to Pigeon DD43 T139 for gallantry carrying a message though a severe tropical storm thereby bringing help to an army boat with a vital cargo, in danger of foundering.’

DD.43.T.139 flew 40 miles in 50 minutes, in atrocious conditions, carrying the message, ‘Engine failed.  Wash on to beach at WADAU owing very heavy seas. Send help immediately. Am rapidly filling with sand.’ Receipt of the message enabled a rescue ship to salvage the stricken vessel and its invaluable cargo of stores and ammunition.

The pigeon had been given to the Australian army in 1943 as the result of campaigning by George Adams. He was not the bird’s breeder, but had sought donations of pigeons from pigeon club members in the Melbourne area. DD.43.T.139 had been bred by Gordon Whittle, whose family had bred racing pigeons for many years. He gave many birds to the war effort.

DD.43.Q.879

This nameless pigeon was a blue-chequered cock bird from the 1^st Australian Pigeon Section. He was bred by A.J. Favell of Victoria and donated to the Australian army. He was then attached to the US Forces at Manus Island, the largest of the 40 or so Admiralty Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua, New Guinea.

While an American Marine patrol was under attack by Japanese troops on Manus Island, three pigeons were launched to take messages to headquarters. Two were shot and killed, but DD.43.Q.879 made it to safety, enabling retaliatory bombing to be concentrated on the enemy so that the patrol could be saved. His 1947 citation read, ‘During an attack by Japanese on a US Marine patrol on Manus Island, pigeons were released to warn headquarters of an impending enemy counter-attack. Two were shot down but DD.43.Q.879 despite heavy fire directed at it reached HQ with the result that enemy concentrations were bombed and the patrol extricated.’

Diesel 2008-2015

Sorry, folks, I mixed up the dates! Not 1998 - 2015, but 2008 - 2015!

Diesel 

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Diesel was a Belgian Malinois and had worked with the French police RAID unit for five years and was due to retire in 2016. She was the first RAID dog to die in action. Police chiefs said that she had ‘almost certainly saved her handler’s life during the raid.’

Diesel was honoured with the DM in December 2105 after her heroism in the 2015 Saint-Denis raid in Paris. On 18^th November, 2015, French police raided an apartment in Northern Paris, its occupants suspected of involvement in the 13^th November Islamist terror attacks, which had killed 130 people and injured another 416. Police and terrorists exchanged fire, the police believed to have fired 5,00 rounds.  When the gunfire from the suspects ceased, Diesel was sent in to clear the rooms. The first room was empty but as she entered the second room, the firing recommenced and she was shot numerous times, dying at the scene.

Tributes to Diesel were widespread, with the hashtags ‘JeSuisDiesel’ and ‘JeSuisChien’ featuring prominently. Her citation stated, ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty while serving with the French police during the November 2015 Paris attack. Diesel, a seven-year-old Belgian shepherd dog, died from multiple gunshot wounds on November 18, 2015, just five days after the attacks. She courageously entered a building to search for attackers, displaying unwavering commitment to her duty.’

Duke of Normandy

On 6^th June, 1944, Duke of Normandy flew for almost 27 hours through driving rain, avoiding bullets and bombs, to deliver information from behind enemy lines in France, after the capture of a gun battery at Merville. He received his Dickin Medal on 8^th January 1947. His citation was, ’For being the first bird to arrive with a message from paratroopers of 21^st Army Group behind enemy lines on D-Day’. The PDSA website states, ‘Duke’s heroics delivered critical intelligence to the Allied Command – and saved many lives. Had the mission failed . . . HMS Arethusa was to launch an artillery attack on the Battery that would undoubtedly have caused significant Allied casualties.’

Dutch Coast

Dutch Coast was a red cock bred by J Flower of Radcliff-on-Trent, who donated him to the armed forces. He travelled on a bomber, his purpose being to relay an S.O.S. message if the aircraft ditched. In 1942, the bomber came down in the North Sea near the Dutch Coast. The airmen released the bird and Dutch Coast flew back to RAF Syerston in Nottinghamshire.

He was awarded his DM in March 1945, the citation reading, ‘For delivering an SOS from a ditched Air Crew close to the enemy coast 288 miles distance in 7½ hours, under unfavourable conditions, while serving with the RAF in April 1942.’