Paddy (pigeon)

He flew 230 miles (370 km) across the English Channel in four hours and fifty minutes,[2] the fastest recorded crossing, and was awarded the medal on 1 September 1944, just under three months after the crossing.

[3] Paddy was trained by Andrew Hughes of Carnlough and is the only animal in Ireland to be awarded this medal.

[4] The medal citation reads, "For the best recorded time with a message from the Normandy Operations, while serving with the RAF in June, 1944.

[5] In June 2024, a memorial plaque to Paddy in Carnlough, County Antrim, which had become a minor tourist attraction, was destroyed in an act of "senseless vandalism".

The Carnlough Community Association Group announced plans to replace the memorial.