Pigeon's medal for war bravery unveiled at museum

A medal awarded to a homing pigeon who helped the Dutch resistance during World War Two has been unveiled at a museum.

Tommy, a pigeon from Dalton-in-Furness in Cumbria, was given the Dickin Medal in 1946 after he carried a message home from the resistance that led to a raid on an enemy facility.

The medal was bought by the Dock Museum in Barrow-in-Furness for £30,000 at an auction earlier this year.

Louise Burrow, the granddaughter of the bird's owner, said she was "thrilled" that the medal had "come back home to roost" during an unveiling ceremony.

Tommy belonged to William Brockbank who lived in Dalton and worked at the shipyard in Barrow.

Speaking to BBC Radio Cumbria, Mr Brockbank's grandson Richard Higgin said: "I'm absolutely over the moon.

"It's so great that local people will be able to see the medal first hand."

The Dickin Medal is the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

Tommy was blown off course during a race in Dorset in 1942 and ended up in the Netherlands.

A resistance member, who identified the bird as British from its leg ring, tied a message about an arms factory near Amsterdam on his leg and sent him home.

Tommy was shot and wounded by German soldiers, but survived the 400-mile (644km) flight back to England and the message resulted in the destruction of the arms site during an Allied air raid.

Collections and exhibitions manager at the museum, Charlotte Hawley, said there were plans to create an animated film about the bird's life, as wells as workshops for schools and local community groups.

"The sky's the limit, so to speak," she said.

There are also plans to hang hundreds of woollen poppies on railings around the museum in honour of Tommy on VE Day later this year.

Organiser Deirdre Kerr, from Dalton, said she remembered her mother telling her Tommy's story when she was a child.

"I thought it was a fairy story and it wasn't until I was an adult that I realised it was true," Ms Kerr said.

"I'm so pleased the medal has come home."

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