{{Short description|Pigeon receiver of the Dickin Medal}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|right|A photograph of Commando from the Imperial War Museum archives. '''Commando''' was a pigeon used in service with the British armed forces during the Second World War to carry crucial intelligence. The pigeon carried out more than ninety missions during the war, and received the Dickin Medal (the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for three particularly notable missions in 1945. The medal was later sold at an auction for £9,200.
==Early life== Commando, a red chequer bird, was bred in Haywards Heath, Sussex in the United Kingdom by Sid Moon. Moon was a pigeon fancier who had served with the Army Pigeon Service during the First World War. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Moon offered the service of his pigeons to the war effort in 1939.<ref name="bbc1">{{Cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3956171.stm |title=Pigeon's war medal up for auction |access-date=28 December 2008 |publisher=BBC News |date=26 October 2004}}</ref> Commando was one of the pigeons taken into military service.
==Military career== Pigeons were used where radio communications had become highly dangerous.<ref name="telegraph">{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1472165/For-sale-the-VC-won-by-an-unstoppable-pigeon-who-defied-the-Nazis.html |title=For sale, the 'VC' won by an unstoppable pigeon who defied the Nazis |access-date=28 December 2008 |author=Will Bennett |publisher=The Telegraph |date=20 September 2004}}</ref> A small canister was attached to the pigeon's leg, which contained the information that was being sent. Fewer than one in eight of the pigeons were able to conclude their missions successfully. Most fell victim to the marksmen and falconers that German troops used to intercept these birds along the French coast, while others were killed through bad weather, exhaustion, or by wild birds of prey.<ref name="telegraph" />
Serving with the National Pigeon Service (NPS) during the Second World War, Commando had been given the identification code ''N.U.R.P.38.EGU.242''.<ref name="telegraph" /><ref name="pdsa">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pdsa.org.uk/page309_3.html |title=PDSA Dickin Medal: 'the animals' VC', Pigeons — Roll of Honour |access-date=28 December 2008 |publisher=PDSA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922204813/http://www.pdsa.org.uk/page309_3.html |archive-date=September 22, 2008 }}</ref> During his career, Commando made more than ninety trips into and out of German occupied France, carrying confidential messages. Messenger pigeons were carried into the war zones by British paratroopers, and released as needed with messages attached to fly home.<ref name = "Levi">{{cite book |last=Levi |first=Wendell |title= The Pigeon|year= 1977|publisher= Levi Publishing Co, Inc|location= Sumter, S.C.|isbn=0-85390-013-2 }}</ref> He was noted for three particular missions carried out in 1942—one in June, another in August, and the third in September—in which he carried crucial intelligence to Britain from agents in France.<ref name=bbc2>{{Cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4054421.stm |title=Spy pigeon's medal fetches £9,200 |access-date=28 December 2008 |publisher=BBC News |date=30 November 2004}}</ref> This vital information included the location of German troops, industrial sites and injured British soldiers.<ref name="arabbusiness">{{Cite news |url=https://www.arabianbusiness.com/iran-arrests-two-spy-pigeons-near-nuclear-facility-84571.html |title=Iran arrests two spy pigeons near nuclear facility |access-date=28 December 2008 |author= James Exelby |newspaper=Arabian Business |date=21 October 2008}}</ref>
==Recognition== For these three missions that Commando conducted, he received the PDSA Dickin Medal, which is considered to be the animals' medal equivalent to the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for bravery in the UK.<ref name="telegraph" /> He received the award along with Royal Blue, the King's pigeon from the Royal Lofts at Sandringham. They were both presented their awards on 12 April 1945 in London by Rear Admiral R. M. Bellairs.<ref name="spink">{{Cite web|url=http://www.spink.com/resources/press/4020pigeon_pr.asp |title=Pigeon commando flies into Spink (press release for auction) |access-date=28 December 2008 |publisher=Spink |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720153647/http://www.spink.com/resources/press/4020pigeon_pr.asp |archive-date=20 July 2008 }}</ref> The citation for the award that Commando received is as follows.<ref name="pdsa" /><ref name="spink" />
{{blockquote|For successfully delivering messages from Agents in Occupied France on three occasions: twice under exceptionally adverse conditions, while serving with the NPS in 1942.}}
The medal was auctioned by Valerie Theobold, Moon's grand daughter, in 2004. It was bought by a British collector for £9,200.<ref name="bbc2" /> It had been valued in a range between £5,000 to £7,000.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pigeon commando flies into Spink |url=http://www.spink.com/resources/press/4020pigeon_pr.asp |work=Spink |access-date=26 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222200314/http://www.spink.com/resources/press/4020pigeon_pr.asp |archive-date=22 December 2010 }}</ref>
==Post-military life== After the war, Commando enjoyed a somewhat celebrity-like status. He also participated in an exhibition of wartime homing pigeons.<ref name="telegraph"/>
==See also== * List of individual birds
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Dickin Medal}} {{War pigeons}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commando (Pigeon)}} Category:Individual domesticated pigeons Category:Recipients of the Dickin Medal