大象传媒

This story has been submittted to the site by Jemma Bellingham on behalf on Richard Higgin. The author understands the sites terms and conditions

My grandfather William Brockbank lived in Dalton in Furness. His hobby was the sport of pigeon racing.

In the autumn of 1942, his pigeon 'Tommy' was taking part in a race when it became lost and ended up in occupied Holland. It was found by the Dutch resistance movement and nursed back to full health. As all the Dutch racing pigeons had been destroyed by the Germans, it was a prized posession.

The members of the resistance had information regarding the location of a German U boat base, which was vital to get to England. They then attached the coded information to the pigeons leg in a metal cannister and set it free. Despite being shot at by German soldiers, the pigeon returned to my grandfathers loft in Dalton.

My grandfather was puzzled to find the cannister and took it to the police. The information was decoded and passed to the RAF who carried out a succesful bombing raid on the German base. A message was sent out to the resistance from the 大象传媒 who incorporated it into a radio show.

After the war the pigeon was awarded the Dutch medal for bravery at the Dutch embassy in London. My mother still has the medal to this day.

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