All Alone (pigeon)

All Alone

Other appellation(s)	NURP.39.SDS.39
Species	Pigeon
Sex	Hen
Born	Staines
Nation from	British
Occupation	War Pigeon
Employer	National Pigeon Service
Notable role	French Resistance
Years active	1943 and circa
Known for	Fast delivery of important message from agent in occupied France
Owner	J. W. Paulger, proprietor of the Blue Anchor Inn
Appearance	Blue
Awards	Dickin Medal 1946 "...for gallantry and devotion"

All Alone (NURP.39.SDS.39) was a war pigeon who was decorated for bravery in service during the Second World War for delivering an important secret message in one day over a distance of 400 miles, while serving with the National Pigeon Service in August, 1943.^[1]

Mission

In the summer of 1943, All Alone, a blue hen, parachuted with a spy into Vienne, France. The agent learned important information about the Milice, a secret paramilitary group to conduct assassinations, round up Jews for deportation, and to attack the French resistance. All Alone carried this information more than four hundred miles, across the English Channel, back to her home in Staines, England in less than twenty-four hours. The speed of her flight and the urgency of its success earned All Alone a Dickin Medal, an award known as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, "...for Gallantry and Devotion to Duty" in 1946.^[2]

References

1. "Dickin medal pigeons". PDSA. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
2. Long, David (2013). Animal Heroes: Inspiring True Stories. Random House. p. 128. ISBN 1448165164. Retrieved 14 July 2013.

External links

• A photo of All Alone with admirers
• PDSA Dickin Medal