Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Portsmouth museum displays Gustav's Dickin Medal


The D-Day Story is located in Portsmouth on the south coast of England.  On June 6, 1944 Gustav was released from an Allied ship off the coast of Normandy.  He flew to Thorney Island, near Portsmouth, with the first message from the beaches.  In 1944, Gustav was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medla, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.  Gustav was owned by a Portsmouth man and his Dickin Medal is on loan to
 The D-Day Story. His owner's Identity Card and Pigeon Service Badge are also on display along with a pigeon message container and a bronze model of Gustav that visitors are invited to touch.
Below is a photo taken by Frank A. Blazich, Jr., Curator of Modern Military History at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C., of the plush Gustav available for sale in the museum gift shop.



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