From Hurn, he went to France under the command of the 1st US Army just before the D-Day Normandy landings. He was released in France on June 12th at 8.15 am with coded messages about the Allied advances. He arrived back at his base at Hurn in the record time of four hours and fifty minutes, the fastest for any pigeon during the Normandy landings. Not only was he fast he had to evade the hawks which were trained to take out pigeons by the German army. For this feat, he was awarded the 'Dicken Medal'. After the war, Paddy returned to his owner in Carnlough and lived and flew around there until 1954, when he died aged 11.