b. ? Poynton, Cheshire d. ? Cirencester, Wiltshire.
DATE OF DM ACTION: 10/1940.
Kenley Lass DM
Kenley Lass was bred in Poynton, Cheshire by W.H. Torkington, and was a dark-chequered hen given the code NURP.36.JH.190. She became the thirteenth recipient of the Dickin Medal. She was the first pigeon selected to accompany an agent into enemy-occupied France in October 1940 to see if such a bird could reach home in Britain with secret messages. The MI6 agent, codename Philippe, was dropped by parachute with instructions to cover a distance of 9 miles on foot, avoid detection and gather intelligence before using Kenley Lass to send it back to Britain.
Eleven days later, at 08.20hrs, Philippe released Kenley Lass and she arrived in Shropshire at 3pm the same day after travelling over 300 miles. Following her success more pigeons were trained and selected for this type of wartime work. On 16th February 1941, Kenley Lass was used again for a secret mission in France. She survived the war and was sold for £3 to Mr Don Cole from Cirencester, Wiltshire. Sadly, he was illiterate so kept no records about his pigeons in retirement, so no details are known of her later life.
DM CITATION:
For being the first pigeon to be used with success for secret communications from an agent in enemy-occupied France while serving with the NPS in October 1940.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.