Many people refer to pigeons in such a delightful way, I should know, I'm one of them! "Vermin" or "Flying rats" are often used as a precursor to them simply being in the vicinity of many of us, though. In most of the offices or warehouses that I've worked in, at least some part of them has displayed a beautiful black and white carpet of pigeon mess (I’m being PC there)! You walk through an underpass, what do you see? Pigeon hoof. Any multi storey car parks? More hoof. The list could go on. Back in The Great War however, they were also the most successful method of communication.
During WW1, over 100,000 were used and they achieved an incredible 95% success rate in terms of getting to the final destination with the message. Maybe the Royal Mail should bring back their use. Toward the end of the war, an American Battalion found themselves disconnected from their unit and under heavy enemy fire. There was no radio to use and the Allied forces had no idea where they were, so they were at risk of 'friendly fire'. Having already dispatched two birds, only to see them shot down, the men of the lost battalion had one left, a bird named Cher Ami. Its direct translation into English means, ‘Dear Friend’. Good call, whoever came up with that one! The note that was placed into a canister and attached to its leg, it read:
"We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven's sake, stop it!"
They had already lost over 200 men and as Cher Ami went to fly back toward HQ, the Germans spotted it rising and shot it down. Despite this slight inconvenience, the bird took off again and managed to deliver the message. By the time it reached its destination, he had been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, was covered in blood and had one of his legs hanging on by a tendon. Because of this act, 196 men’s lives were saved.
The army medics spent many hours to save the bird's life and, as they couldn't save the injured leg, carved a small wooden one for him. Cher Ami was then sent back to the US and for his actions during the war, received the Croix de Guerre medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster. He died on June 13, 1919 from his wounds and was later inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame (One exists? You learn something new every day).
So the next time you think of a common Pigeon as just a flying rat, think of the thousands of its bretherin who helped to save countless numbers of men during the war...then think of it as a verminous, left over take away food eating, acidic poop leaving, flying rat!
Rob Denholm
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