Although the US Army began using pigeons as messengers as early as 1878, it was not until World War 1 that pigeons became a regular part of the military establishment. On Armistice day after the first war the Allied Forces had approximately 320,000 pigeons which had been used for communication purposes.
Over 54,000 American homing pigeons served in World War11. 40,000 of these birds were supplied by civilian racing pigeon fanciers. In 5 years of service, literally hundreds of thousands of messages were delivered by these military birds. In 1943 the British established the Dicken Medal to honor war service by pigeons. One American pigeon, the famous G I Joe was awarded this badge of courage.
In Italy the 56th British Infantry Division broke through German lines and overan a town. Allied planes were scheduled to bomb the town, now occupied by the British. GI Joe flew 20 miles in 20 minutes with information of the situation, and the bombers called off just prior to take off.
The Lord Mayor of London, in gratitude for his heroic effort which undoubtedly saved many Englishmens lives; bestowed upon GI joe the Dicken Medal.
The Swiss continue to use these reliable messengers in the mountains where, even with today's technology radios function poorly or not at all.
There are far more stories of these little winged war wonders. A war pigeon from WW 1 called Cheri Ami is mounted in the Smithsonian museum, but that's another story.
