Unlikely Hero

[Bear]

Hello,

This little guy was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his service during World War I.

http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/cherami.htm

Purple Heart

http://www.monmouth.army.mil/museum/pigeons.shtml

thanks,

barry

[Tiger-pie]

Thats a brave birdie...

There is a movie that mentions this pigeon, called "The Lost Battalion", and it shows the effort taken in trying to kill a messenger pigeon, much like the scene in Saving Private Ryan when the Germans keep machine-gunning the corpse of the runner to make sure he is dead. It is a good honest portrayal of events without too much over the top Hollywood bosh, Australian Russle Mulcahy directed it, and Ricky Schroeder plays the main character. Gets Johnsy's wet afternoon good watch thumbs up.

See this link on the subject.

http://www.pigeoncenter.org/militarypigeons.html

"One of the most famous WWI pigeon stories to be told is that of the ?lost battalion? in France that was saved by a pigeon named Cher Ami. This 600 man battalion was being shelled and wounded by friendly fire because they advanced too far into enemy territory. Their only hope of communication was by bird and Cher Ami gave it his all. The German soldiers saw the bird take flight and began firing upon the bird wounding it but not enough to take away its will to fly the 25 miles back to the command post. It arrived with one eye shot out, a bullet in its breast and most of the leg missing that had the message capsule still attached ? hanging on only by a tendon. The message stopped the shelling and the battalion was later saved. After healing, Cher Ami went on to receive an honorary service cross and taken back to America and lived until 1919. Later he was mounted and then placed on display in the Smithsonian Institute."

Edited August 22, 2007 by Tiger-pie

[Kev in Deva]

A Picture I took of the sign fixed to the wall at Fort du Vax in 1998.

Kevin in Deva

[Ed_Haynes]

Long years ago, in a universe far, far away, when I was working as a summer research intern at the Smithsonian, I came in one morning to find a tattered moth-eaten stuffed bird sitting on my desk. When I asked, I was told that this was Cherami, about whom I knew. Wow.

I was told to wait around and not go on over to Archives as was my usual ritual. A kid in a wheelchair and his Congressional representative came in, as the boy had written a school essay on Cherami and the congressman had arranged to show the bird to him (and have a useful photo opportunity). The boy looked at the bird, grimaced, shrugged, and asked his parents "Can we go to the zoo and see the pandas now." All of 8 minutes of Cherami and politics.

[Kev in Deva]

Kids

Kevin in Deva