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December 16, 2005

Strange But True!

Q. Cher Ami was awarded the French "Croix de Guerre" with Palm for heroic service during World War I. Mortally wounded on his last mission, he still managed to return, helping save 194 of the battalion. There is this curiosity: Where did he get such a superior sense of direction?

A. It was a natural because Cher Ami was a registered Black Check Cock carrier pigeon of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, says the Smithsonian Institution Web site. He delivered 12 important messages at Verdun, France. On his last mission, he got back, a message found dangling from a shattered leg, from Major Whittlesey's "Lost Battalion."


 
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