We Remember the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month when World War I came to an end!!This is a day early, but I wanted to give everyone a chance to share their thoughts and to remember and thank all those that have served to give us the freedoms we have today. Thank you all!
Veteran’s Day Tribute to Cher Ami. I usually report about the Rochester Falcons, but today I wanted to talk about and honor another kind of bird on this Veteran’s Day. Against all odds, a very unlikely heroine saved 194 lives on October 3, 1918.
The more than 500 men of the 77th Division of the United States Army were trapped behind enemy lines, surrounded by enemy troops. They were running out of food and ammunition and they were desperate to communicate their location to division headquarters 25 miles away. In those days, they didn’t have cell phones, computers or satellite radios. No Tweets like the Rochester Falcon Watchers use now. In this case, the homing carrier pigeon was their only form of communication.
As the 77th Division came under “friendly fire”, homing pigeons were dispatched. The pigeons carrying the first two messages were shot down. Only one was left, Cher Ami (Dear Friend in French), a Black Check hen (at first believed to be a male). She was dispatched with a note in a canister on her left leg. “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!”
Cher Ami rose from the brush and came under fire by the German soldiers as they spotted her. The American soldiers watching her saw her get shot and fall to the ground. But some how she launched herself skyward and again took flight, and was gone.
She made the 25 mile trip to division headquarters in sixty-five minutes. Despite being shot through the breast, blind in on eye and with a leg hanging only by a tendon, she completed her last mission, delivering the message that would save 194 American lives.
Army medics worked hard to save her life. They did but were unable to save her leg, so a small wooden leg was carved to replace it. When she was well enough to travel, this little one-legged hero was put on a boat to the United States, personally seen off by General John J. Pershing.
After arriving in the United States, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a Palm Oak Leaf Cluster for her heroic service. On June 13, 1919, she died, but was never forgotten.
Today you can still see her at the Smithsonian Institution, where she is on display in the National Museum of American History’s “Price of Freedom” exhibit. If I ever have a chance to go to the Smithsonian, I will definitely visit with Cher Ami and thank her for a job well done!
http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=10
