The Lamar register., 1920-05-26
BIRDS WON HONOR
Pigeons Certainly Ibid Their
Bit" in the Great War.
Achievements Acknowledged to Be
Worthy of Mention In Records
Thousands of Lives Saved by
Messages They Carried.

Membership in the A. p. S. Is a
military honor no mere man may
achieve.
The A. p. s. stands for the American
pigeon service Of the United States
army
When the history of the greatest of
all wars is written, these, American
birds Will have their names in the
annals.
II win he told how the Huns were
organized into shotgun sounds to kill
the winged messengers. but how 9S
per cent of them outdistanced the bull
lets and "homed" with messages that
enabled American artillery to locate
and silence the enemy guns, to destroy
trains Of the foes ammunition and to
save thousands Of American lives by
re-enforcements and timely rescues.
"Hehvier-thnn-airn planes were not
the only ones who sailed above the
enemy's heads The army signal corps
had 10000 pigeons overseas and 10000
in America To he sent n they were
needed. Birds carried 4O3 messages
Of incalculnble Importance. and at
times when all other means of com
munlcation were unavailable.
'The Mocker," with his eye destroyed
by piece OF shrnpnel and his head
welter Of clotted blood. homed In
splendid time on the morning Of Sep
tember 70, few minutes after 7
O'Clock in n thick fog and heavy rain.
Never falterlng. he bore tldings Of
reached and gave the location OF sew
eral OF the enemy's heavy batteries
which were doing terrible execution on
the advancing American troops.
With the information American ar
tillerymen were able 10 silence the
enemy's guns within 20 minutes. The
Mocker's wounds were dressed. he re-
covered and Is now in the loft in Po-
tomac park.
No less valiant is the record OF
"President Wilson" huge blue bird
of wonderful vitality and rapidity Of
flight. So gallant was his worl, dur
Ing the operations Of the tanks on the
st AIihiel front that he received the
commendation Of the signal officer Of
the first corps lie wns then trans
ferred to the Meuse-Argonne sector.
On the morning Of November :.
through heavy rain and fog. and with
leg shot on the big blue arrived Mt
his loft with an important message.
This was his second flight on this
front and he made over 20 kilometers
Q2ik miles) In p minutes. "President
Wilson" MISC recovered and IS now
IN the Hail Of Honor Of the American
pigeon service.
Perhaps the most heroic bird TINT
died on the American front was "Cher
Amt" lie carried d tremendously im-
portunt message from Grand Pre-. on
the Argonne. over - miles OF hills and
dnles, TO his loft IN Rampont.
He shot mp from behind the Amcrl-
can hrenstworks Ike u rocket His
pigeoneer saw him falter md nutter
in the air moment recover. poise In
mid-nir for second and then like
flash Of light shoot away with his
head pointing homeward
At Rampout straight out Of the sky
like a plummet he dropped, striking
his loft breast first. Sergt Kocller
his trainer, found The message tube
wns hanging from the llgumonts Of his
leg and he had hnlc ln his breast
"Chor Ami" died from hls wounds md
his body Is mounted IN the Smithsonian
institute.
Perhaps the busiest bird on the
American front was spike" Spike"
is the color Of the sky aics like
grensed lightning and eluded the Boche
bullets. He delivered 20 Important
messages. never made a mistuke and
didn't get scratch He too. Is back
In Washington.
No. 6T552 has no name yet. As far
as is known. he was the only German
bird captured alive. Tie was taken by
the Americans In the ST. Mlhiel drive
and Is now nssuciotine with the Amer
lean pigeons In Potomac park
Insult to Royalty.
The Ideas Of the world change +;
what Is unwelcome today becomes well