Cher Ami Cher Ami ( French for " dear friend " , in the masculine ) was a homing pigeon which had been donated by the pigeon fanciers of Britain for use by the U . S . Army Signal Corps in France during World War I and had been trained by American pigeoneers . She helped save the Lost Battalion of the 77th Division in the battle of the Argonne , October 1918 . World War I service . On October 3 , 1918 , Charles Whittlesey and more than 500 men were trapped in a small depression on the side of the hill behind enemy lines without food or ammunition . They were also beginning to receive friendly fire from allied troops who did not know their location . Surrounded by the Germans , many were killed and wounded in the first day and by the second day , just more than 194 men were still alive . Whittlesey dispatched messages by pigeon . The pigeon carrying the first message ( " Many wounded . We cannot evacuate . " ) was shot down . A second bird was sent with the message , " Men are suffering . Can support be sent ? " That pigeon also was shot down . Only one homing pigeon was left : " Cher Ami " . She was dispatched with a note in a canister on her left leg , As Cher Ami tried to fly back home , the Germans saw her rising out of the brush and opened fire . For several moments , Cher Ami flew with bullets zipping through the air all around her . Cher Ami was eventually shot down but managed to take flight again . She arrived back at her loft at division headquarters 25 miles to the rear in just 65 minutes , helping to save the lives of the 194 survivors . In this last mission , Cher Ami delivered the message despite having been shot through the breast , blinded in one eye , covered in blood and with a leg hanging only by a tendon . Cher Ami became the hero of the 77th Infantry Division . Army medics worked long and hard to save her life . They were unable to save her leg , so they carved a small wooden one for her . When she recovered enough to travel , the now one - legged bird was put on a boat to the United States , with General John J . Pershing personally seeing Cher Ami off as she departed France . Awards . Upon return to the United States , Cher Ami became the mascot of the Department of Service . The pigeon was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for her heroic service in delivering 12 important messages in Verdun . She died at Fort Monmouth , New Jersey , on June 13 , 1919 from the wounds she received in battle and was later inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931 . She also received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Racing Pigeon Fanciers in recognition of her extraordinary service during World War I . Remembered . To American school children of the 1920s and 1930s , Cher Ami was as well known as any human World War I heroes . Cher Ami ' s body was later mounted by a taxidermist and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution . It is currently on display with that of Sergeant Stubby in the National Museum of American History ' s " Price of Freedom " exhibit . Gender and color . Originally registered as a Black Check cock , Cher Ami was a Blue check , and she was discovered after death upon taxidermy procedure to be a hen . She is still erroneously represented as a cock bird at the National Museum of American History and by many other educational and military history information sources .