May seem laughable now but when you read about the role that was carried out by the Special Section Army Pigeon Service you enter a different world
Medals were awarded to animals during the war (The Dickens Medal) and the most were won by pigeons.
Here are some examples......
For outstanding endurance on War Service in spite of wounds.” Mary survived an attack by a German-kept hawk in France, returning with wounds to her neck and breast, and on another occasion returned with a wing tip shot off. In her final trip she sustained neck muscle damage due to shrapnel; her owner made her a leather collar to hold her head up and immediately retired her
Mercury
“For carrying out a special task involving a flight of 480 miles from Northern Denmark while serving with the Special Section Army Pigeon Service in July 1942
I watched a TV documentary about them perhaps two years ago, and how people still rely on messenger pigeons for mail or medication delivery in rugged or rural areas. The interesting bit was how fast they could deliver something versus using a car.
It's really touching to see animals recognized in this way. Even a pigeon, which was probably terrified and terrorised by the enemy feathered "fighters".
Just to digress slightly, I think we've all been moved by the story of Theo, a springer spaniel who has been posthumously awarded the Dickens Medal. His handler, Lance Corporal Liam Tasker, would have been proud.
Now I know this is going to sound like I made this up but I assure you I haven't
A pigeon has been found in a chimney with a top secret code message still strapped to it's leg 70 years or so after the war ended. Code breakers at the British GCHQ headquarters are busy trying to break the code.
My first attempt at contact here this morning was blocked - I was told I needed to install a Plugin.
I refused.
There-after I was told
Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required './initdata.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php53/pear') in /home/ccleaner/public_html/index.php on line 23
Is there any chance that Piriform could supply me with a pigeon in preparation for the next forum website outage
Using StartPage to search for "Piriform Form" I found the very first result was
Yeah, it was doing that all yesterday (and making my AV/Firewall/Intrusion-Protection freak out about this site using injection. I think Admin was working on the site but unsure.
i know it's off topic but i'm guessing that doesn't apply so much in The Lounge.
But Hazel, from the first time you posted this thread, all the topic has brought to memory for me is the pigeon pie i had at The Ritz, London (are there any others ?) for my 20th wedding anniversary.