War Pigeons... Messengers Before the Radio

War Pigeons... When most people hear this they laugh. But, pigeons were used in war times to deliver messages to and from the front lines. I did some digging and found some more information on this. Most of these war pigeons were from one of two breeds, (Homing & Racing). Another term used for war pigeons, it was messenger pigeons. The history of using messenger pigeons goes all the way back to 6th century with the Persian king Cyrus the Great. He used them to carry messages from across his massive empire. There are stories about Julius Caesar using them to deliver messages to use troops in Gaul (France). War pigeons were used up until WWII. But, some of the most famous war pigeons happened during WWI. One was Cher Ami. She served with the American army during WWI. She served in the war from 1914 to 1918CE. Another pigeon was John Silver, who served with the American military during WWI. He got the name from surviving a canon blast. His care takers carved a wooden leg and an eye patch for the bird. They nicked named him Long John Silver after the pirate. War pigeons became obsolete due to the radio. Most of the world stopped using pigeons by the 1950s. I found a few pictures online for John Silver, Cher Ami and an unknown pigeon wearing a camera during WWI.