Armistice Day: Remembering the heroic role pigeons played in the war

The poignant moment perhaps served as a reminder that during both World Wars, many animals served and died in the line of duty. 

Pigeons were used in World Wars I and II as military messengers because of their unique ability to return to their home loft.

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A common misconception, perhaps born out of their commonality, is that the birds aren't intelligent - but the truth is quite the opposite.

Experiments in comparative psychology have shown that pigeons are one of the few animals to be self-aware, have skills of pattern recognition, problem solving and learn from their mistakes.

They can remember a large number of images and can even categorize complex artworks and identify cancerous tissue in medical images.

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In WW1, 100,000 pigeons served and were used by the British, French, American, and German military.

During World War II, the UK used 250,000 pigeons while the United States used around 55,000.

Known as carrier, messenger and homing pigeons, the birds were picked because of their ability to send short messages on land, in the air and at sea.

At times, they were the only reliable way of getting vital messages through and saved lives when men were stranded at sea. 

Tommy the pigeon who received the animal version of The Victoria CrossHere in Cumbria, one pigeon was awarded the Dickin medal - the animal version of the Victoria Cross for his efforts in World War Two.

Like a lot of heroes' journeys, Tommy the pigeon began his call to action unknowingly when he was entered into a race by William Brockbank who lived at Queen Street in Dalton.

The distance was from Christchurch on the south coast, however, a freak storm blew him off course and he landed exhausted in the occupied Netherlands.

The country had been cleansed of its racing pigeon stock by the Gestapo for their renowned capabilities as messengers.

Tommy was found by a resistance sympathiser and knew from the bird's leg ring that he was English.

Mr Brockbank (left) and Tommy (far left) at the ceremony in 1946 where the pigeon was presented with the Dickin medalHe nursed the bird back to health before letting him fly with a tiny aluminium canister attached to his leg which contained information about a munitions build-up at a factory near Amsterdam.

A German lookout saw Tommy in flight and opened fire. Tommy was hit in the wing but still managed to reach Dalton on August 19, 1942.

Mr Brockbank handed the message to the police and the factory was successfully destroyed by the allies.

The Air Ministry awarded Tommy the Dickin medal and he was 'decorated' in 1946 at a ceremony in London.

Let us not forget the heroic role these often misunderstood birds played in the wars due to their intelligence, reliability, speed and versatility.