Middle East Pigeon Service Pigeons

The photos were taken by Leonard Sydney Frank Walter, who served in the MEPS and

were contributed by Jane M. Barrett.

This one is NPS 42 NS 7882

NPS 42 NS21241 

This was entitled two poor youngsters and one good one 

The Pigeons That Went to War, Gordon H. Hayes Collection

The British Army in the Italian Campaign, 1943-1945

Soldiers of the Royal Corps of Signals feeding an ill pigeon with a dose of castor oil at the 8th Army HQ at Vasto, 9 December 1943.

This particular pigeon section was commanded by Sergeant A. B. King (of Wishaw, Lancashire) and his two subordinates - Lance Corporal H. J. Jones (of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) and Signalman J. D. Clough (of St. Helens, Lancashire). Two of them can be seen on the picture.

This section of pigeons saw a lot of action up to the date the photograph was taken. They took part in exchange of information when one of the brigades was cut off from the main body of the British 8th Army two weeks earlier. The pigeons were also used during commando raids on the city of Messina in Sicily.  © IWM (NA 9753)

Gordon H. Hayes Collection

Robin Hutton includes two chapters on the war pigeons in her book War Animals.  In one chapter is a photo of Yank and Lady Astor, two pigeons Gordon Hayes writes about in The Pigeons That Went to War.  I sent Robin a note thanking her for her great chapters and said she might like The Pigeons That Went to War.  After loving the book she did a little digging and found that the Pacific Library in Stockton, California,  holds Hayes’s papers.  Below is the link she sent me for the full citation of the Hayes collection and a list from the citation of the documents in the collection.

Finding aid of the Gordon H. Hayes Collection of Materials on the U.S. Army 209th Signal Pigeon Company

---

Box 1: Materials on World War II

folder 1.1

Articles on Gordon Hayes and audio tape interview, 1990-1999

folder 1.2

Gordon Hayes military papers, 1946-1946

folder 1.3

Book "Pigeons That Went to War" by Gordon Hayes, 1981

folder 1.4

Correspondence on BBC production "Inside Story: Animals at War," 1999

folder 1.5

Signal Pigeon Company rosters, 1944

folder 1.6

Documents on pigeon training, Camp Young California Desert Training

folder 1.7-8

History of the Fourth Pigeon Platoon From the 280th Signal Pigeon Company

folder 1.9

Pigeon training manuals and memoranda, 1944-1945

folder 1.10

Military documents and orders, many regarding the 6681st Signal Pigeon Company, 1942-1945

folder 1.11

Newsletters on pigeon training and the 6681st Signal Pigeon Company, 1942-1945

folder 1.12

Press bulletins, 1943

folder 1.13

Messages carried by pigeons in World War II

folder 1.14

Pigeon certificates of service

folder 1.15

Documents on individual pigeons

folder 1.16

World War II sign: "Registered Homing Pigeon Loft with the U.S. Army; Pigeon Reserve Signal Corps-These Homing Pigeons Protected by Federal Laws"

folder 1.17

Documents of German propaganda

folder 1.18

Stratton Membership card for Pigeon Society of Casablanca, Morocco

Box 2: Memorabilia and Non-World War II Pigeon history

Box 3: Photographs. Over 200 images, including many of pigeon use and training during World War II.

Box 4: Photographs, negatives, and miscellaneous documents on pigeon use and training during World War II.

Middle East Pigeon Service photos contributed by Jane M. Barrett

Jane M. Barrett contributed these photos taken by her father, Leonard Sidney Frank Walter, when he served in the Middle East Pigeon Service. His album is from 1939 when he was called up to the Militia just after his 21st birthday until about 1944. Most of it is from 1942 onwards when he was sent to Egypt first as a lieutenant and then a captain but there is a bit in the central pigeon service in Edinburgh in 1941-2. He served in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq.

This picture below is of a corridor in a loft at Aqir. The pigeon is the first one released from an aircraft around 1942-3.

 

LSF Walter in Egypt 1942

War Pigeons: Italian Alps, January 1945

The British Army in Italy 1945

A Jeep supply train wends its way up a steep road over the Monte Di Rontana with 75mm and 3.7-inch ammunition for 85th Mountain Regiment, Royal Artillery, 2 February 1945. The ammunition was transferred to mules for the final part of the journey. The guns were firing at German positions in Isola.  Photo by Sergeant Menzies, No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit.  © IWM (NA 22042)

This is an excerpt from The Pigeons That Went to War by Gordon H. Hayes.  Hayes is recalling his experiences with the pigeons during the invasion of Italy

 

     “This reminds me of the times when the birds were entrusted with special assignments by the Allied Forces.  What follows is an account of possibly the most difficult of them all:

     It was early January, 1945, in the Italian alps.  The British 8^th Army was caught in the jaws of a blizzard, blustering and brutal.  The troops were in action on a wide front.  But cold was becoming bitter and forbidding.  All means of communication were paralyzed.  Drifts of snow and ice---12 feet deep---rendered movement impossible.  Communication lines lay buried.  It was impossible to find them, let alone repair them.  The chilling weather had affected the radio communication damagingly…so that our radio relays were open to all ears.

     As a last resort, therefore, a special call was made for our pigeons.  But we were hesitant, apprehensive that the stinging cold and the stunning blizzard would freeze our birds to death, or that their legs would be frozen or frost-bitten.  However, we agreed, albeit reluctantly, to brush aside our anxieties and abide by the imperatives of the exigency.  We knew that the maneuvers of the British division would have a significant bearing on the course of the war.  Hence we were duty bound to contribute our share.

     This realization led to the organization of a special task force consisting of Harold Tagert (the Vhip), Ed Bradlo and Roman Bradlo, Rusty Hemsath, and Walt Haid.  The Vhip, our leader, had the combat mobiles pulled to the front.  We had the night as our cover.

     The event, remembered by Rusty Hemsath, reads in retrospect ‘…   the intense cold almost froze us to death, but we made it without any loss of life.’

     After just two days the pigeons were ready for action.  So each battalion of the British brigade was given a flight of pigeons on the fourth day.  The fifth morning of their arrival, i.e. just the second day of their draft, the birds began bringing urgent and secret messages.  Tearing their way through blinding blizzards, their eyes blazing, feathers snow-shrouded, these doughty birds delivered the goods.  And what birds they were!  How would we ever forget them?  We could not then and cannot now.  After almost half a century, their courage must give us pause to wonder if there is an affinity among all living things.  Our birds were fighting, as we were.  They died, as many of my comrades did.  We were called to war and we came as did our valiant feathered friends.  There can be nothing nobler in human existence than to do one’s duty.  Perhaps those pigeons understood that better than we did---or do now.  It might be that the fight for a free world was a concept that they who knew the limitless sky and oceans of unbounded air could imagine.  It may be our mistake to mourn those who were lost---pigeons and men---for they have their honor.  No more beautiful orison could be sung than that they knew their duty and did it.  Amen. “

Photo courtesy of the Hayes family.

You can use the scroll bar at the bottom to scroll left-right and view the larger photo.

Honoring a veteran and a pigeon historian, Frank Quatrochi

Frank Quatrochi served as a pigeoneer during the Korean War.  He donated this sketch of Kaiser, which he acquired while at Fort Monmouth, as well as the photos and documents from his personal collection. You can use the scroll bar at the bottom to scroll left-right and bring the entire photo or doc onto the screen.  To hear an interview with Frank, you can go to soundcloud.com and enter Frank Quatrochi, Korean War pigeoneer in the search box in the center top of the page or use this link https://soundcloud.com/search?q=frank%20quatrocchi%2C%20korean%20war%20pigeoneer

Korea mobile pigeon loft

 

Cpl. Thomas with pigeons

 

Cpl.Quatrochi in his pigeon loft

 

Pigeon Flight Records

Robin Hutton published War Animals in 2018.  She writes, “In 1941, Major Otto Meyer assumed command of the Signal Pigeon Corps.  Meyer ran the worldwide pigeon breeding and training program and supervised the writing of the pigeon bible---Army Technical Manual No.  11-410, The Homing Pigeon, as well as Field Manual 11-80, Pigeons for Combat Use.” 

Below is Cpl. Quatrochi’s letter to Otto Meyer.

Two photos of Tokyo loft

Cpl. Quatrochi next to sign outside of Tokyo loft

 

Cpl. Thomas with pigeon

Korea mobile pigeon loft