When thought of an animal being a hero, thoughts immediately gravitate to dogs, man’s best friend. This unlikely hero was not of the four-legged variety and went far and beyond the call of duty to save the lives of the 194 men trapped behind enemy lines in France on October 3, 1918, who were nearly out of ammunition, were out of food, and were definitely out of hope.
To compound the situation even further, they were mistakenly being shelled by friendly fire who were unaware of their precise location, exacting fatal casualties, and assisting the Germans who surrounded them in further reducing the lives of the beleaguered 550 soldiers.
Major Charles White Whittlesey was well aware that they couldn’t survive for much longer under the continuous artillery barrage of the misguided allied bombing, or the ruthless encroaching enemy. He dispatched runners to get help from nearby allied troops in an effort to save his men, but they were either captured or killed, further squashing any thoughts of rescue that the dwindling survivors harbored.
Desperate, out of options if they were to survive the day, he dispatched homing pigeons with messages attached to their legs. They were targeted and shot down by the enemy. All seemed lost, and the men hunkered down once again to accept their fate.
Major Whittlesey could also see the writing on the wall but for the sake of his men, he couldn’t afford the luxury of giving up, despite how hopeless everything seemed. The survivors, injured, dying, clinging to the last vestiges of hope that they could muster, looked on forlornly as he released the final pigeon, Cher Ami. Attached to his leg was a note with a simple message for their allies. It had their location, requested help immediately, and asked for their own troops to stop dropping artillery shells on them.
Cher Ami took to the skies as if shot from a canon as if understanding the seriousness of his mission, evading a barrage of enemy fire that was brutal in its intensity. Hope flared in the hearts of the allied soldiers as the pigeon flew on, but then one bullet found its target, Cher Ami went down, and they knew they were doomed. Every one of the survivors felt it, knew that it was just a matter of hours before they were all killed by the advancing German army.
Cher Ami wasn’t done just yet.
Wounded, it took again to the skies, amazingly evaded further enemy fire, and took off to get help before it was too late. The injured homing pigeon managed to fly to its loft back at the division headquarters 25 miles away (40km) in just 25 minutes. There the message was received in disbelief, the shelling was discontinued, and help was dispatched immediately.
This herculean feat by Cher Ami, who had been shot in the chest, blinded by shrapnel in one eye, and who had one leg barely hanging on by a thread, was a miraculous accomplishment by any standards. There can be no doubt that it saved the lives of the remaining 194 soldiers who would otherwise have died in the last bloody weeks of the war.
Cher Ami was awarded the medal Croix de Guerre for his actions, but the heroic pigeon died a year later owing to complications from his injuries, but would forever be remembered as the hero of the 77th Infantry Division.
