The Human Relationship with Pigeons: Forgotten War Heroes

Within the Bureau of Animal Industry’s collection of photographs, tucked between pictures of livestock and agricultural activities, are glass plate negatives of a kit of famous World War I Veterans, each captioned with a summary of their prestigious service record. These particular war heroes were of the feathered variety and had no ability to understand their own sacrifices … messenger pigeons, Columba livia domestica, who risked, and often lost, life and limb carrying messages through the front lines.

Humans have domesticated and used the homing pigeon to send messages for millennia, including ancient Egypt, ancient Roman armies, and various sides of the medieval crusades. Homing pigeons were used for their extreme focus on where home is and their amazing ability to find and aim for that home over long distances and through extreme or arduous conditions. Science is still listing and exploring factors in this successful ability including excellent landmark recognition, food-motivated behaviors, and biological sensitivity to earth’s magnetic fields (Podbielska and Radko, 2022; Marlier, 2022; Darwin, 1859).

The United States Army also began experimenting with using homing pigeons for communications on the American frontier in the late 19th century, with mixed results. Civilian use increased on the east coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A significant subculture in America of experienced pigeon enthusiasts kept growing. When the U.S. Navy started an official pigeon service that required the hiring of experienced handlers, there was already a waiting and willing labor force. The Navy faced an inundation of offers and inquiries from the community offering to sell birds to the government or acquiring a job. And whenever war broke out, from the Spanish-American War to World War II, clubs and pigeon keepers always joined the rest of the Nation’s patriotic sacrifices with willingness to sacrifice even more pigeons to serve their country (Marlier, 2022; Scullion, 2010; Macalaster, 2020).

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Allied and Axis nations made extensive use of homing pigeons as a means of communication. At the front, telegraph lines got cut (if they were laid at all), and human messengers were easily spotted by the enemy. By the time the United States entered the war, three years in, homing pigeons of other nations had already repeatedly demonstrated their ability to return to their home roost in the most adverse weather and through exploding aerial shells and gunfire. The American war effort included the expansion of messenger pigeon use in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Excerpts in the American Squab Journal in our collection, the professional journal for pigeon breeders at the time, show that in the same way America called for eligible fighting men to sign up, it was also trying to put the same energy into drafting homing pigeons and men with pigeon breeding and raising experience. Eventually there would be 110 camps around the country, with their headquarters at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. By the time the United States declared war, the pigeon community was not only ready but very willing to volunteer 10,000 birds and their own services as experienced trainers and handlers (American Squab Journal, 1917-1918; Katzung Hokanson, 2018; Macalaster, 2020; Lincoln, 1927).

During the interwar years, the Signal Corps continued more advanced training and experimentation in various conditions such as night flying and hazardous weather, while entering pigeons in the same races as the USDA’s Beltsville pigeons. In 1919, the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Anacostia became a main base for Navy pigeon training. The glass plate image below was probably taken of a pigeon container being loaded onto a Navy biplane in or right after 1919. WWI had proven the essentialness of pigeons in life and death situations. Upon America’s entry into World War II, pigeon breeders once again committed to the war effort as they had in previous wars. Both the Army and Navy still had lofts of trained and experienced birds and bird handlers across the country and eventually over 36,000 birds were sent overseas into danger (“Homing pigeons in the Navy,” 1920; Macalaster, 2020).

After World War II, communications technology, mainly wireless, continued to advance exponentially. Pigeons and pigeon experts found less work, and on the military side, projects were scaled back again, and pigeoneers ceased to be a special rating. Pigeons still saw some use in the Korean War in difficult terrains and among units that were still using World War II era technology. Even still, a 1948 field manual stated “the widespread use of radio in conjunction with the airplane to contact and supply isolated parties has rendered the use of pigeon communication nearly obsolete.” Pigeons were never needed again after Korea (A few failed experiments with pigeon messengers were attempted in the jungles of South Vietnam in the 1960s) (Raines, 1996; CECOM LCMC, 2009; Macalaster, 2020).

Fort Monmouth maintained a pigeon facility for a few more years until 1957, when the Army officially closed its lofts forever. Birds that had seen action in World War II and still lived were donated to various zoos and collections for a peaceful retirement, while the rest of the 1,000 pigeons were sold off. On the day of the sale, March 23, 1957, Fort Monmouth received huge crowds of pigeon racing enthusiasts and Veteran Signal Corpsmen, not just to purchase birds but to view them and say farewell (Raines, 1996; CECOM LCMC, 2009; Macalaster, 2020; Thompson, 2023).

Created by Jesse Padron, Special Collections Library Technician
 

Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), Life Cycle Management Command Historical Office (LCMC). (2009, Fall). A Concise history of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and the U.S. Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command. U.S. Army.

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Podbielska A., & Radko A. (2022). Genetic structure of racing pigeons (Columba livia) kept in Poland based on microsatellite markers. Genes, 13(7), 1175. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13071175

Raines, R. R. (1996). Getting the message through: A Branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. U.S. Army.

Scullion, F., & Scullion, G. (2010). Racing pigeons. In A. Meredith & C. A. Johnson-Delaney (eds.), BSAVA manual of exotic pets: A Foundation manual. British Small Animal Veterinary Association.

Thompson, E. (2023, March 23). Army sells its last homing pigeon. U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. https://www.dvidshub.net/news/440930/army-sells-its-last-homing-pigeon

United States War Department. (1920). The Homing pigeon: Care and training for military purposes. Washington Government Printing Office.

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Yearling Pigeon Race. (1920, May 18). Evening Star, 21.

Zimmer, C. (2013, February). Pigeons, a Darwin favorite. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/science/pigeons-a-darwin-favorite-carry-new-clues-to-evolution.html