When pigeons were war heroes, not pests

Pest Management Professional has conveyed a lot of good information about controlling and preventing pigeons (Columba livia) over the years. But a recent dispatch from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Library (USDA NAL) gave us reason to consider the selectively bred subspecies (Columba livia domestica), the homing pigeon, with the U.S. military. On the enewsletter’s landing page, Special Collections Library Technician Jesse Padron documents the U.S. military’s long history with homing pigeons. Here are some excerpts, although I encourage you to read the original, with additional photos and information:

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).

By the end of the war, thousands of pigeons were wounded or never returned, yet achieved a 95 percent success rate of delivering messages. Stories of individual pigeons became famous back home, and many surviving pigeons were paraded next to veterans in victory parades. Many stories were a testament to the compassion of the pigeon’s handlers and their attachment to the animals in their care. One pigeoneer disobeyed orders to evacuate an area and instead crawled back into a freshly damaged and crumbling building to rescue the birds still in there. He miraculously managed to do so before more bombs fell (Macalaster, 2020)…

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…

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).

While pigeons are still a bane of many a bird control technician, it’s interesting to remember a subspecies’ usefulness in helping our military personnel just a few generations before us. For Veterans Day — and every day — we salute all veterans, and thank them for helping to make this world a better place with their courage, sacrifice and dedication to our country.