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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment