277th Signal Pigeon Company and Third Army, Pigeon Messages From Behind Enemy Lines, 1941, and A Look at the Palomacy Calendar

 

 

 

 

The January page from the Palomacy Wall Calendar.   

 

This is the only page I will be posting, so as not to take away from the work that went into putting this beautiful calendar together.  For more info about Palomacy and to order a BirdADay desk calendar, you can visit:  https://www.pigeonrescue.org/

The BirdADay calendar is just as beautiful as the wall calendar.  Each day pictures a rescued bird or birds and their story.  Interesting and inspirational!  We can all learn something about courage, adaptability, and perseverance from these pigeons and doves.

 

 

Excerpt from The Third Army Goes to War by Denny G. Hair, Third Army Publishing, Houston, Texas, 2018.

 

September 24, 1944

 

     "On this date the 277^th Signal Pigeon Company finally was able to billet and start their assignment with Third Army.  They had one setback after another and the losses of many birds to disease and bad weather.  Each unit went out with 640 pigeons and sixteen PG 68 lofts.  Pigeons were used as communication from one unit to another.  They had messages laced on their feet and were trained to deliver them.  Many times radios, wires and hand delivered messages were impossible due to weather, terrain, and enemy movement.  The pigeons could and did get through with their messages.  Lt. Conley L. Durden and Tech. Sgt Warren E. Humphrey were in charge of the first platoon consisting of one officer and thirty-five enlisted men.  Lt. Walter and E. Wentz and Tech Sgt Arthur G. Jones were in charge of the second platoon consisting of one officer and thirty-four enlisted men.  The first platoon pitched its tents in Vionville about five miles west of Metz.  This was XX Corps area and in the midst of a bitter campaign for the Metz fortification.

     The second platoon pitched its tents in the northern outskirts of Nancy in the XII Corps area.”

 

 

The citation for this passage is:

 

Third Army Printing, In Action With the 277^th Signal Pigeon Company.  Munich, Germany: F. Bruckmann KG, printer, 1945.

 

Pigeon Messages From Behind Enemy Lines, 1941

 

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog numbers:  WO208/3560 #115, #116, #117, #118, #119, #120, #121, #122

 

You can use the scroll bar at the bottom to center the seventh page.

 

 

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