Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Fly Cher Ami Fly! the Pigeon Who Saved the Lost Battalion by Robert Burleigh Cher Ami

Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Fly Cher Ami Fly! The Pigeon Who Saved the Lost Battalion by Robert Burleigh Cher Ami. Cher Ami (French 'male form' for "Dear Friend") was a registered Black Check Cock homing pigeon which had been donated by the pigeon fanciers of Britain for use by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in France during World War I and had been trained by American pigeoneers. He helped save the Lost Battalion of the 77th Division in the battle of the Argonne, October 1918. Contents. World War I service [ edit | edit source ] On October 3 1918, Charles Whittlesey and more than 500 men were trapped in a small depression on the side of the hill behind enemy lines without food or ammunition. They were also beginning to receive friendly fire from allied troops who did not know their location. Surrounded by the Germans, many were killed and wounded in the first day and by the second day, only a little more than 200 men were still alive. Whittlesey dispatched messages by pigeon. The pigeon carrying the first message ("Many wounded. We cannot evacuate.") was shot down. A second bird was sent with the message, "Men are suffering. Can support be sent?" That pigeon also was shot down. Only one homing pigeon was left: 'Cher Ami'. He was dispatched with a note in a canister on his left leg, As Cher Ami tried to fly back home, the Germans saw him rising out of the brush and opened fire and for several minutes, bullets zipped through the air all around him. The men of the Lost Battalion saw Cher Ami shot down, but he was soon airborne again. He managed to arrive back at his loft at division headquarters 25 miles to the rear in just 25 minutes, helping to save the lives of the 194 survivors. In this last mission, Cher Ami had delivered the message despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood, and with a leg hanging only by a tendon. Cher Ami had become the hero of the 77th Infantry Division, so army medics worked long and hard to save his life. They were unable to save his leg, so they carved a small wooden one for him. When he recovered enough to travel, the little one-legged hero was put on a boat to the United States, with General John J. Pershing personally seeing Cher Ami off as he departed France. Awards [ edit | edit source ] Upon return to America, Cher Ami became the mascot of the Department of Service. The pigeon was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for his heroic service in delivering 12 important messages in Verdun. He died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, on June 13, 1919 from the wounds he received in battle and was later inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931. He also received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Racing Pigeon Fanciers in recognition of his extraordinary service during World War I. Remembered [ edit | edit source ] To American school children of the 1920s and '30s, Cher Ami was as well known as any human World War I heroes. Cher Ami was later mounted by a taxidermist and donated to the Smithsonian where he is enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution, and is currently on display with Sergeant Stubby in the National Museum of American History's "Price of Freedom" exhibit. Reading Brigade Live on Facebook. Visit the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History Facebook page every Friday at 1 p.m. for a live read-a-long with Museum Program Coordinator, Reveille Isgrig. The book selections are especially appropriate for elementary aged children, but are enjoyed by adults as well! The museum children’s library specifically focuses on topics and issues relevant to our state and nation’s military history, as well as concepts about the impact of war on communities, individuals, nations/cultures, and the environment. June Reading Schedule: 6/4 H is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet by Devin Scillian. 6/11 Crow Call by Lois Lowry. 6/18 A Paper Hug by Stephanie Skolmoski. Bring Reading Brigade Online to your Classroom, Virtual Learning, or Homeschool! A thematic set of lessons will be uploaded via Google Drive every month. Because this program is stored through Google Drive, you will be able to access it at any time you like. This flexibility allows you to best use the materials at times that are most convenient for you and your students. These lessons will include a video read-aloud by Museum Program Coordinator, Reveille Isgrig, vocabulary, extra resources, and Core Standards based supplemental activities for grades K-6. If you teach any other grade levels and would like to incorporate this program into your learning schedule please contact Reveille Isgrig via email by clicking her name or by phone at 501.376.4602 to discuss adapting this program for your students. Museum Program Coordinator Reveille Isgrig, who oversees the Reading Brigade, has degrees in English Literature and Modern Art History and strives to incorporate craft, literary appreciation, history and reading comprehension into each lesson. Lisa's History Room. “Lost Battalion” in Argonne Forest by Frank E. Schoonover. Ladies’ Home Journal, 1918. World War I, France. On October 1, 1918, about 550 soldiers of the U.S. 77th Division found themselves surrounded by Germans in the Argonne Forest. Major Charles Whittlesey was their leader. He was just following orders, to push forward at all costs, push the enemy further toward the border and out of the country. Instead, after traipsing through thick brush and tangled wires, old abandoned German headquarters, and dead bodies, they were behind enemy lines, trapped in the Charlevaux Ravine, between two high and steep hills. They were subject to an immediate and near-constant barrage of enemy fire. By the end of the third day, the Germans had killed or wounded a quarter of the men, and those remaining Americans were reduced to hunkering down in their funk hole, hoping the next grenade didn’t land there and blow them to bits. They were hungry, thirsty, and running low on ammunition. The nearest water source was a muddy stream which the Germans guarded zealously. The Americans had no medical supplies with which to treat the groaning wounded. They were cut off from any supply routes. The weather was cold, wet, and gray. The Major sent runners for help; none made it up the hillside without instantly being picked off by German snipers. Worse, due to an error in a message sent by carrier pigeon, Allied artillery misunderstood their location and began firing upon the trapped unit. More men were killed, but this time, by “friendly fire,” bullets inadvertently fired on them by their own American troops. Their situation was desperate. They needed to contact headquarters to get their own troops to stop firing upon them. They had dispatched many carrier pigeons with messages for HQ but many were shot down by the Germans. It was mid-afternoon on October 4 when pigeon handler Private Omer Richards reached into the wicker pigeon basket to release yet another pigeon with a message. Photograph of the Western Front. Pigeons were used at the front to keep commanders in the rear up to date on the action and enemy movement. (National Archives Identifier 17391468) There was one bird left and the embattled unit placed their hope on this two-year old bird. He was a seasoned carrier pigeon named *Cher Ami (which means “Dear Friend” in French). His home loft was Mobile #9 then stationed at the 77th Division message center about 25 miles away at Rampont. Cher Ami knew the way well. Private John Nell recalled, “…Major Whittlesey turned our last homing pigeon loose with what seemed to be our last message….If that one lonely, scared pigeon failed to find its loft…we would go just like the others who were being mangled and blown to pieces….” A war pigeon is fitted with a message. The message, written by Major Whittlesey on a page torn from the pigeon message book, was slipped into a tiny aluminum tube and clipped to the pigeon’s leg. Richards picked up Cher Ami and, around 3:00, lifted him skyward to fly. But the air was full of flying scrap steel and explosions, scaring the bird. He circled above the ravine before landing slightly farther down the hill in a burned-out, shrapnel-twisted tree. Those men who had gathered around now began to yell at Cher Ami, “Go! Get out of here!” tossing sticks and rocks at him. But he refused to budge from his perch. Richards ended up shimmying up the tree after him. German shells exploded around Richards and bullets pinged off the bark near his hands. Cher Ami cocked his head at the soldier, preening his feathers out of utter fear. Finally Richards was able to reach up and shake the branch where the bird sat, roaring, “Fly!” Cher Ami took off, got his bearings, then headed back over the ravine in the direction of his dovecote. The Germans took potshots at Cher Ami, trying to take him down, knowing full well his mission, but the bird continued to gain height and was soon lost to view. The American soldiers then scampered down the hill to move the wounded men to a place that was somewhat protected from the shelling. They piled up the dead bodies as a wall: Bullets from across the brook thumped sickeningly into the corpse wall as the wounded hunkered down behind it.

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