A pigeon named Mary
During World War II, a tenacious carrier pigeon named Mary of Exeter somehow always managed to deliver her messages safely.
CARRIER pigeons played an important role during the Great War and yet as World War II loomed on the horizon, the British war office had no plans for a messenger-pigeon programme.
With inventions such as radar, radio and the telephone to rely on, they thought they could do without them. But they were wrong.
When the first British planes were forced down into the sea, it soon became apparent that with water-damaged radios there was no way the pilots could communicate their position and request help.
An urgent call for pigeons was sent out and private pigeon fanciers offered up thousands of birds. The pigeons also went on to do important work on the front line during the war.
Some were dropped behind enemy lines in France in the hope members of the resistance would find them and send them back with vital intelligence.
Homing pigeons are raised in lofts and trained to return to them, where they know they will be fed.
Wherever they are released, these birds are always able to find their way home.
It might be due to an inbuilt compass, or perhaps they recognise landmarks and geographical features – no-one really knows how they do it.
In war time, messages written in code could be placed inside a tiny canister attached to the bird’s leg.
These incredibly resilient, strong birds have been know to fly as far as 2414 kilometres and to battle against gale-force winds and torrential rain in order to return home – so they really were a reliable form of communication where technological methods failed.
Mary Stewart was one such carrier pigeon that served under the British National Pigeon Service during World War II, from 1940.
Such was her determination to return home on each mission that she did so despite numerous injuries and terrible ordeals during her five-year military career, by the end of which she had 22 stitches on her poor little body.
On one occasion Mary vanished for nearly a week.
When she finally arrived home her message was intact, but her neck and right breast had been ripped open, wounds most likely inflicted by one of the hawks that the Germans released in the Pas-
Mary of Exeter showed dedication to the cause during World War II.
When she pathetically fluttered back into the loft, there were three bullets in her body and part of her wing had been shot off. As if that was not enough to endure, she also suffered an attack on her home.
de-Calais area to terrorise messenger pigeons.
Carrier pigeons were also constantly targeted by enemy gunmen and two months after her run-in with the hawk, Mary went missing again – this time for three weeks.
When she pathetically fluttered back into the loft, there were three bullets in her body and part of her wing had been shot off.
As if that was not enough to endure, she also suffered an attack on her home.
During the German raids on Exeter a large bomb fell outside her loft, killing many of the other pigeons inside. Mary was very distressed by these traumatic events but after a short break she was back at work.
Within 10 days she was picked up in a field.
She was painfully thin, and had a huge gash on her head and more wounds all over her body.
Her owner carefully nursed her back to health but, due to the injuries to her head, she needed to wear a leather collar for support until she was fully recovered.
In November 1945 she was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, ‘‘for outstanding endurance on war service in spite of wounds’’.
Homing is a natural instinct for pigeons but it has been noted by handlers that some are more determined and less likely to be discouraged by difficult conditions and obstacles than others, and so the choice of which pigeon to entrust with an important mission had to be made carefully.
Mary of Exeter certainly proved to be a reliable choice, time and again.
An extract from Ben Holt, (Allen & Unwin) $20.
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