Cher Ami

Description: Cher Ami was a black check cock homing pigeon, one of 600 English-bred birds donated to the U.S. Army Signal Corps’ Pigeon Service of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) by the British Home Forces Pigeon Service on May 20, 1918. Cher Ami likely hatched in late March to early April 1918. His aluminum identification band on his left leg is stamped “NURP 18 EAD 615” which translates as “National Union Racing Pigeon,” born 1918, bred at the registered loft of “EAD,” bird number 615. “EAD” may stand for the loft of E.A. Davidson at St. James’s House, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England. Description: Cher Ami and the other English pigeons arrived at the headquarters of the AEF Pigeon Service on May 23. On July 1, the Army assigned Cher Ami and 59 other pigeons to Mobile Loft No. 11 managed by Corporal (later Sergeant) Ernest P. Kockler of Chicago. The birds of Mobile Loft No. 11 supplied pigeons to soldiers of the AEF during fighting in the Aisne-Marne Sector of the Western Front in mid-July to August. On September 21, the loft relocated to Rampont, France in preparation for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Birds from the loft supported infantry of the 77th Infantry Division fighting into and through the Argonne Forest. Description: While the surviving evidence is inconclusive, it is possible that Private Omer Richards of New York, a member of the division’s 308th Infantry Regiment, carried Cher Ami and three other pigeons into the forest. On the afternoon of October 4, 1918, legend has Cher Ami as the eighth and last pigeon available to the men known as the “Lost Battalion” under the command Major Charles W. Whittlesey. Description: Surrounded by German forces, the men of the Lost Battalion were fighting off repeated attacks when they found themselves enduring a barrage of friendly artillery due to mistaken position coordinates. To attempt to stop the shelling, Whittlesey dashed off a message carried by Cher Ami which read “We are along the road parallel 276.4. Ou