Support for the troops

Since the days of my childhood (1951 - present) one of my favorite Christmas gifts has been an almanac or two.  You can choose among The Farmer's Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, The Hagerstown Almanac and others. They all have pretty much the same content: astrological data so you can plan on what time the sun up will go up and come down every day, crazy weather prognostications written far in advance ("January 16: partly cloudy, chance of rain or snow, highs 30s") (that's the forecast for every winter day in Baltimore!), gardening tips, advice on when to plant the corn and when to fish for the fish, home maintenance tips ("Store your shovel face down in a bucket of soil to keep it from rusting") and the occasional feature article on odd topics, which I devour like Hoss Cartwright on a T-bone.

And so now I can share with you this: Carrier pigeons, or homing pigeons, really did a lot of good getting messages from point A to point B during World War II, which actually was the peak of carrier pigeon use (we have cell phones now to get us our messages). 

Those birds were amazingly reliable at toting messages, medicines, even tiny cameras. More than 95% of their missions had successful outcomes (attention, USPS!) The US trained 56,000 carrier pigeons for World War II.

The way it worked, the birds were carried strapped to the chest of paratroopers, and when the paratroopers landed behind enemy lines, they released the pigeons to fly off on their important messages. The birds were outfitted in special pigeon vests, special protective garments made to protect carrier pigeons as they parachuted through the air strapped to the chest of paratroopers during World War II. Once the paratroopers hit the ground behind enemy lines, they would release the pigeons so they could fly off to deliver important messages.

And here's the kicker: those pigeon vests were made - 28,500 of them - by Maidenform, makers of the famous brassieres.

By 1963, Maidenform was back to selling
their foundation garments, including this
one showing a ill-equipped firefighter.

Maidenform had suspended bra manufacturing to concentrate on making parachutes for the war effort, and that was just another sacrifice made by Americans on the homefront. Some things might have sagged, but not our national spirit! And the pigeons were uplifted on their missions on regulation Maidenform gear.

 

 In all, 32 pigeons were awarded medals for their service in the war effort; one of the most famous among them was a bird named G.I. Joe, who carried a message ordering the cancellation of a bombing mission, which saved the lives of around a thousand Allied troops.

The world is full of fun facts!