The Flanders Pigeon Murderer and other stories

My apologies for not commenting on this story sooner. Alas, such was the nature of the story, I felt I needed time to digest it's complexities before writing my opinion.

WWII carrier pigeon's brave deeds remembered

A carrier pigeon which acted as a vital means of communication to RAF Linton-on-Ouse during the Second World War has been honoured by the son of the man who looked after him.

Sam the pigeon would ride alongside the base's crew and would go into action if the aircraft was shot down. The navigator would place the crash position on a piece of paper which he attached to the pigeon and, with his finely tuned homing instincts, Sam's job was to wing it back home to inform authorities of the loss.

What a brave pigeon! However, as with these stories from the war, the path never runs smoothly.

As with other war heroes, Sam had a tale to tell. During a raid over Berlin, Sam's aircraft was hit and a piece of shrapnel flew into the cockpit and straight through his tin flying box taking his beak with it, although luckily he survived the ordeal.

Shrapnel! His beak!

Harold Wood from Copmanthorpe, York, was just a lad when his father supplied Linton with pigeons for the nightly raids. One of his jobs was to water the pigeons before they were collected by the RAF. He gave Sam his last drink on the day of his accident.

The last drink he would ever sip through his little beak before the nasty Hun mutilated him.

Mr Wood said:

"My father was asked to supply around 24 pigeons when a raid was on. He would ask fellow fanciers at the St Lawrence's Working Men's Club just off Hull Road in York and when he had gathered two dozen birds an RAF flat back truck was sent to collect them.

Sterling war work. If only we had more pigeons like Sam and more small boys like Harold then perhaps we'd still have an empire.

"I was upset when I heard that Sam had been injured but remember thinking that even while they were busy patching up airmen who had been shot, they still had time to care for a poor bird."

It's what made Britain great, you know. But hold on: tear jerker on the horizon:

In a trip down memory lane, Mr Wood was united with Sam's original box which for the first time since the war is back at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, complete with the hole made by the shrapnel that took the pigeon's beak.

That bloody shrapnel!

During the Thousand Bomber raids of 1943, many of the destroyed aircraft also took with them a brace of fine racing pigeons which, like the crew, were trapped and unable to escape.

The brave exploits of the war's feathered flyers has since been documented in the book 'Pigeons in World War II'. Sam's old squadron recently reformed and is now back on flying duties at Linton-on-Ouse.

Available in all good bookshops.