Imagine getting a coded message from World War II delivered around 70 years too late. More than 250,000 pigeons were used during the war to deliver messages. The pigeons even had their own arm of the military called the National Pigeon Service.
David Martin of England found what is probably the last carrier pigeon message from the war. It was attached to the skeleton of the pigeon that Martin found in a chimney that he was renovating.
“Theories suggest the bird was making its way from behind enemy lines, perhaps from Nazi occupied France during the D Day invasions heading toward Bletchley Park which was Britain’s main decryption establishment during World War II,” according to the ABC News report. “Others say the bird likely got lost, disorientated in bad weather or was simply exhausted after its trip across the English Channel and landed in the Martin’s chimney.”
Code breakers have been trying to decipher the message. As of Nov. 1, all that had been determined was that it is Sgt. W. Stott and that it was written 70 years ago.
Here’s the link to the ABC News report.