A salute to Cher Ami

Here’s the telegram that brave little Cher Ami, the passenger pigeon, carried for the Lost Battalion. Maj. Charles Whittlesey sent the message to his commanding officer.

Cher Ami was shot during his flight — his leg later had to be amputated.

And here’s the story of the Lost Battalion and its pigeon soldier:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/03/27/lost_battalion_transcription_of_message_carried_by_pigeon_from_stranded.html

Britain’s National Poetry Competition winner

Patricia McCarthy, winner of the National Poetry Competition, which carries a 5,000-pound prize, wrote her entry about World War I, based on her mother’s memories of the era. The poem, “Clothes that escaped the Great War,” can be found on this link at the Guardian website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/27/first-world-war-national-poetry-competition-2013

Here’s an excerpt:

“These were the most scary, my mother recalled: clothes

piled high on the wobbly cart, their wearers gone. …”

In honor of Women’s History Month

The National Women’s History Museum has an online exhibit on women’s roles during World War I. The exhibit includes a small gallery of photos of women building machine guns and so forth.

Here’s the link:

http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/womenworkingworldwarI.html

Here’s a collection of links:

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/womenww1_seven.htm

And here they are, chopping down trees, among other things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XonhwLrAUVs

Would you have the courage to hammer on an artillery shell that way?