It was a bird that flew behind enemy lines, and could have been dispatched from Nazi-occupied France during the D-Day invasions. Now the carrier pigeon has been found in a chimney in Bletchingley in Surrey with the coded message it was carrying still attached to its foot.
It's thought that the bird was making its way to Bletchley Park. During the war there was a squadron of 250,000 birds known as the National Pigeon Service that helped pass information behind enemy lines. The military pigeons were dropped into Nazi occupied territory from bombers, then picked up by resistance fighters who would then release them back to Britain with top secret messages, but this message is particularly special:
"We have more than 30 messages from WW2 carrier pigeons in our exhibition, but not one is in code. The message Mr Martin found must be highly top secret." – Colin Hill, curator of Bletchley Park's 'Pigeons at War'
David Martin found the bird as he ripped out a fireplace while renovating his home in Bletchingley, Surrey. The Royal Pigeon Racing Association think the bird either got lost, disorientated in bad weather or was simply exhausted after its trip across the channel.
Pigeon enthusiasts are now calling for the bird to be posthumously decorated with the Dickin Meddal - the highest possible decoration for valour given to animals. So far more than 60 animals have recievd the accoldage - with 32 of those being pigeons.
The birds have a long history of being used in warfare. They can reach 80mph, cover distances of 700 miles and are brilliant navigators.
When Mr Martin showed his neighbour - and former Secret Agent - the coded letter his reaction was startling:
When I showed him the bird and code the blood drained from his face and he advised us to back off... He said nothing would ever be published."
Now codebreakers at GCHQ in Cheltenham are frantically trying to decipher the code to find out what the message that cost the pigeon it's life had to say.
The message contains 27 codes, each made up of combinations of five numbers and letters, and was sent to X02 at 16.25.
The destination X02 is believed to be the secret code for Bomber Command, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and it is believed the message was sent by an airman because Sergeant was spelt with a J.
Sergeant was spelled with a ‘J’ in the RAF, but with a ‘G’ in the army.
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