06/14/2026
A pigeon named Cher Ami had already flown 12 missions when the Lost Battalion sent their final message.
Major Whittlesey's 500 men were surrounded in the Argonne Forest. Their own artillery was shelling them by mistake. Cher Ami was their last pigeon.
He was hit mid-flight - shot through the breast, one leg nearly severed, blinded in one eye. Still, he flew on.
He covered 25 miles in 25 minutes. 194 men walked out.
