History, Real Life and Faith
Do you use your hands when you talk? I do. Or, as someone at church asked me recently, “do you just talk until your hands stop moving, or can you speak if they’re not?” I laughed. (Hey, I’m moving my hands as I type this–including every time I pick them up off the keyboard. Hmmm. I wonder if that’s why…
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Many know the names of World War I heroes like Sergeant Alvin York or pilot Eddie Rickenbacker. But how many know the stories of animal and bird heroes from that same war? Here are a few. Cher Ami Pigeons and World War I tells the story well: In October 1918, as the war neared its end, 194 American soldiers found…
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Dogs, of course, played a significant role in World War I. The Army used dogs for all sorts of jobs, mostly involving their superior tracking skills, keen eyes, alert hearing and adorable countenances. At the start of the war, the British Army had only one sentry dog, but they quickly rectified the situation when they discovered how valuable dogs could…
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Who would have guessed that A.A. Milne‘s famous Winnie the Pooh was the result of World War I? Oh, I know you think he sprang fully to life from the Hundred Acre Woods, but in actuality Winnie (who became the Pooh) was born in Canada. She was female, and the pet of Lieutenant Harry Colebourn of the Canadian Royal Army Veterinary…
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The first homing pigeons were used by the Egyptians 3000 years ago. The idea of using a pigeon to send messages obviously was not new to Army troops during World War I. They proved an excellent means of communicating for all sides throughout the war. Some 100,000 pigeons were used and, according to Pigeons and World War I, they got through…
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Army units often have mascots to keep up the morale and encourage the troops when they’re not fighting. World War I was no different and perhaps no surprise, the Australian and New Zealand Armies (ANZAC) brought a fair share of unusual creatures with them when they sailed halfway around the world to fight. The most obvious creatures were kangaroos or wallabies….
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