Summary: As we prepare to mark Remembrance Day on Sunday, many of us are thinking about the soldiers who fought and died. We're probably not thinking about the pigeons who helpled those soldiers win the first and second world wars. Allied troops under radio silence would often send pairs of pigeons carrying vital messages from the front lines to commanders back in England. The birds could fly more than 500 miles at a time, at speeds up to 70 kilometres and hour. Last week in Britain, a homeowner who'd found a pigeon skeleton while cleaning out his chimney noticed something strange. Attached to the bird's leg was a message canister used in the second world war. The man brought the message in to Bletchley Park, once the code-breaking hub of the allied forces, and now a war museum. Colin Hill is the curator of the War Pigeon exhibit at Bletchley Park, and host Leigh Anne Power called him to ask about the discovery.
