A grand ceremony

Cher Ami, a homing pigeon in World War I, was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal, by France, with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for her service in Verdun.

[81] Despite having almost lost a leg and being shot in the chest, she managed to travel around twenty-five miles to deliver the message that saved 194

men of the Lost Battalion of the 77th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Argonne, in October 1918.[81][78] When Cher Ami died, she was mounted and is part of the permanent exhibit at the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution.[82]

A grand ceremony was held in Buckingham Palace to commemorate a platoon of pigeons that braved the battlefields of Normandy to deliver vital plans to Allied forces on the fringes of Germany.[83] Three of the actual birds that received the medals are on show in the London Military Museum[clarification needed] so that well-wishers can pay their respects.[83]