Cher Ami by Melisandre Potter

Many different animals have been recruited during wars to help soldiers. In World War I, homing pigeons were one animal that was used.

Cher Ami was a little pigeon who lived on a farm in England. She would fly across meadows and streams, over rooftops and trees with her friends. Cher Ami always returned home.

When World War I began, pigeons were needed to carry messages to troops. So Cher Ami was sent to a training camp in France. Each day she underwent training to learn to fly farther and farther will messages. 

A tiny metal canister with a note was fastened to her leg. Her trainer would toss her into the air in the direction of her coop across the field where her dinner was waiting for her. 
The distance was increased daily until Cher Ami could travel long distances. 

Finally in October she was ready to be sent to the front lines along with six hundred passenger pigeons. This was very different than her training grounds: the sounds of war were loud and frightening but Cher Ami was brave. She took messages to the troops at different parts of the battlefield, completing twelve dangerous missions.

Her most dangerous mission occurred when a group of American soldiers were trapped in a ravine and surrounded by the enemy. The soldiers were being fired on by not only the enemy but their own troops who did not know where they were. The trapped soldiers sent Cher Ami on a desperate mission to inform their headquarters their location. Two other passenger pigeons had failed but Cher Ami succeeded despite being badly wounded. The message would save the lives of one hundred-ninety-four soldiers.

Surgeons saved Cher Ami's life although she did lose her leg. Afterwards, she was sent to America and became a mascot of the American Army.

Discussion

Cher Ami was born April 12, 1917 in Britain and was donated to the U.S. Signal Corps for use in France, during World War I.

Although Cher Ami successfully delivered twelve messages for the Americans in the Verdun sector, it was his valiant effort to deliver a message on October 3, 1918 to division headquarters that he is best remembered for. Over five hundred men, under the command of Major Charles White Whittlesey were trapped behind enemy lines in a ravine. The first two homing pigeons they had sent with messages asking for help were shot down by the Germans. Cher Ami was their last hope. He too was shot down, receiving a bullet through the breast, blinded in one eye and a leg hanging by a tendon. But Cher Ami rose up and flew 

In the Author's Note Potter mentions that Cher Ami was assumed to be male but was later determined to be female by a taxidermist at the Smithsonian. However, the U.S. Army Signal Corps has always listed Cher Ami as a hen while the Smithsonian has always listed Cher Ami as a Black Check cock carrier pigeon - a male. However, modern DNA testing has confirmed that Cher Ami was male as initially classified by the Smithsonian. The only evidence that led the Smithsonian to originally classify Cher Ami as male was from correspondence from Captain C.C. Hungerford of the Signal Corps to the Smithsonian in which he used the pronouns "he" and "his". It would be decades later that this could finally be confirmed.

Potter has told the story of Cher Ami in a simple and appealing way, focusing on his many contributions to American soldiers in France during the war. Of course the highlight is Cher Ami's miraculous flight  that would save many trapped men. For this, Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre medal and in 2019 was awarded the Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery.

Melisandre Potter's daughter, Giselle provided the illustrations for Cher Ami. In her A Note From the Artist, Giselle indicates that she viewed photographs of Cher Ami but that her artwork was created to keep this famous homing pigeon the focus of the story. For example, the pigeons were transported to France in crates and not wire cages but her illustration shows the later so that readers can see the pigeons. Giselle Potter's illustrations were rendered in watercolor and ink on paper.

Cher Ami will be of interest to those young readers who love animals, and especially birds. The back matter also contains A Note from the Author and a Sources page.

Book Details:

Cher Ami by Melisandre Potter
New York: Christy Ottaviano Books: Little, Brown and Company    2022