[AngelBear]

One of the heroes decorated in the First World War was a pigeon that carried vital messages through the artillery fire around Verdun in 1916. The bird---one of thousands used by the French---died after a particularly harzardous trip and was awarded a posthumous Legion of Honor for its courage. In the Second World War, British aircraft dropped boxes of homing pigeons behind enemy lines by parachute. The birds were used by Resistance fighters to fly messages to London.