For a long time, the staff of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra could not solve the mystery of the disappearance of poppies from the Grave of an Unknown Soldier. When they found out the truth, they were shocked.
It turned out that they had been stolen by a pigeon to build its nest. Every day a pigeon flew to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial in Canberra to collect red poppies for its nest in a room of the complex. This was announced on the memorial’s website.
Memorial staff discovered the missing flowers in early October and wondered for a long time who might need them. A carefully constructed nest in a niche above the stained glass window was noticed by one of the workers and informed the staff about it. The staff was not angry with the pigeon, as these birds are real veterans.
Two Australian pigeons were even awarded medals for their heroism during World War II. Historian Melia Hampton notes that pigeons were used as messengers in both World Wars I and II.
” Whenever we talk about animals in combat, we talk about them doing things that humans could not do alone,” adds Dr Hampton. ” This was especially true during the first two world wars, when communication was extremely difficult.”
