Cher Ami, a carrier pigeon

Cher Ami was one of the 600 pigeons of the Signal Corps of the US Army, which were used to exchange important information during World War II. In just one year, Cher Ami made dozens of combat flights and delivered 12 messages of particular importance.

Cher Ami’s last trip took place in October 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The bird was injured in its chest, blinded in one eye, and lost one leg, but still managed to reach its destination and delivered its message. It helped save almost two hundred soldiers of a battalion which had been cut off from its allies. In 2011, TIME Magazine included Cher Ami in the top ten most heroic animals in the world.