A WWII pigeon died in a chimney with a top secret message still on its leg.
In 1982, David Martin and his wife Anne were renovating the fireplace in their 17th century house in Bletchingley, Surrey. As they cleared the chimney, bird bones came down with the debris including a breastbone, skull, and a leg with an aluminium ring. Then the second leg came down and it had a red plastic capsule attached to it.
Historians believe the bird was almost certainly dispatched from Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944, during the D-Day Invasions. The British spy pigeon either got lost, disorientated in bad weather, or was simply exhausted after flying for hundreds of miles. Experts speculate the bird attempted to rest on an open chimney but was overcome by fumes from a fire below and died.
The message, hand-written on a small sheet of paper headed "Pigeon Service," was found in a small red canister still attached to the pigeon's leg bone. Experts from GCHQ said the message, which has 27 five-letter code groups, is impossible to crack without its codebook. Experts say the red capsule is the type used by the Special Operations Executive, whose agents undertook sabotage missions such as blowing up trains, bridges, and factories in German-occupied territory.
World War II experts suspect the message was on its way to Bletchley Park, 80 miles away, which had a classified pigeon loft. The message contained 27 codes, each a combination of five numbers and letters, destined for "X02," the classified designation for Britain's Bomber Command.
GCHQ's experts concluded the pigeon-borne message cannot be decoded without access to the original cryptographic material. It is a tribute to the skills of the wartime code-makers that, despite working under severe pressure, they devised a code that was undecipherable both then and now.
@BBallFutbolSpot@Corballyred Has he said “look at me”?? I knew very little about his financial donations until now. Surely we should never forget where we came from?
If we are talking about things Salah has done off the pitch I want to give a few 👇
-Donated $3 million to Cairo's Cancer Institute after the 2019 terrorist attack.
-Donated £130,000 to rebuild a church destroyed by fire.
-Built a water treatment plant serving 10,000+ people in his village, along with multiple schools and a hospital wing.
-Forgave a thief who broke into his family home, convinced police to release him, gave him money, and helped him find a job.
-Donated about 6% of his wealth, ranking 8th on the Sunday Times Giving List in 2022 — the only footballer in the top 10.
If we're judging Salah as a footballer by his off-pitch actions, he's one of the greatest of all time. 👍
@Corballyred Carragher: "But what i mean by what he does off the pitch, I mean proper meaningful things, like sticking up for Slot in interviews when we lose, and he hasnt done that, which why hes now 11th on my list"
"This is Ted he is a 96 year old WW2 veteran. He came into my pub today for his lunch. I couldn't help but notice his medals I just had to go and ask him about his life and say thank you for his service to our country. He became really overwhelmed and cried. He said 'thank you young man no one cares about what I have to say anymore.'
I told him that I'm sure there are so many people that do. Can we all please like and share this post and show him just how many of do care about our veterans and prove to Ted he's not forgotten. I will show him this post when he comes back for his dinner next week."
Credit - animal discovery
"Dear Mother, I am writing these few lines severely wounded. We have done well, our battalion advanced about 3/4's of a mile. I am laid in a shell hole, with 2 wounds in my hip and through my back. I cannot move or crawl at all. I have been here for 24 hours and never seen a living soul. I hope you will receive these few lines as I don't expect anyone will come to take me away. But you know I have done my duty our here now for 1 year and 8 months and you will always have the consolation that I died quite happy doing my duty. You must give my best to all the cousins who have been so kind to me for the time I have been out here, and the best of love to Mother and Harry and all at Swinefleet."
- A note from Private John Duesbury that was found on his body after the Battle of the Somme (WW1).
What a waste.
Throwback to our first match of the season. Mo Salah was the last to leave the pitch, joining a tearful rendition of Diogo Jota’s chant in front of the Kop. ❤️
This is the same player an own goal specialist is trying to discredit over an off the pitch incident.
We lost Brave Knight at Ascot after a tumble at the last. He was a wonderful character & a good horse too, winning on the Flat for Sir Mark & over hurdles for Owners Group & Paul Nicholls. Deepest sympathies to his owners & Kelsie who looked after him. Blessed to have known him.
Another city in Poland with @NikkiNoods11 done & dusted 🇵🇱
As always, a great little place to visit for the weekend, great food, great beer, great people🍻
Rzeszow is the capital of Podkarpackie Province. Located in southeastern Poland, it’s bordering with Ukraine & Slovakia 🌎
Great places for sunset’s 🏴 the Great Orme … then down that winding road on a motorcycle is great fun or a bicycle 👍 used to do it at 15 with no helmet as wasn’t legal requirement then .. very invigorating up there and amazing views #northwales#sunsets#cymru
Klopp's legacy was "its not important what they think of you when you arrive, its what they think of you when you leave"
Well all you can do when you see him now is smile, & think how lucky we actually were to have him at our club! Absolutely blessed, & still so missed 🥺🙏❤️❤️ #Klopp 😘😘