And so I started doing regular routine food work between the quartermaster Corps and the veterinary inspection work until one day, again, the Colonel calls me in and I was very blessed. I had a Colonel Sperry who was my chief in Europe. And it turned out that he was a good friend of General Patton’s. They were both in Fort Riley, Patton was a Cavalry officer, and Sperry was a true horse doctor. He was one of the best horse doctors that I ever had the privilege to know, he could look at horses and tell you what leg was lame, and where, and how, and why without ever putting a hand on it. Anyway, he said, “What do you know about pigeons?” And I said, “Nothing, sir, why?” He said, “Well, here’s another “special duty assignment for you.” He said, “Go, here’s a Signal Pigeon Company “sitting in a field in France,” and he said, “I think they need their veterinary officer, and your it.” So I said, “Of course, yes, sir.” And took off and ended up at this Signal Pigeon Company. To my surprise, I knew nothing about pigeons, these were homing pigeons. And I’d say at least a third of them were sick, they had pox, and they had respiratory disease, and you name it, and I was a classic city kid.
