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IN OUR PAGES: 100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO1929: Navy Sells Old Pigeons

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From: International Herald Tribune
Date: 20040908
Author:

International Herald Tribune
09-08-2004
WASHINGTON: If there is an Oliver Wendell Holmes spirit yet alive let it speak now, for it is needed. As ''Old Ironsides'' was once condemned to the depths, the 800 carrier pigeons in the Navy Department Service, many of them war veterans, have been condemned to sale to the highest bidder. The order for the sale, issued today [Sept. 7], declares frankly that radio has supplanted the noble birds whose work has been recounted in song and story. The retrenchment program of the present Administration has something to do with their plight, for carrier ...

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