Historical information

Taken in Syria in 1941, this photograph depicts Sergeant Theodore Arthur Horton, dressed in his military uniform, writing down a message to be sent by carrier pigeon. Standing next to Sergeant Horton is an unknown soldier, dressed in his military uniform, holding a carrier pigeon. Both man are standing in front of a large pigeon loft.

Significance

The 1st Australian Corps Signals was a branch of the Australian Imperial Airforce that was active during World War Two. One of the tasked carried out by 1st Australian Corps Signals was to send messages through the use of carrier pigeons. Carrier pigeons were most commonly used by the Allied Forces to send messages from the front line trenches or advancing units.

Physical description

Black and white square reproduced photograph on rectangular archival paper

Inscriptions & markings

Obverse:
Negative Number: 022213/
purchased from Australian War Memorial/
thumbnail 022213/
Syria 1941-12 Sergeant T A Horton of 1st Australian Corps Signals/
writing a message to be sent by carrier pigeon/

Reverse:
7992/