In a museum collection in Washington, D.C., sits an unusual veteran of the First and Second World Wars. Kaiser was a German homing pigeon, hatched in Koblenz in 1917 and captured by American soldiers before the First World War had ended. Instead of being returned to Germany, he was brought to the United States, where his military career took an unexpected turn. He spent decades in American army lofts, fathered generations of military pigeons and eventually became a familiar figure at ceremonies and public events, drawing attention from visitors and military personnel alike. According to the National Museum United States Army, by the time he died in 1949, Kaiser had lived far longer than most pigeons and had spent much of his life in military custody. His remains are now preserved at the National Museum of American History.
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