World War II, Richard Kasak

Richard Kasak, 85, of Sedalia, had no idea when he was drafted into the Air Force that he eventually would be working for the birds. He was in his 20s and was supposed to be trained to be a radio operator in World War II. Instead he spent some time as a carpenter and then eventually took up an offer to become part of an experimental unit.

Kasak went to Atlantic City, N.J., for basic training. The unit was looking for a company carpenter. Kasak didn’t volunteer, even though he had carpentry experience. Usually men who volunteered for things ended up doing menial jobs.

After he was appointed to be a carpenter, he was assigned a truck driver, a three-quarter ton truck, a helper and a toolbox. His first job was to go to the lumberyard, pick out a board and make a three-holer latrine for the officers.

Whenever his unit would move, he would have to pick up the board and clean it up before loading it. He was in charge of building the outhouses at each new place.

Kasak learned that the Army was creating a unit of 125 men who had experience with pigeons. He thought it was a joke at first, but was interested. He had worked with pigeons since he was 12.

He grew up in Sedalia at 13th Street and Engineer Avenue. When he was young, his family returned from church and found a pigeon with a broken wing. His father cut a hole in the top of a chicken house door and placed a box in there. Pretty soon they had pigeons coming from everywhere.

The Army was training pigeons to become messengers. Kasak was sent to Lake Charles, La., to train with the 277th Signal Pigeon Company. They had an 18-foot-by-18-foot platform with a hole in the middle with feed and water. They put the pigeons in there and would then let them loose.

When they were hungry, the pigeons returned to the platform to eat. The men fed them three or four days in the one place. Then they started moving them. They did it gradually at first, beginning at 3 feet, then 100 feet, followed by a half mile and 18 miles.

When the unit was shipped overseas, the pigeons were not. Once settled, the men had to train a new set of pigeons sent from England. All of them were babies, so they didn’t have any memories of where they came from.

The birds carried capsules on their legs with messages that were supposed to be in code. A lot of times the messages were from men on the front lines saying, “Hurry up! We need gas, we need beans.” This information was passed on to other units, who helped those men.

Kasak went to Ireland by ship and was part of convoy that drove to Southampton, England. The unit divided into four platoons and Kasak was in the fourth. He continued to be the carpenter of his group. They went to France, where they received the bottoms of the pigeon boxes. The sides and tops had been shipped to Africa. Kasak needed to improvise, because they had 1,200 birds who needed a place to stay. All the trucks had camaflouge nets, so Kasak took them and built a shelter. He put the pigeons in there with the feeders.

Several of the pigeons were sick and some suffered from eye colds and other minor ailments. Some were dying due to the lack of water while being shipped. One of the men in the platoon was a veterinarian from Maine. Kasak would hold the pigeons while the vet would treat them with iodine.

About a month later, they received the sides, tops and doors. Kasak was in charge of making cages, so the birds could familiarize where they were. The men started the routine they learned in Louisiana. They would move the boxes each day from a half mile, to a mile to three miles and up to more than 20 miles. Pigeons were allowed to be loose 15 minutes for exercises, before their leaders called them in.

The company lost several pigeons. Some died from gunfire, others from flak and predators, including hawks and owls. The men observed numerous moments of silence for deceased birds. “A bird would come in and have his foot shot off and we would have to stand in formation for these dang pigeons,” Kasak said.

Kasak served overseas for 18 months and served in eight countries. He earned the rank of corporal.

When he returned home, he continued spending time with pigeons. He even started a pigeon club in Sedalia with a friend.