Sasebo History About Sasebo Pigeon Post
By Phil Eakins

Sailors assigned to this navy base have used various forms of communication throughout the years: letters, official correspondence, semaphore, signal flags and lights, wireless telegraphy, radio, internet, and pigeon post.

Pigeon post? Yes, you read that right; the type of communication, messages in this case, that involves cooing gray-white birds known mostly for pooping on statues.

The use of carrier pigeons to deliver messages is not a new concept. A quick look at the history of pigeon post shows us the Sultan of Baghdad began employing this kind of communication system in his kingdom way back in 1150. Historians mention also that Genghis Khan used carrier pigeons to keep in touch with troops during his conquests across Asia. Centuries later American soldiers jumped on the bandwagon, too, when the U.S. Army Signal Corps trained carrier pigeons to send messages from the front lines during World War One.

Carrier pigeons also were utilized as winged messengers for Imperial Army soldiers during the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. Some of these pigeons descendants were either brought back to Sasebo after the war or else they flew in from Korea and decided to stay in the area. Forty-six years later, a boatswain's mate assigned to the base cargo-handling department set up a roost at the former Sakibe seaplane base for the purpose of message deliveries between Sasebo and Pusan. The Sasebo pigeon post service began in April 1951 and continued until December 1952.

These messages were written on a 4 x 4 square piece of onionskin paper, marked with a special stamp, folded up and then placed inside a screw-top plastic tube secured with rubber bands to the pigeon's back and tail.

There are reportedly only 12 Sasebo pigeon post messages known to exist today according to pigeon post collectors. One of these messages sold at auction a few years ago for $800.

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