William joined the Corps shortly after the start of the war and was selected for service with the Army Pigeon Service because of his expertise as a pigeon fancier. He trained as a member of No 711 Squad, 1^st Depot Battalion but soon found himself at Milborne St Andrew near Blandford.

His wife Phyllis, who was born in 1908, was also involved in pigeon breeding. She recalls, "Whilst William was away I ran the family building business and bred pigeons, for wartime service, in our pigeon loft at home in Stanmore. My boss, in this respect, was Mr George Barratt a Postmaster in London. When the pigeon chicks were ready to be deployed I received covert messages to take them to the Stationmaster at Mill Hill railway station. I do not know where they went from there but I know that the first lot went to the Royal Lofts at Sandringham. It as all very hush-hush."

Most of William’s service was spent at Milborne St Andrew near Blandford to where Phyllis would visit from time to time. The APS had taken over a number of the hen-houses at the Milborne Wood Farm of Sir Ernest Debenham. The whole operation was highly classified and very few local people knew of its existence.

The current owner of the farm Mr Richard Worrell states, " My father bought the farm in about 1950 and I recall stories that when the pigeons flew in from overseas there were Dispatch Riders ready to take them to London or to the railway station at Blandford. Unfortunately, the hen-house buildings were destroyed in 1997."

Pigeons were used extensively during the war and Phyllis states, "One of William’s tasks was to train secret agents to handle pigeons so that they could get their important messages back to the secret services. Other pigeons were carried by RAF bomber crews and released if they were shot down. On one such occasion pigeon, WHITE VISION, saved the crew of a crashed flying boat in the Hebrides by flying against a 25mph head wind in very heavy fog..

More Milborne History