On the afternoon of Oct. 4, 1918, American artillery hit a ravine in France's Argonne Forest. The rounds were falling directly on roughly 500 U.S. soldiers that had been trapped behind enemy lines for two days. Maj. Charles Whittlesey, a New York lawyer commanding the surrounded force, had one way left to stop the bombardment. His life and the lives of his men now rested on a lone carrier pigeon. That bird, a black check homing pigeon named Cher Ami, flew 25 miles through gunfire with a message