IT is 70 years after D-Day, and now we find that intelligent, gentle pigeons, who were the first to relay messages of the successful Normandy beach landings, are being hurt and killed for “sport”.

They are being released on the Continent to take their chances crossing the English Channel.

For nothing more than a lark or a bet, pigeon racers now make these wonderful birds fly vast distances – sometimes up to 900 miles – in a race in which many, sometimes most, will perish at sea.

A recent PETA US investigation into the top British pigeon-racing organisations revealed the deaths of tens of thousands of these heroic little birds every year, with many dying from exhaustion over the water, succumbing to storms and crashing into the English Channel, which fanciers call the “graveyard”.

Pigeons too slow to win purses are often suffocated or gassed with car exhaust or have their necks broken (which causes a slow, painful death by suffocation).

This is a despicable way to treat the forgotten heroes of two world wars, which is why PETA and the “Forces’ sweetheart”, Dame Vera Lynn, have called for cross- Channel pigeon racing to be banned.

Ben Williamson, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), London.