This Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of the historic Battle of Warsaw, in which Poland miraculously defeated Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks and prevented the spread of communism to all of Europe. The Poles were helped by the heroic and inspirational help of American volunteer fighter pilots led by Hollywood’s greatest hero. They were in Poland to repay America’s Revolutionary War debt to Polish heroes who came to America’s aid in its War for Independence.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will represent the Trump administration and speak at the Historic Commemoration Services for the Centennial Anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw.
President Trump is expected to make a proclamation honoring the anniversary and the special freedom-fighting friendship between Poland and America In the United States on the same day.
Legendary Hollywood producer, Merian C. Cooper, the creator and producer of the original King Kong blockbuster film, was one of the great heroes of the legendary battle. The Miracle on the Vistula, as the battle is now famously called, is the greatest true story linking Poland and America in freedom-fighting friendship. It is too great a story to be told as rarely as it is.
Cooper had heroically served as a fighter pilot for America in both World War I and World War II. In the first war, he had been shot down and badly burned. He spent the last months of the war in a German hospital.
Instead of returning home after the war, he chose to repay America’s debt to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Casimir Pulaski, and other Poles who had voluntarily risked their lives fighting for America’s freedom in our Revolutionary War.
Following World War I, Poland, occupied and absorbed by other nations for over 100 years, was recreated as an independent country. Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who had taken over Russia in the Communist Revolution of 1917, were intent on changing that when they marched on Poland in 1919.
Cooper persuaded seven of his fellow American fighter pilots, who had fought with him in WWI, to join with him to form a volunteer fighter pilot squadron to fight with him on Poland’s behalf against the Bolsheviks.
They met with Poland’s military leader, Marshal Josef Pilsudski, in Warsaw. Pilsudski stood up and saluted Cooper and the other Americans, saying, “Honor to you, brave Americans! You shall have your squadron. What will you call it?”
Cooper responded, “We will call it the Kosciuszko Squadron in honor of your great patriot Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who came to America’s aid in its hour of need.”
Cooper and his squadron flew over 400 combat missions in the one-and-a-half-year war. In the final decisive battle of the war, which is called “The Miracle on the Vistula River,” Cooper and his Kosciuszko Squadron had a dramatic impact on the miraculous Polish victory.
The mission of the Kosciuszko Squadron was to prevent the Bolshevik cavalry (which was planning to hit Warsaw from the south of Poland as over a hundred thousand Soviet infantry were hitting Warsaw from the east) from arriving on time.
Cooper and his squadron relentlessly attacked the Bolshevik cavalry with diving raids from the air. They scattered the cavalry so effectively that it never reached Warsaw.
Three of the Americans were killed in this heroic campaign. Cooper himself was shot down and captured by the Bolsheviks. He was imprisoned in the worst Soviet prison camp in Moscow. To the Americans and the Poles, Cooper was thought to be dead.
With no Bolshevik cavalry hitting Warsaw from the south, Pilsudski and his Polish forces smashed the Bolshevik infantry at the gates of Warsaw. Lenin sued for peace after the Polish victory, fearing that the West might join with Poland to attack Russia and overturn his revolution.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur called “The Miracle on the Vistula River” the 21st-most important battle in world history. He believed that if it had gone the other way, all of Europe would have likely fallen under Lenin and communism.
Cooper incredibly escaped from the Moscow prison camp six months after the conclusion of the war. Lenin sent a regiment after him and put a bounty on his head. Whoever captured or killed Cooper would get a state pension and never have to work again. But Cooper triumphantly returned to Warsaw and received an incredible hero’s welcome from the Polish people and government.
Thousands of Polish citizens attended the award ceremonies in Warsaw. Cooper and several other American pilots received Poland’s highest military honor, the Militari Virtuti medal, Poland’s equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Pilsudski personally pinned the medals on Cooper and his fellow Americans.
The Polish Parliament awarded Cooper a landed gentry’s manor estate and a lifetime pension, which Cooper graciously declined. He reminded everyone present that Kosciuszko had received and declined a similar gracious and appreciative offer from the American Continental Congress, saying, “The right to fight for your freedom was payment enough.”
Poles, in their immense love and appreciation for Cooper and his volunteer American pilots, built a spectacular commemorative monument to the American pilots and buried the three pilots who lost their lives underneath the monument. The inscription on the monument in both English and Polish reads, “They died so that we could live free.”
Cooper returned to America and became one of the greatest Hollywood producers of the first half of the 20th century. He created and produced over 40 other classic movies.
At the height of his Hollywood career in 1942, Cooper left Hollywood and voluntarily reenlisted in the Air Force. He became the oldest active-duty fighter pilot, flying combat missions for the U.S. in World War II. He flew with Gen. Claire Lee Chennault’s Flying Tigers.
He became chief of staff to Chennault before the end of the war and ran logistics for Doolittle’s legendary raid on Japan.
Cooper was also aboard the battleship Missouri to witness the Japanese surrender as a partial reward for his incredible career. He retired from the military with the rank of brigadier general.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Cooper became one of America’s strongest anti-communist voices. He housed many exiles from Poland and the other communist-occupied captive nations.
Cooper was one of Ronald Reagan’s greatest Hollywood supporters when Reagan ran for governor of California, before Cooper died in 1973.
This story of fearless courage, honor, and patriotism is an inspirational example of how fearless patriots can stand strong against the new threat of Marxist revolutionaries in America today and can beat it back, just as the Poles did with their fearless American friends at the Battle of Warsaw 100 years ago.
A major Hollywood blockbuster film is in the works to tell the inspirational story of Cooper and the legendary Kosciuszko Squadron he formed in the Polish Bolshevik War of 1919–1920 and to commemorate and honor the Miracle on the Vistula River on Aug. 15, 1920 — the greatest true story linking Poland and America in freedom-fighting glory.
William Ciosek, a founding board member of the Foundation to Illuminate America’s Heroes, has spent more than 20 years researching Cooper’s story.
