A man I wished I had known. Merian C. Cooper. 1893-1973. If you want an example of a life well-lived, I offer you Merian Caldwell Cooper. He went to the Naval Academy but was expelled in his senior year for "hell-raising and championing air power." He learned to fly in Georgia, went on to become an army pilot during WWI, survived the adventure, founded the Kosciuszko Squadron during the Polish-Soviet War and was shot down in 1920, captured by the Soviets and made a POW. The first photo is of Cooper as a Colonel in the Polish Air Force. The second is of him in Latvia after his escape from the Soviet POW camp. Returning to the US in 1921, Cooper got a job at the night shift of the New York Times.
One would think that was enough adventure for any man, but Cooper was only getting started. He traveled the world making films for the Explorers Club, which led to Hollywood. Meanwhile he was on the board of directors of Pan American Airways. In Hollywood, he worked for Pioneer Pictures, RKO Pictures, and MGM. In 1933 his production of KING KONG was released. He worked on STAGECOACH but left after disagreements.
WWII was the perfect venue for Cooper, who went to the Far East and got involved with Robert C. Scott in Burma, the same Robert C. Scott who wrote GOD IS MY COPILOT. From there Cooper went to China as Chief of Staff for Claire Chennault, head of the Flying Tigers. He worked on logistics for the Doolittle Raid.
When the US was in the war, Cooper went back to the US to recover from dysentery; his many friends in military aviation glommed onto him. Immediately commissioned a colonel, he spent the rest of WWII as Chief of Staff of the 5th Air Force Bomber Command in the western Pacific, and... get this... was present as a Brigadier General on USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay at the Japanese surrender.
Pretty damn good for a midshipmen who was expelled from the Naval Academy. Don't you wish you had known this guy? General Cooper.
No comments:
Post a Comment