Leaping Lena

This article is about the pigeon. For the train, see North Australia Railway#Commonwealth takeover. For the Vietnam War operation, see Project DELTA#History. For other uses, see Wiktionary:Leaping Lena.
Leaping Lena

Leaping Lena arriving in New York
Species Columba livia
Breed Racing pigeon
Sex female
Nation from West Germany
Occupation Cold War hero
Employer Radio Free Europe
Notable role mascot
Years active 1954-1955
Known for bearing an anti-Communist message
Website

Leaping Lena was a West German racing pigeon who got lost in Czechoslovakia during a routine 1954 flight. When she returned home two days later, there was a message addressed to Radio Free Europe attached to one of her legs. It read:[1]

We plead with you not to slow down in the fight against communism because communism must be destroyed. We beg for a speedy liberation from the power of the Kremlin and the establishment of a United States of Europe.
We listen to your broadcasts. They present a completely true picture of life behind the Iron Curtain. We would like you to tell us how we can combat bolshevism and the tyrannical dictatorship existing here.
We are taking every opportunity to work against the regime and do everything in our power to sabotage it.

It was signed "Unbowed Pilsen."

Leaping Lena was brought to the United States in August 1954,[2] quarantined for 3 weeks,[3] and then was used to raise money for Radio Free Europe as part of a publicity campaign for the Crusade for Freedom.[4]

Leaping Lena was then kept at Fort Monmouth's Pigeon Breeding and Training Center. When the Center was deactivated in 1957, fifteen hero pigeons were donated to zoos, while about a thousand others were sold to the public.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Coos and Kudos to Greet 'Anti-Red' Pigeon Who Flew Message Through Iron Curtain". The New York Times. 1 August 1954. p. 32.
  2. ↑ "Iron Curtain Bird Here on Crusade". The New York Times. 2 August 1954. p. 10.
  3. ↑ "Heroine Pigeon Now a 'Citizen'". The New York Times. 23 August 1954. p. 19.
  4. ↑ Cummings. Radio Free Europe's "Crusade for Freedom". pp. 116–117.
  5. ↑ A History of Army Communications and Electronics at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, 1917–2007. Government Printing Office. 2008. p. 26. Lena's fate is not stated.

Further reading

External links

The following raise skepticism, noting that the Crusade for Freedom was a CIA front.

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