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Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

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Paul B

Paul B

proper brummie kid
Today I looked out of my bedroom window and witnessed a glorious sunrise, the sort that makes you grateful for being alive. Today is also the anniversary of the end of one of the potentially most catastrophic events in modern human history. It is deeply engraved on my memory.

I was 10 years old at the time. It was lunchtime and I was playing in the school yard at Wyndcliffe Road Junior School, Small Heath. Some kids must have returned from lunch at home because suddenly the girls around us started crying and screaming, and a rumour went around the playground that the aeroplanes were coming to drop bombs on us and we were all going to die. I remember vividly trying to be brave, but we were all looking up to try and see the bombs falling from the sky. It was one of those "where was I when?" moments.

Can’t remember much of the class after lunch except the teachers trying to calm us all, saying not to worry, it was going to be alright.

Years later from the news media I came to appreciate how close we all were to thermonuclear annihilation at the time, but only recently did I appreciate just how close, but for the actions of one mostly unknown man, Vasili Arkhipov.

www.theguardian.com

Thank you Vasili Arkhipov, the man who stopped nuclear war | Edward Wilson

Edward Wilson: Fifty years ago, Arkhipov, a senior officer on the Soviet B-59 submarine, refused permission to launch its nuclear torpedo
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

I often think of this one man, but for whom I wouldn't be able to look at the sunrise today or write about events on this forum. A name to be remembered on this anniversary.
 
A playground moment for me too. Someone said to me that "We will see in a few minutes" and I didn't know what he was talking about. Ignorance was definitely bliss.
 
I remember listening to President Kennedy's speech late one evening in October 1962 and thought the Russians will never turn round the ships carrying the missiles to Cuba.

In the office next morning the opinion was that 'this was it' and the chat was 'what shall do in the few days we have got left' and where was the best place to shelter when the nuclear bombs were launched at us. One Icelandic overseas worker with us knew Britain would be a prime target so said his goodbyes had caught a flight home to be with his family. We jokingly discussed the impending nuclear destruction but were worried.

Over the next few days we watched and listened to the news as the Russian ships approached Cuba and then Kruschev ordered the ships to turn round and life carried on ... :)
 
oldMohawk said:
I remember listening to President Kennedy's speech late one evening in October 1962 and thought the Russians will never turn round the ships carrying the missiles to Cuba.

In the office next morning the opinion was that 'this was it' and the chat was 'what shall do in the few days we have got left' and where was the best place to shelter when the nuclear bombs were launched at us. One Icelandic overseas worker with us knew Britain would be a prime target so said his goodbyes had caught a flight home to be with his family. We jokingly discussed the impending nuclear destruction but were worried.

Over the next few days we watched and listened to the news as the Russian ships approached Cuba and then Kruschev ordered the ships to turn round and life carried on ... :)
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I was stationed in Germany at the time & i remember we were given a speech by our CO. It went something like this " Pending the possibility of nuclear war in the coming days, i would advise you to limit your intake of alcohol for the foreseeable future as we may be needed" Needed for what? If nuclear war does break out i shall up my intake of alcohol (not that i needed an excuse) & go with a silly smile on my face.
 
Strangely perhaps, but as a 13 year old schoolboy I was oblivious to the thoughts of impending nuclear destruction and just went on with my life not really being aware of the seriousness of the situation. Idont remember any of my friends either being scared, or concerns from Mum and Dad.
Was it just me.
 
No, not even Birmingham's secret underground nuclear communication bunkers. So secret that practically everyone seems to know the whereabouts of some of the concealed entrances. So much money spent on such follies, and those that authorised the enormous expenditure are probably the ones with the entrance passes should the unthinkable ever come to happen.

MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION (MAD)… After which it is said that the living will envy the dead.

More than well done Vasili. Would I ever have your courage?

www.birminghammail.co.uk

Waiting for Armageddon: The hidden tunnels under Brum

Birmingham's secret nuclear bunker ran along excavations under city's Jewellery Quarter
www.birminghammail.co.uk www.birminghammail.co.uk
 
I remember being asked 'What would you do if a nuclear strike was aimed at Birmingham?' I replied 'Get the bus into Birmingham'. I lived in Selly Park at the time and reckoned that 'vaporisation' was better than any of the other possible outcomes
 
Smudger said:
I was stationed in Germany at the time & i remember we were given a speech by our CO. It went something like this " Pending the possibility of nuclear war in the coming days, i would advise you to limit your intake of alcohol for the foreseeable future as we may be needed" Needed for what? If nuclear war does break out i shall up my intake of alcohol (not that i needed an excuse) & go with a silly smile on my face.
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I was in Germany when all that was going on too. We were a missile regiment, equipped with Honest John nuclear rockets. We thought we were going to get busy for a while but fortunately Krushchev wasn't as barmy as we thought !
 
Does anyone remember the government advice given to civilians in the event of a nuclear attack? Remove a door and lean it against the wall. Place the sofa in front of it and whitewash your windows. This is your nuclear shelter.

The politicians of course all went down their reinforced concrete radiation proof bunkers.

The Americans started their Duck and Cover campaign. Have a look on You Tube
 
Elmdon Boy,

No you weren't the only one that just carried on with their everyday business. I had become a pro-musician only four months previously and with my wife pregnant with her first child. I should have been in Switzerland just starting an extended tour of the country, but about a week before we were due to leave the UK, the guy organising the whole shebang - ironically his name was Mantovani, but was no relation to the well known orchestra leader - had had a serious heart attack. It seemed that he had no capable backup man, and his family were naturally more concerned about his health than a now unemployed band in the UK. I never did get to Switzerland until I drove through it over 40 years later!

Maurice :-)
 
This was shortly after I left the RAF and became a firefighter. However, with the knowledge that I had at the time I decided to do nothing. Marriage was a year away so I had few commitments to others. I had no wish to emerge from any form of protection just to find a devastated and contaminated world, although I was expecting a letter to return to the RAF. Even in the South West there were places of interest to enemies, such as the dockyard at Plymouth.
 
A comment about those times in another forum thread ...
oldMohawk said:
In 1959 I was a young draughtsman at company in Witton and we had a civil defence manager and once a week we had to go to what we young ones thought were boring lectures about civil defence. One 'exercise' I remember was when we had to lower a young office boy who was strapped to a stretcher from the top floor of an office block. Half way down the stretcher got stuck and we had to get the maintenance people to bring long ladders to get it down.
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57 years later...
"Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that current tension between Russia and the West is putting the world in "colossal danger" due to the threat from nuclear weapons."
 
Benjaz said:
According to the researchers, the crisis happened in Cuba and it was a form of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR.
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Some of us are old enough not to need any research! The Russians were in the process of installing missiles in Cuba which gave the potential to attack the USA with virtually no warning. The missiles were on their way and could be seen as deck cargo on Russian ships. The USA issued an ultimatum to the Russians putting us on the brink of war. Some people in the UK were watching the clock, half expecting that might be the last thing they would ever see, Fortunately for us all the Russians backed-down and the ships turned around.
 
Spargone said:
Some of us are old enough not to need any research! The Russians were in the process of installing missiles in Cuba which gave the potential to attack the USA with virtually no warning. The missiles were on their way and could be seen as deck cargo on Russian ships. The USA issued an ultimatum to the Russians putting us on the brink of war. Some people in the UK were watching the clock, half expecting that might be the last thing they would ever see, Fortunately for us all the Russians backed-down and the ships turned around.
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I was in Germany when the Cuban crisis developed. We were put on standby & it is my opinion that when the Russians heard that 68 Sqn were geared up & ready to go, they immediately retreated back to barracks & their beloved Vodka. Nostrovia !
 
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