Departing from this stirring and very frightening 60-years-ago-today step by step account of the most dangerous 24 hours of the Cuban Missile Crisis to warzone, Ukraine, where our treasured subscriber friend, Allen Hingston, traveled in order to take his wife, Tanya, and dog, Lucky, to Canada for safety.
'Arrived home yesterday tired and happy to be here. Got many hugs and kisses from Tanya. Lucky was glad to see me too but no kisses. He hates kisses. Tell the folks from LFAA that I am fine and also 83 emails behind in my reading including two LFAA.'
Allen or I will let you know when the family is in Canada, so that you can make contact with him. Who knows, he may drop by himself. We'll see.
PS In addition to being a nervous wreck reading this account, I was transfixed by the looks of The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady". It is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and ‘... remains the supreme, go-to jet for high-altitude reconnaissance. U-2s have been around since the 1950s and the US Air Force fleet maintains more than 30 of the spy planes.’
I read LFAA, TAFM, and Thom Hartman, even when I don't have time to read the rest.
Knew a guy who told me he was in the Philippines sitting in the cockpit with the engine running that day. Hope to hell that the ICBMs cant be jury rigged to bypass the red button anymore.
Have you seen this? A composite of the Russian version of their war against Ukraine. Zhovti Vody gets honourable mention as the location where the dirty bomb is being assembled. It reads like Fox News - not a word of truth in any of it.
Allen, Thanks for telling me in advance that there isn't a word of truth from Zhovti Vody in the Newsweek article. I am so happy to see you. I warned TAFMers that you might show up. As thrilled as I am to see you, I'm like, Lucky, where your concerned - no kisses from me! Safe journey to Canada. Please keep us posted. 🌻
This is chilling yet fascinating. I was 9 when the Cuban missile crisis occurred. We had frequent bomb drills at school and I remember these ridiculous bomb shelters for sale around town. They looked like a fiberglass igloo and would have melted tout suite. That said, it was an incredibly frightening time and as a child did not understand what or why it was happening. Thank you TC for this comprehensive explanation and history lesson. Looks like we had good reason to be very frightened.
Indeed we did. I was in the Navy then and I will never forget the night Kennedy first announcdd the crisis. San Diego was full of ships and the next morning it was empty.
I've been looking for you MaryPat. The attack on Paul Pelosi is what some of us expected to happen to N. Pelosi and up and down the chain a while ago. Anticipating doesn't solve anything. Violence was one of DJT's mandates and he's got a lot of company. Withal, MaryPat, I'm on the verge of frozen and furious and deeply quiet. Speak!
Thanks for making contact Fern!! So sorry you - and we all - are caught up in this cyclone of pre-election terrors and real threats to democracy. My only saving grace, ironically, is that despite wearing K95 masks and getting vaccines, I was gifted with COVID last week, and read these missives through an indifferent hot tea & honey & lemon & whiskey fog. May have to continue the treatment long after I test negative, or at least through November 8th. HUGS to you Fern!
MaryPat, I wish I was with you. You'd get something much stronger in your system. Don't ask we what in this setting. Oh, pal, we'll talk more. This longer than usual recovery … okay, it is what it is. Let's keep in touch.💓💞💖
At the time, the news covered very little of what was actually happening. My memory of the crisis consists mostly of being frustrated with my 7th grade history teacher, who insisted that we watch the TV news and read the newspaper articles and discuss them in class. I remember him being “hair-on-fire” worried and upset about it and not understanding why.
Reading this account makes me see how incredibly serious it was and how lucky we are that none of those bits and pieces went the wrong way.
The day before was Friday, and at the Catholic school I was attending, it was test and quiz day to review all the lessons of the week. The only good thing was that after lunch, it was usually Art class day, a break from all the lessons that were being crammed into our heads, but this Friday, the whole school went to the parish church for a special novena and recital of the rosary. I remember the priest asking the kids to pray for blessings and guidance for the President (a Catholic POTUS) and for our military. But for a 12 year old kid…what was going on? Why were all the adults so somber…it didn’t register until years laters in college when one of the History department professors walked the class through the events leading up to the crisis in Cuba that it clicked into focus how close the world was to Armageddon that weekend in October. That was some really scary stuff but most of those lessons have been forgotten since. I tell my niece and nephews about it and the seriousness of it doesn’t register.
I was 17 and driving 90 miles a day with my sister to our Catholic High School in St.Leo, Florida, not far from McCoy in Orlando, and very close to MacDill AFB, which became a Strike Command base as a result of the Cuban crisis.
I watched the news and was old enough to know we were in serious trouble. My Spanish teacher was a young Cuban woman who had fled her country and told us stories of dodging bullets on her way to University in Havana. The Pedro Pan airlift of children out of Cuba brought many young refugees into our lives who could not get in contact with their parents. Havana , which had been a place of music, casinos and tourism for Floridians, was now a threat and its former dictator had fled for his life and lived among us in Florida, still fearing for his life.
Our drive to school was on US98, then a completely rural road for a good 30 miles of it-- just the fields and the cows! I was petrified that we would be in the middle of nowhere when missiles started flying. I just wanted either to be home or at school but not by ourselves in between if war started and if we were to die.
So, this is my report of what was happening to us on the ordinary level to go along with your gripping description of all that was happening on the decision making levels. TY
Wow. Can't imagine the terror of being so close. In Michigan we at least believed we had time to get to our bomb shelters. My dad had cemented the ceiling of our basement storage room, and Mom lined the room with shelves of canned goods and camping equipment and batteries for our transistor radios. Forgot about all that...
I know. TC's grippingly detailed report brought it all back to me. Mostly how scared I was. I am glad I did not, at the time, know all the stuff he told us today or I would have never driven to school that week!
I was young in 1962 and had no clue about what was happening. But I knew that we had a close call, and I became more than aware of political shenanigans. They were no longer abstract threats. That didn’t change when “we” elected a clown with flamethrowers. There are still plenty of morons who are itching for another go round, or are they more interested in capitulation. Thank you for the play by play. It is painfully instructive.
I was 4 then. We lived in a suburb of San Diego. Not quite 12 miles east from the 32nd St Naval Station. To think I was that close to not making it to 5.
Terrific recounting of that moment. TCinLA. One if best. Was 11. Remember it well. (Particularly the NYT headlines - back in the day - before they became subtle and not so subtle Republican propagandists.) Although I don’t know Allan Hingston, I’m sending my prayers and congratulations and wrapping them in hugs for all he’s experienced and the ultimate success he’s enjoyed. What a world we live in. Wish it weren’t so. ❤️🤍💙
There is a difference in knowing it was a crucial crisis, and knowing precisely how and what. Thank you for the record TC.
Are the missiles not back in Turkey? Wasn't that why the Turks shot down a Russian jet that came too close during the war in Syria? German journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer reported that IS was using the area to pass between Turkey and Syria, "under the US nuclear umbrella". Now that there are nukes in Poland one would think it was not necessary to have any in Turkey.
I was surprised there was only one report on Swedish Radio, and no other media covering, when the missiles were placed in Poland. This was in media shadow from some other big event being covered, I forgot what. There was an intervju with a Polish neighbour farmer, who said he felt safer with the missiles in place. ISIS maybe just wanted to show off to the one journalist they were letting in, how smart they were.
This was during my first semester, freshman year in college. I remember sitting around a table in the Commons with friends discussing this, waiting to hear more, but doubt we knew very many details. My main concern was for my "uncle-in-law" who was Information Officer board USS Roosevelt; never knew how close his ship was to annihilation but worried all the same.
Departing from this stirring and very frightening 60-years-ago-today step by step account of the most dangerous 24 hours of the Cuban Missile Crisis to warzone, Ukraine, where our treasured subscriber friend, Allen Hingston, traveled in order to take his wife, Tanya, and dog, Lucky, to Canada for safety.
'Arrived home yesterday tired and happy to be here. Got many hugs and kisses from Tanya. Lucky was glad to see me too but no kisses. He hates kisses. Tell the folks from LFAA that I am fine and also 83 emails behind in my reading including two LFAA.'
Allen or I will let you know when the family is in Canada, so that you can make contact with him. Who knows, he may drop by himself. We'll see.
PS In addition to being a nervous wreck reading this account, I was transfixed by the looks of The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady". It is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and ‘... remains the supreme, go-to jet for high-altitude reconnaissance. U-2s have been around since the 1950s and the US Air Force fleet maintains more than 30 of the spy planes.’
Hi, Fern
I read LFAA, TAFM, and Thom Hartman, even when I don't have time to read the rest.
Knew a guy who told me he was in the Philippines sitting in the cockpit with the engine running that day. Hope to hell that the ICBMs cant be jury rigged to bypass the red button anymore.
Have you seen this? A composite of the Russian version of their war against Ukraine. Zhovti Vody gets honourable mention as the location where the dirty bomb is being assembled. It reads like Fox News - not a word of truth in any of it.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-preparing-nuclear-explosion-anti-russian-provocation-report-1754302
Thanks for the compliment Allen. Good luck and best wishes on getting everyone and everything safe to Canada.
Hi Allen, always good to see you here and at LFAA...still praying for your family`s safety.
Thanks also for your perspective on what is actually happening.
Allen, Thanks for telling me in advance that there isn't a word of truth from Zhovti Vody in the Newsweek article. I am so happy to see you. I warned TAFMers that you might show up. As thrilled as I am to see you, I'm like, Lucky, where your concerned - no kisses from me! Safe journey to Canada. Please keep us posted. 🌻
Safe travels Allen. Hugs to you all, including Lucky. ❤️
So many moments when emotions and/or a simple mistake could have ended life on Earth as we know it.
Nuclear weapons are nuts. They exist because we are a dysfunctional species toying with planetary destruction.
This is chilling yet fascinating. I was 9 when the Cuban missile crisis occurred. We had frequent bomb drills at school and I remember these ridiculous bomb shelters for sale around town. They looked like a fiberglass igloo and would have melted tout suite. That said, it was an incredibly frightening time and as a child did not understand what or why it was happening. Thank you TC for this comprehensive explanation and history lesson. Looks like we had good reason to be very frightened.
Indeed we did. I was in the Navy then and I will never forget the night Kennedy first announcdd the crisis. San Diego was full of ships and the next morning it was empty.
Wow! I had no idea it came as close as it did.
Wow.
I've been looking for you MaryPat. The attack on Paul Pelosi is what some of us expected to happen to N. Pelosi and up and down the chain a while ago. Anticipating doesn't solve anything. Violence was one of DJT's mandates and he's got a lot of company. Withal, MaryPat, I'm on the verge of frozen and furious and deeply quiet. Speak!
Thanks for making contact Fern!! So sorry you - and we all - are caught up in this cyclone of pre-election terrors and real threats to democracy. My only saving grace, ironically, is that despite wearing K95 masks and getting vaccines, I was gifted with COVID last week, and read these missives through an indifferent hot tea & honey & lemon & whiskey fog. May have to continue the treatment long after I test negative, or at least through November 8th. HUGS to you Fern!
Best wishes, MaryPat. The good news is, the vaccines will make it just the Cold From Hell, not Hell Itself.
Thanks, TC. That's been my experience. Have progressed up to Purgatory and hopefully through the worst now. Stay safe everyone!
MaryPat, I wish I was with you. You'd get something much stronger in your system. Don't ask we what in this setting. Oh, pal, we'll talk more. This longer than usual recovery … okay, it is what it is. Let's keep in touch.💓💞💖
Healing energies and prayers to you. The kinship in these pages is deeply astounding. Endless blessings and a rapid recovery!
Thank You!
At the time, the news covered very little of what was actually happening. My memory of the crisis consists mostly of being frustrated with my 7th grade history teacher, who insisted that we watch the TV news and read the newspaper articles and discuss them in class. I remember him being “hair-on-fire” worried and upset about it and not understanding why.
Reading this account makes me see how incredibly serious it was and how lucky we are that none of those bits and pieces went the wrong way.
I remember ducking under the desk in 4th grade and something about Cuba and Russia; knew it was serious, but not exactly why.
The day before was Friday, and at the Catholic school I was attending, it was test and quiz day to review all the lessons of the week. The only good thing was that after lunch, it was usually Art class day, a break from all the lessons that were being crammed into our heads, but this Friday, the whole school went to the parish church for a special novena and recital of the rosary. I remember the priest asking the kids to pray for blessings and guidance for the President (a Catholic POTUS) and for our military. But for a 12 year old kid…what was going on? Why were all the adults so somber…it didn’t register until years laters in college when one of the History department professors walked the class through the events leading up to the crisis in Cuba that it clicked into focus how close the world was to Armageddon that weekend in October. That was some really scary stuff but most of those lessons have been forgotten since. I tell my niece and nephews about it and the seriousness of it doesn’t register.
I really have some PTSD from that Crisis.
I was 17 and driving 90 miles a day with my sister to our Catholic High School in St.Leo, Florida, not far from McCoy in Orlando, and very close to MacDill AFB, which became a Strike Command base as a result of the Cuban crisis.
I watched the news and was old enough to know we were in serious trouble. My Spanish teacher was a young Cuban woman who had fled her country and told us stories of dodging bullets on her way to University in Havana. The Pedro Pan airlift of children out of Cuba brought many young refugees into our lives who could not get in contact with their parents. Havana , which had been a place of music, casinos and tourism for Floridians, was now a threat and its former dictator had fled for his life and lived among us in Florida, still fearing for his life.
Our drive to school was on US98, then a completely rural road for a good 30 miles of it-- just the fields and the cows! I was petrified that we would be in the middle of nowhere when missiles started flying. I just wanted either to be home or at school but not by ourselves in between if war started and if we were to die.
So, this is my report of what was happening to us on the ordinary level to go along with your gripping description of all that was happening on the decision making levels. TY
Wow. Can't imagine the terror of being so close. In Michigan we at least believed we had time to get to our bomb shelters. My dad had cemented the ceiling of our basement storage room, and Mom lined the room with shelves of canned goods and camping equipment and batteries for our transistor radios. Forgot about all that...
I know. TC's grippingly detailed report brought it all back to me. Mostly how scared I was. I am glad I did not, at the time, know all the stuff he told us today or I would have never driven to school that week!
🥺
I was young in 1962 and had no clue about what was happening. But I knew that we had a close call, and I became more than aware of political shenanigans. They were no longer abstract threats. That didn’t change when “we” elected a clown with flamethrowers. There are still plenty of morons who are itching for another go round, or are they more interested in capitulation. Thank you for the play by play. It is painfully instructive.
Holy f…
I was 4 then. We lived in a suburb of San Diego. Not quite 12 miles east from the 32nd St Naval Station. To think I was that close to not making it to 5.
Terrific recounting of that moment. TCinLA. One if best. Was 11. Remember it well. (Particularly the NYT headlines - back in the day - before they became subtle and not so subtle Republican propagandists.) Although I don’t know Allan Hingston, I’m sending my prayers and congratulations and wrapping them in hugs for all he’s experienced and the ultimate success he’s enjoyed. What a world we live in. Wish it weren’t so. ❤️🤍💙
Another great compilation of the “news of the day”. I had no idea we came that close, fascinating.
There is a difference in knowing it was a crucial crisis, and knowing precisely how and what. Thank you for the record TC.
Are the missiles not back in Turkey? Wasn't that why the Turks shot down a Russian jet that came too close during the war in Syria? German journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer reported that IS was using the area to pass between Turkey and Syria, "under the US nuclear umbrella". Now that there are nukes in Poland one would think it was not necessary to have any in Turkey.
No, there are none in Turkey, and there are no offensive NATO missiles in Poland.
I was surprised there was only one report on Swedish Radio, and no other media covering, when the missiles were placed in Poland. This was in media shadow from some other big event being covered, I forgot what. There was an intervju with a Polish neighbour farmer, who said he felt safer with the missiles in place. ISIS maybe just wanted to show off to the one journalist they were letting in, how smart they were.
This was during my first semester, freshman year in college. I remember sitting around a table in the Commons with friends discussing this, waiting to hear more, but doubt we knew very many details. My main concern was for my "uncle-in-law" who was Information Officer board USS Roosevelt; never knew how close his ship was to annihilation but worried all the same.
Thanks Fern!!!