I and my friends were draft age when this happened. We had just graduated from a school experience that included regular nuclear attack drills and the draft with a two-year service was an obligation of every man our age. We were the ones who would be called to fight. That was before internet or 24-hour news TV or even radio stations. We tuned the radio to a station that gave five-minute updates every hour as our best source of immediate news. When we weren’t listening we were talking, imaginations running wild about what was coming and most of us apprehensive about the prospect of fighting a nuclear war, wondering at times how you even did that. I think most of us saw ourselves as grunts, not the guys who would deliver the counter measures and the undercurrent was what good would we be if we even survived the initial blasts. When Khrushchev finally backed down, you could almost hear the whole country breathe a collective sigh of relief.
I guess we all owe this guy our unending gratitude. I had never heard of this before it showed up on facebook today. I hope all the credits come through all right.
Posted on facebook by:
50 years ago today, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasili Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain's order to launch nuclear torpedos against US warships and setting off what might well have been a terminal superpower nuclear war.
The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to 'blast the warships out of the water'. Arkhipov refused to agree - unanimous consent of 3 officers was required - and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.
His story is finally being told - the BBC is airing a documentary on it.
Raise a glass to Vasili Arkhipov - the Man Who Saved the World.
PS - The PBS documentary, 'The Man who Saved the World', is online here:
http://video.pbs.org/
The documentary claims the facts of the matter were only 'recently' revealed. This is not quite true; the Boston Globe reported on it 10 years ago in 2002:
http://
The Wikipedia article was created in 2005, citing a 2004 book by Noam Chomsky:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/
The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to 'blast the warships out of the water'. Arkhipov refused to agree - unanimous consent of 3 officers was required - and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.
His story is finally being told - the BBC is airing a documentary on it.
Raise a glass to Vasili Arkhipov - the Man Who Saved the World.
PS - The PBS documentary, 'The Man who Saved the World', is online here:
http://video.pbs.org/
The documentary claims the facts of the matter were only 'recently' revealed. This is not quite true; the Boston Globe reported on it 10 years ago in 2002:
http://
The Wikipedia article was created in 2005, citing a 2004 book by Noam Chomsky:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/
— with Sarah Pasquis and Daniel Alouidor.
A couple of comments from friends on facebook:
Betty Sederquist Wow, this shows how close it was. I was in a high school tennis class (hate tennis to this day), overlooking Aerojet, a missile testing place in the far off valley below us, and we saw giant clouds of smoke rising. We all panicked, given the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tense times indeed.
Kitty Delorey Fleischman I will never forget the day that was happening. My dad dropped us at school every morning. Our house was about five miles from the school, and Dad's work was about 35 miles from there. Every morning he'd give us a kiss out the window before he left, but that day he got out of the car, gave each of us a big hug and kiss, and told us how much he loved us. He told my older brother and I that if something happened and he couldn't get home, we were to keep the other three kids together and get all of us home to be with Mom and my youngest brother, and that he'd be there as soon as he could. It was very clear that he didn't think we'd all be together again. Terrible day!
A couple of comments from friends on facebook:
Betty Sederquist Wow, this shows how close it was. I was in a high school tennis class (hate tennis to this day), overlooking Aerojet, a missile testing place in the far off valley below us, and we saw giant clouds of smoke rising. We all panicked, given the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tense times indeed.
Kitty Delorey Fleischman I will never forget the day that was happening. My dad dropped us at school every morning. Our house was about five miles from the school, and Dad's work was about 35 miles from there. Every morning he'd give us a kiss out the window before he left, but that day he got out of the car, gave each of us a big hug and kiss, and told us how much he loved us. He told my older brother and I that if something happened and he couldn't get home, we were to keep the other three kids together and get all of us home to be with Mom and my youngest brother, and that he'd be there as soon as he could. It was very clear that he didn't think we'd all be together again. Terrible day!
It's amazing to see some of the things that are being re-revealed through the Inernet. Here's to Vasili!
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