I present today's post in the continuing effort to point out the false belief that the Cold War was fought without firing a shot. It is not true.
One of those Cold War casualties happened 53 years ago today.
Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. was a U-2 pilot who lost his life as a result of direct SAM missile fire from the Soviets stationed on Cuba. During Anderson's photographic overflight mission in the sky above Cuba on October 27, 1962; Soviet Lieutenant General Stephan Grechko gave the order to fire two SA-2 SAMs that brought down Anderson's aircraft.
Major Rudolf Anderson Jr.
This trigger action, and the naval blockade confrontations, caused both world leaders, Kennedy and Khrushchev, to pause and think about where the escalation in hostilities was leading, and as we now know, negotiate a settlement.
There is always a cause and effect to every action in life and this action motivated the start of negotiations that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis peacefully.
Please link over an read the full article at History.com. It has many additional facts surrounding this event in Cold War history.
Did you know that not all the nukes left the island right away?
To learn more; link over to the complete article and other interesting facts here.
Thank you to the website History.com for access to the article and photograph.
The long discussed "Able Archer 83" exercise war scare report from 1990 has been declassified and released to the public with the headline that the event was "REAL". I was not there but for those of you that were, I am quite sure you knew it was REAL!
I did a quick look at President Reagan's published diary pages for the early November time line of the exercise and of course no specific "Able Archer 83" entry. His November 2 entry was about Grenada and the Martin Luther King Jr. day bill signing. He traveled extensively in those 10 days. The only hints that something happened are in the November 4 entry - " . . . We flew back to Wash. - a few meetings & then to Camp David . . ." and then the November 5 & 6 entry - " . . . I think Security had some worries about a plot to rocket the M-1." (1).
The events of the "Able Archer 83" exercise are probably not foreign to some of this blog's audience. As I said above, I was not involved but if you were and want to share your story of how you were involved in "Able Archer 83" now that you can speak of it, I will be glad to post it on The Proud Cold Warrior blog for the world to read. Write a short article of 300-500 words and email it to proudcoldwarrior@gmail.com.
I'd love it if any of my overseas readers would provide the view from the European or Soviet viewpoint. My analytic software shows that I have 255 readers in Russia and hundreds more throughout Europe. I'd have to load the translation module but I will do so if you do not know English.
I, as many other Cold War era veterans, waited in anticipation for the Bridge of Spies movie to be released. Must be over a year or more ago that it was announced that two Hollywood icons of the modern age of movie making were doing the film, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Both of these men know how to draw in the viewer, entertain you while you are there, and then leave you thinking about what you had just seen for a lingering time thereafter.
How did they do this time you may ask?
From the viewpoint of the amateur Cold War historian that I am, it was worth the wait.
Yes, prior to seeing the movie, I researched the true story, read other's articles that were released when the movie was announced, and then waited for IMDB to release a trailer. The date came, movie tickets purchased (I took a non-veteran companion, my wife), and read a self-limited amount of the post release reviews from professional reviewers. I mainly read the other reviews to see how it is done for this is my first ever movie review.
After seeing the movie, I read some of the national press reviews, which I will comment on below.
OK, lets get started. Yes, I will see it again. The next time will be from the non-reviewer viewpoint. Did I enjoy it? Yes I did enjoy the whole movie. The story flowed well, there were no slow periods, there was enough diversity of scenes, and sub-plots to keep you informed of the true events and interested in what was going to happen next. In the humble opinion as a first time reviewer, Spielberg and Hanks did a good job of keeping me interested in what was going to happen next. Anticipation of where the movie is taking you is a key to being immersed in the story. Even though I knew the real story, I still gained a sense that there was something for me to see or learn in the next few minutes.
When I decided to review the movie for this blog I was at odds as to how to do it, what to say, etc so I read other movie reviews to see how it is done. Most were bad in that they either waxed philosophically about the subject or did a scene by scene description of the movie. Some were evidently trying to show how intelligent they were. You won't have that problem here with me!
I did not want to spoil the movie by doing a scene by scene description, I didn't want to try and sound like I'm this great movie aficionado, or share how intelligent I think I am; so what to do?
I decided to just take notes on certain points that grabbed me as a Cold War veteran and share them.
Here they are:
It was a war, a war of information, not of arms - true - the build up of arms was part of it but in the late 50s and early 60s, it was a war of information gathering. What was the other guy up to?
We have rules, there is a rule book, the Constitution - this scene is a not so subtle reminder that our legal system does have a rule book. It has been forgotten now and then in our Country's history.
There is a great scene that is gaining popularity with the other reviewers and it did strike me enough to recognize it. I see the "Standing Man" reference from the viewpoint that we veterans have that quality. I won't spoil the scene here by describing it or commenting on it any further.
The CGI in the U-2 shoot down is very well done.
Berlin is bleak - there are a few references as to the differences between the East and West sectors showing that East Berlin was still quite devastated 15 years after the war's end. If there is a reader who was there in that time period, please comment if this was true or not.
The differences in how the prisoners were treated in jail - East v. West, was shown though Spielberg chose to not show the Soviet spy, Abel's, treatment when he was in government custody prior to the trial. The viewer sees the arrest but does not get to see his interrogations. You do see Powers being interrogated several times.
A poignant scene for me is the shooting at the wall the Tom Hanks character, Donovan, witnesses. It later revisits his mind at the end of the movie and makes an unspoken statement of a major difference in American society to that of the Communist society of the era.
There is a twist during the Berlin negotiations that I just now decided to not share specifics here. I don't like "spoiler alerts" that other reviewers do so I won't do it here. Just watch for it.
As for other reviews and online comments - Spielberg took great pains to show small parts of life in America during those years. There is a scene that shows America of the early 60s through a commuter train window. This struck me during reading other revues and the comments of people who read them. The derogatory remarks about how wonderful everything looked, everyone was smartly dressed, etc made me think that these commenters do not know our country's societal history. The 50s and 60s were a prosperous time for America. The environment a successful lawyer lived in was that way. He would have had a nice home, would have shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue, his children and wife would have been dressed that way. The streets would have been clean, and well maintained homes and cars, would have been reality. Not everywhere was that way of course, especially in the inner cities, but in a successful lawyer's world, it would have been. I apologize, that was my soapbox moment for today!
Earlier I mention that Spielberg movies always leave you thinking about something, well, here is mine. There are two actually, one personal and one societal.
The Soviet spy, Abel, is a cool, calm, collected kind of character. He never seems to get rattled and answers, multiple times, with a question to the question - Don't you worry? Abel answers, Would it help? I need to instill that philosophy to my life.
The societal thought comes to me when I visualize two scenes from the movie. Spielberg has the Donovan character witness a Berlin Wall shooting that cancels the flight to freedom over the Berlin Wall for a group of young people trying to escape. The last scene is that of a group of young Americans jumping a fence in a backyard. My mind instantly saw the previous Berlin scene and realized where Spielberg was going with it - it was a statement of our two immensely different worlds at that time - the value of life given for the attempt at freedom. The Berlin youths wanted freedom badly enough to die for it. The American youths enjoy it as a God given right.
The Patrick Henry historical quote comes to mind - "If life is so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!".
Go see the movie, you will be glad you did.
Here is a glimpse:
Thank you to YouTube.com and DreamWorks Pictures/Fox 2000 Pictures for access to the trailer.
I woke up this morning as the sun was peaking through the curtains from a sound, level 4 REM sleep, dreaming of days gone by. It was the early 1970s, towards the end of the Vietnam War era, a part of my life that seems to creep back into to mind way too often now. Especially when I learn of a fellow veteran of those years passing on, as I learned twice in the past week. One from natural causes and one from suicide.
As an aspiring writer, I've trained myself to immediately write down my dreams for future story fodder. As I did so, the following poem emerged. It follows the dream sequence. Please excuse the structure for it is the first poem I have ever written.
MY BOY IS COMING HOME TODAY
My boy is coming home today
Smartly dressed children at play
Proud woman pressing his shirt
My boy is coming home today
Military man's photo on a mantel
The doorbell rings, it is time
My boy is coming home today
Apprehension swells for all
A row of black cars at the ready
My boy is coming home today
Silent procession through the streets
A strong hand holds hers
My boy is coming home today
Red, white, and blue
Folded flag, volley fire, taps
My boy is coming home today
He always stood up for others
And gave his life for them
My boy came home today
Please feel free to share this poem with others through social media, email, etc. Share it with your friends, relatives, and veterans where it may mean something to that person.
The copyright statement below is for anyone who would use this for commercial purposes. For that person, please connect with me at proudcoldwarrior@gmail.com, and we can discuss royalty compensation.
