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Contact Info
Last Address CASTROVILLE, CA
Date of Passing Aug 16, 2014
Location of Interment Riverside National Cemetery (VA) - Riverside, California
Description The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the Caribbean Crisis or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation, elements of which were televised, was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, and the presence of American Jupiter ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter future harassment of Cuba. An agreement was reached during a secret meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962 and construction of a number of missile launch facilities started later that summer.
The 1962 midterm elections were under way in the United States and the White House had denied charges that it was ignoring dangerous Soviet missiles 90 miles from Florida. These missile preparations were confirmed when an Air Force U-2 spy plane produced clear photographic evidence of medium-range (SS-4) and intermediate-range (R-14) ballistic missile facilities. The United States established a military blockade to prevent further missiles from entering Cuba. It announced that they would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the weapons already in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the USSR.
After a long period of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a U.S. public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba again without direct provocation. Secretly, the United States also agreed that it would dismantle all U.S.-built Jupiter MRBMs, which were deployed in Turkey and Italy against the Soviet Union but were not known to the public.
When all offensive missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba, the blockade was formally ended on November 20, 1962. The negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear, and direct communication line between Washington and Moscow. As a result, the Moscow–Washington hotline was established. A series of agreements sharply reduced U.S.–Soviet tensions during the following years.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
October / 1962
To Month/Year
October / 1962
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember 1stLt Terry E. Harris, Dennis Wiseman, Joice L. Royal, Wayne Nakao
Memories I was with "B" Company, 7th Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, CA. We drove to San Diego and boarded the USS Bayfield (APA33) a troop ship. We set sail for Cuba, going through the "locks" of the Panama Canal Zone. Pulled 6 hours of "Liberty" in Kingston, Jamaica. Then we went to Vieques Island and trained for a week with "bangalore torpedoes", clearing and setting minefields, all engineer stuff. The "Crisis" ended and we went to Guantanamo Bay and picked up some grunts who had been flown in for the crisis. Then we returned to Del Mar Beach at Camp Pendleton and off-loaded, good ole "wetnet" training.
