during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 Hill was in the U.S. Army (1962-1964), serving as a locomotive engineer at Fort Lewis Army Base in Washington state.
“Our railroad switched out two trains of missiles because there was an Army firing range [near the track in Yakima],” Hill recalled.
“When President Kennedy said we needed missiles in Florida, my crew switched out those trains at Fort Lewis and sent them to Florida. I was on duty for 20 hours and had top-secret clearance … The trains were given high priority and had to go through 10 different railroads.”
My father, who turned 89 this year, was involved in the Cuban missile crisis .
ReplyDeletehe was in the USAF reserve, and got activated for the Cuban crisis, his assignment was in communications, and the USAF had planes packed with radios and phones etc, his plane would have been one of the first ones to land in Cuba after the airfield had been secured.
they sat in the plane on the runway in Miami , in four hour shifts, waiting for the go signal.
I dont think most people realize just how close the US came to invading Cuba.
Wow! he must have been excited to be there on the edge of a war getting launched! PLUS an invasion of another country! Hell, I'd sign back up for the Navy of they'd launch an invasion I could be part of!
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