МЫ ВАС ПОХОРОНЕМ!! (WE WILL BURY YOU!!)

МЫ ВАС ПОХОРОНЕМ!! (WE WILL BURY YOU!!)

PARIS    24 January 1996

"WE WILL BURY YOU!!!" Russia's Nikita Khrushchev threatened us, on 18 November, 1956.
Our own spy splanes verified that the USSR had every intention of doing just that.

In the late Fifties up to the end of 1962 was a time of tension - often extreme tension - between the U.S. and the Communist countries of the world. Red China, North Korea, East Berlin, and Cuba were in the headlines daily, as was the leader of the Soviet Union, "Mr. K" himself.

Since 1950 Russia had The Bomb, and its leaders were very vocal about their intentions to take over the whole world by force - including the United States. This was a fact. This was not an invention of some ultra-right-wing group in the west, though there were certainly some who eagerly exploited these threats in order to capitalize on the fear they generated.

To be sure, there were also certain corporations and individuals who were eager to profit from military weapon sales, spurred on by a reactionary arms race.

It must be emphasized here that, although McCarthy was guilty of extremist. some say draconian measures that did more harm than good, the overall basis for the Red Scare was WELL FOUNDED!

At home, Nike antiaircraft missiles popped up overnight in the Washington, D.C. vicinity. I remember seeing one raised and lowered. From bases far to the north, B-52 bombers flew would-be apocalyptic missions daily over the North Pole, ready to deploy their nuclear payload over Soviet targets - with just one order from the President of the United States.

Schools like mine practiced duck-and-cover drills. Everywhere in the country individuals and municipalities alike were building bomb shelters at a frenzied pace, as if their tiny quarters would, or could, render their occupants immune to the lethal radiation, the universal destruction, and the global environmental toxicity which would follow a thermonuclear war. Families were urged to stock up on 2 - 3 weeks of food and water, as if we could somehow emerge unscathed a few days after a nucular holocaust and start life anew.

A nuclear war most certainly would ruin your day, and I knew that even as a kid!

To warn the general population of an impending nuclear attack, and to coordinate civilian wartime activities, the U.S. Government established an organization known as CIVIL DEFENCE (CD). Also, CONELRAD radio stations were set up, and assigned the frequencies 640 and 1240 kHz on the AM radio band. Radios produced and sold during this period had a little triangle on both locations on the dial to mark for quick reference where one would tune in the event of an enemy attack.

Air raid sirens from WWII, now old and obsolete, were replaced quickly and more were added. We were given instructions on TV and radio - and pamphlets and posters could be seen in public buildings, etc. and elsewhere - explaining the meaning of each different siren signal tone.

We were preparing for Armaggeddon!

The huge old 4-way bullhorns we had atop the school's main building had never gone off - at least when I was there. I remember the day a linemen crew came to my school some time in 1960. We all watched in fascination the different phases of building a brand-new Atomic Age air raid siren.

CD personnel came to our school to inform us of the placing of the siren, and warned us of upcoming tests - to not be frightened when it went of periodically. We were even allowed to go up the hill to watch the first tests, and watched and listened, fascinated, as this huge, yellow horn blaired out a commanding alarm - and turned around and around.

The horn's sound was, as it should have been, loud and alarming. The other kids thought it was just a chance to get out of class for a few minutes. But I knew it was not a toy... I knew EXACTLY what the wailing tone meant, if it sounded in earnest. On that day, the sound made my hair stand on end. It still does so to this very day!

The tests continued for a week, and each time a test was scheduled, we were notified beforehand. Then the tests stopped. We returned to our studies, playing on the playgrounds,  and listening to rock-n-roll on the transistor radio. All was as it should be.

And all was well and normal, until one day, nearly 2 weeks after the last test, and quite unannounced, the siren began to sound.

IT WAS A WAILING TONE!!! That meant an imminent nuclear attack!

The school was hit with a sheer panic! Pandemonium erupted! Soon students and school staff divided into two groups:

The first group, the survivors, fled in abject terror downstairs to the basement bomb shelter, and the inagined safety of brick and morter. Ducking and covering down in the dirt and darkness of the cavernous recesses of an underground passage, these people were poster children for the Red Scare.

The second group, the lovers of life, gleefully scurried uphill, once more in eager anticipation of hearing the giant klaxon blare its monotonous voice through hill and dale and see the mighty metal device gyrate on its axis. They had a ball!

Now, there was only one exception to all this. There was only one person who neither fled in abject  terror to a useless netherworld retreat, nor raced wildly up a hill to see a silly horn turn round and round and round. That lone exception was ME!

I had read and heard enough about the Atomic Bomb and the results of a nuclear blast to know for an absolute fact that - if one of those bombs should fall in the Washington, D.C. vicinity - a bomb shelter would only prolong the inevitable, agonizing death from radiation poisoning.

I had confidence, though, that our Strategic Air Command fighter aircraft, as well as the NIKE missiles surrounding the city would be able to protect us.  AND... what a SIGHT that would be: Russian BEAR bombers flying overhead in formation, and being blown out of the sky by ground-to-air missiles!

I figured I had nothing to lose --- I might as well get a ring-side seat for the show!!

And I really wanted to see those Soviet Bear bombers, with their delta-wing configuration and their double, counter-rotating pusher propellers.


What a day!!!

I remember back when I was an 8-year-old --- running outside that day --- standing right in the middle of the baseball field --- far from anyone else --- looking and waiting --- for Russian warplanes that never came.


IT WAS ONLY A TEST!!!