Understanding the Cold War

The Cold War from September 1945 - December 26, 1991, was global in nature, and many facets and changing strategic considerations. During some parts of the period, actual shooting wars were involved, but always it was a political and military confrontation. Many of the losses in the Cold War were on missions that were under the veil of secrecy. A total of 123 of those lost (in addition to those of the Korean and Vietnam wars) are still classified as Missing in Action (MIA).

After the end of the Second World War, A Communist insurgency began in 1946 In Greece. Operating out of the mountains, a large guerrilla force attempted to Overthrow the Greek government and Replace it with a Communist regime. In 1948, the United States - under the Truman Doctrine, sent equipment and Advisors to Greece, and a defeated Guerilla Army was driven into Albania, Conceding defeat in 1949. General James A. Van Fleet was honored for his Role in helping Greece remain a free nation. Greece joined NATO in 1952.

Located in the Memorial Gardens of the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, 55 names of the 55th Strategic Recon Wing members killed during the Cold War are prominently displayed. The memorial was dedicated in September 2003.

Cold War Casualties Cry Out For Commemoration

Memorials and museums haphazardly spot the landscape. Only a comprehensive museum-memorial combination can convey the magnitude of the nation's longest war, say veterans.

Aerial Reconnaissance Recalled
Because of the secretive nature of their duties, no campaign medal (outside Korea and Vietnam) recognizes many vets in the fraternity of aerial recon warriors. This glaring official void is unlikely ever to be remedied.

The Aerial Reconnaissance Memorial in National Vigilance Park at Fort Meade, Md., pays homage to cryptologists of all services lost in the line of duty. The aircraft and plaques that make up the park were dedicated Sept. 2, 1997. Its centerpiece preserves the memory of the 17-man crew shot down over Armenia in 1958. The nearby National Security Agency Cryptologic Memorial lists names dating back to 1952.

The National Cryptologic Museum contains three displays focusing on aerial recon. The primary one--the "Cold Warrior" exhibit--is devoted to all aircrew members KIA or MIA on missions over and around Communist borders.

A private company, Raytheon (the grounds are now owned by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems), created one of the most impressive tributes yet to Cold War veterans.

Its Reconnaissance Memorial in Greenville, Texas, memorializes crewmembers from 10 missions for which the plant played a part in manufacturing the aircraft's systems. The circular wall supporting individual plaques was dedicated Oct. 9, 1998. It includes three of the Cold War's deadliest shoot-downs in 1956 (Sea of Japan), 1958 (Armenia) and 1969 (off North Korea).

The Air Force Museum boasts a new Cold War annex opened in the spring of 2003. At the museum's Memorial Gardens, a Cold War memorial listing 55 members killed represents the 55th Strategic Recon Wing (SRW). Four benches represent each of its squadrons. It was dedicated in September 2003. A granite monument honors the 91st SRW.

Close by are two more memorials--one to the 1958 shoot-down in Armenia and the other to all fliers who lost their lives during the "Silent War."

The Strategic Air Command (SAC) Memorial at Offutt AFB in Nebraska proclaims: "Sept. 6, 1996. Dedicated to those valiant strategic airborne reconnaissance crew members who gave their lives during the Cold War." Also there is the Cobra Ball II Monument to six crewmen killed in a crash on Shemya, Aleutian Islands, on March 15, 1981. The Strategic Air and Space Museum near Omaha has an exhibit on unresolved Cold War shoot-downs and some era weaponry.

The U.S. Air Force Security Service Memorial at Lackland AFB in San Antonio is symbolized by an EC-47 aircraft dedicated in 1994. The memorial plaque listing names of those killed is located in the headquarters building.

Countries over which crews were shot down also have helped remember the lost lives. An Armenian memorial stone, or khachkar, was dedicated by the villagers of Sasnashen at the site of the 1958 shoot-down in August 1993. It had no names because the U.S. government did not provide them then.

Once the Iron Curtain was lifted, residents of the former East Germany were anxious to remember, too. The people of Vogelsberg erected a memorial complete with a plaque on stone and photos on a cross to the three American airmen killed by a Soviet pilot on Jan. 28, 1964.

Latvia has a prominent obelisk overlooking the Baltic Sea coast with a memorial plaque. Dedicated in April 2000, the monument remembers the 10 Navy aviators shot down and killed by the Soviets on April 8, 1950.

Great Britain offers the American Air Museum, opened in August 1997, at Duxford Field. Among its vast collection are Cold War aircraft and artifacts. English Heritage, a preservationist agency, hopes to make the former U.S. air base at Upper Heyford the country's first Cold War monument. "It helps us understand that the peace we have today is a result of the Cold War," said Frank Dixon of the Oxford Trust for Contemporary History.

At home in Arlington National Cemetery, a gravestone inscribed with five names is located in Section 2. Unveiled Aug. 19, 1950, the monument honors the airmen killed in the first fatal Cold War shoot-down, over Yugoslavia in August 1946.

A "Silent Heroes of the Cold War National Monument" has been proposed for Mt. Charleston in Nevada. It marks the site of a C-54 crash on Nov. 7, 1955, that killed 14 airmen and civilians. Proponents say it would be all-inclusive, however.

Finally, the Air Force Memorial to be built in Virginia will not list names, but will "reflect the campaigns in some fashion," according to Pete Lindquist, vice president for operations.

Naval Aviation Recon Neglected
While Air Force recon casualties and veterans are substantially recognized, the same cannot be said of their Navy counterparts. This is true in terms of both memorials and museums.

The National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla., has "no exhibits or memorials within the museum or on the museum grounds relating to the Cold War," says museum historian Hill Goodspeed. But at the nearby Center for Cryptology at Corry Station, the Naval Security Group (NSG) Association has maintained a display since 1998. It covers naval reconnaissance, shoot-downs (1950-69) and the capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968.

"Although we deal with the Navy," said NSGCC volunteer coordinator William Lockert, "my intention is to have a picture of every type of reconnaissance aircraft [all services], list the type of aircraft, date and names of all service members who lost their lives flying these 'training missions.'"

National Vigilance Park in Maryland does not display an aircraft representing the Navy. NSG vets would like an EC-121 to honor the 31 men killed off North Korea in 1969. (They are listed in Greenville, Texas.) But rumors indicate a Skywarrior A3D (EA-3B) may be under consideration for the park.

The "Silent Service" of undersea reconnaissance, on the other hand, is widely recognized. During the Cold War, submariners often rated the Naval Expeditionary Medal for operating "under circumstances which after full consideration shall be deemed to merit special recognition."

At Groton, Conn., the Submarine Force Museum includes displays on Cold War-related events. The nuclear sub USS Nautilus forms the museum's centerpiece.

Dedicated Dec. 6, 2002, the Cold War Submarine Memorial is located on a 2.3-acre site at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Seven educational stations tell the submarine story along a winding path.

One station is devoted "to those who sacrificed their lives while serving in and supporting our submarine forces during the Cold War." The USS Thresher and Scorpion are listed, which also are honored by bronze plaques at Portsmouth, N.H., and Norfolk, Va., respectively, for their crew losses in the 1960s.

U.S. Army Along the Iron Curtain
Three campaign medals cover service in Cold War Europe: the Army of Occupation (Austria, Germany, Italy and Berlin), Navy Occupation (the aforementioned plus Trieste) and the AFEM (Berlin, 1961-63). Conspicuously excluded are all the veterans--especially of armored cavalry units--who did duty on the borders of East Germany and Czechoslovakia from 1955 ( U.S. occupation ended then) to 1989.

During the 1980s, the U.S. Army in Europe considered compiling GI deaths from training and other accidents in order to erect a memorial, but the project was never completed.

Some monuments, however, have taken root in German soil. The 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) has had one at the former Downs Barracks in Fulda since 1998. Both the 14th and 11th ACR dedicated markers at Observation Post Alpha on May 14, 2000. OP Alpha, complete with a museum (including 14th memorabilia), has been developed into the premier Cold War site in Germany, thanks to the efforts of local Germans like Hans Schmidt, a vet of the Federal Border Police.

The largest of the border museums is located at Marienborn. The best known, of course, is Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin. The German Army Military History Museum in Dresden naturally deals with the East-West struggle from the German perspective. Its Cold War Room opened in May 1997 and contains excellent displays.

These examples apparently are exceptions, though. "In Germany," said Florian Weiss, curator of the Allied Museum in Berlin, "you will hardly find Cold War military themes presented in museums." Political education is the goal, he said. Some special exhibits appear occasionally, but nothing in the Allied Museum tells the story of the famed Berlin Brigade.

Two U.S. Army museums still exist in Germany. The 1st Armored Division Museum in Baumholder has a complete room with Cold War exhibits, photos, dioramas, artifacts and uniformed mannequins, according to Director Dan Peterson. The 1st Infantry Division Museum at Wurzberg includes displays on that unit's long stay in Germany.

Back in the States, the Army boasts an extensive museum system covering branches as well as units. But few exhibits deal exclusively with the Cold War. At least one exception is the Museum of the U.S. Constabulary housed with the Fort Riley Regimental Museum (adjacent to the U.S. Cavalry Museum) in Kansas. Its three galleries detail the history of the "First Cold Warriors, 1946-1952."

Armor Unit Park at the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Fort Knox, Ky., covers all the armored divisions and armored cavalry regiments. The 4th Infantry Division, 11th ACR and 3rd Cavalry Regiment museums contain only small Cold War displays. The 2nd ACR (Reed Museum) at Fort Polk, La., has two Cold War sections along with significant outside displays.

The private 1st Division Museum at Cantigny, Ill., plans to refurbish its Cold War section in 2005. The Field Artillery Museum at Ft. Sill, Okla., displays the 280mm "atomic cannon" of Cold War fame, as do five other museums and parks.

Considering the fact that the Army fielded 15 divisions (some for more than three decades) and five armored cavalry regiments in Germany during the Cold War, it is surprising that more attention has not been focused on them.

The newly opened National Guard Museum in Washington, D.C., has a separate section called The Cold War Era (Area 4), mentioning the 1961 Berlin mobilization, 1961 Bay of Pigs operation and 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The National Museum of the U.S. Army, to be built at Fort Belvoir, Va., and opened in June 2009, will incorporate the Cold War in its timeline. "This chronological zone is titled 'Containing Communism' and begins with Greece in 1947," according to Army Historical Foundation Marketing Director Dave Lewis.

Intelligence Operatives Remembered
Civilian intelligence personnel who worked through the CIA and the State Department played a vital role in winning the Cold War in Europe. And some died right along with their military counterparts.

CIA's predecessor, OSS, dedicated its memorial book at CIA HQ in 1992. It lists 116 names, including one who was killed by Vietnamese Communists after WWII --Capt. A. Peter Dewey. CIA's Memorial Wall of stars and glass-encased Book of Honor were unveiled at Langley, Va., in the fall of 1974.

To qualify for inclusion, deaths must be "of an inspirational or heroic character." Yet this excludes contract employees, such as those who flew for Air America, no matter how heroic their feats, and thus denies recognition to many.

Names on the wall date back to 1950. Of 80 stars, 34 names still remain secret. Likewise, CIA's museum is closed to the public, leaving its achievements hidden.

The State Department's memorial listing is located in the lobby of the diplomatic entrance, and is maintained by the American Foreign Service Association. It includes the names of some defense attaches and Marine embassy security guards who were killed under "heroic or inspirational circumstances." At least 14 of the honorees died during the Cold War between 1950-1992, and not in Vietnam.

Hallowed Ground
Unlike the first American casualty of the Cold War, the final U.S. hostile death in Europe attracted wide-spread publicity in the news media. Killed by a Soviet sentry in East Germany on March 24, 1985, Maj. Arthur D. Nicholson, Jr., received a hero's return home.

He is buried in Section 7-A of Arlington National Cemetery. Inscribed on his gravestone are these words: "Killed in East Germany, U.S. Military Liaison Mission." No mention is made of who killed him or why he was shot. This is reflective of how many Americans who preceded Nicholson in death during the Cold War are remembered.

Arlington contains the graves of at least 16 others killed in hostile Cold War incidents. A group called No Greater Love (NGL), the brainchild of Carmella LaSpada, sees to it that those who die in uniform are remembered. For instance, NGL had the El Salvador marble marker dedicated in Arlington on May 5, 1996. It also sponsors annual remembrance tributes for El Salvador and Grenada, among others.

Perhaps its most unique tribute, however, is for the Cold War on Nov. 9. "No one seems to recall the importance of the day the Berlin Wall came down in 1989," LaSpada said. "It is a day that should be set aside nationally to honor all the Americans who served to contain communism."

With 5 million visitors a year, Arlington National Cemetery is certainly an ideal location to permanently remember the 384 Americans killed by hostile Communist action across the globe. (All their names will be printed in VFW's forthcoming book Cold War Clashes, a comprehensive one-of-a-kind history of these virtually unknown campaigns.)

Names Essential
Names are central to memorials with drawing power. It is the only way to guarantee the nobility of personal sacrifice and convey the scale of those sacrifices. Listing names by campaign and date complete with units also is the best means of retaining martial identity.

The essence of names was captured in a New York Times article entitled "Finding Comfort in the Safety of Names" by Michael Kimmelman. The listing of names, he wrote, is the "visual equivalent to the monotone roll-call of the dead." Kimmelman concluded: "Memorials are above all for the families and for a community, common ground to grieve ... Only the families and friends of the dead can really know what the names mean."

Memorials play a historical role in culture. "What society values and what it wants to remember about war is reflected in the variety of social and physical settings for sacred and non-sacred memorials that exist," James M. Mayo wrote in War Memorials as Political Landscape. "War memorials not only evoke war history, but more importantly, they evoke the history that people want to remember."

A move is afoot to finally recognize those who waged the Cold War. A potential location for a proposed memorial and museum has been selected at the former Nike missile base in Lorton, Va. It's a spot only 20 minutes from Washington, D.C.

Beginning with a traveling display in 1996, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., has pursued a $10 million dream ever since. "I am working for this museum and memorial not just for my dad [held by Moscow in 1960]," Powers said, "but to honor all Cold War veterans, to make sure all Cold War history is preserved."

But how this history is preserved is the key. "The past is also what is commemorated by monuments and markers, plaques and parades, historic sites and museums," according to Yale historian Robin Winks. "Almost always a monument is an attempt to interpret an event in which those who have erected it take pride."

Indeed, it is. And that's precisely what any national Cold War museum and memorial must do--evoke pride among those who served and sacrificed.

To that end, VFW Post 7327 in Springfield, Va., made a $20,000 donation in August 2002 to Powers' project. "Those who served deserve more than a Cold War Recognition Certificate," feels J.B. Young, senior vice commander. "It is high time that a fitting, permanent tribute be erected in a highly visible place where the public can visit it and come to appreciate the sacrifices made on their behalf in the twilight struggle against communism."

Post 7327 made this donation independently: VFW has not officially endorsed Powers' project or any other such effort. That requires a national convention resolution, which the Post is reportedly planning to introduce in 2004.)

Editor's Note: Please let us know if we missed any memorials or museums to Cold War vets. Also, we look forward to your input on any issues raised in this article and what should be included in a Cold War museum. E-mail: Rkolb

Ten Galleries in a Hypothetical Cold War Museum
Listed here are campaigns that should be covered in any such museum. Far too often the focus is on armaments, politics and cultural icons instead of the people in uniform who waged the war.

Memorial historian James M. Mayo has categorized three types of military history museums: weapon, hero and warrior. "Public war museums must honor those who fought," he wrote in War Memorials as Public Landscapes. "Honor is for people, not weapons ... Warrior museums enable the public to come closer to people who had a role in history."

Galleries with a permanent place in a "warrior" Cold War museum should include:

Morgan Line & Trieste, 1945-54
Italy, Yugoslavia, Austria, Greece, Albania


Marines in North China, 1945-1949

Border Operations along the Iron Curtain, 1945-89
Armored Cavalry, Intelligence, Signals in Germany
Czechoslovakia, 1945
Rhine River Patrol, 1950s
Berlin Crisis, 1961

Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, 1948-91

Arctic Rim Duty
Alaska, Iceland, Greenland, 1946-91

Caribbean Cockpit, 1961-1991
Marines at Guantanamo Bay, 1961-63
Alabama N.G. at Bay of Pigs, 1961
Overflights of Cuba & Sea Duty, 1962
Dominican Republic, 1965-66
Grenada, 1983
Advisers in El Salvador, 1981-91

Firefights on Korea's DMZ, 1966-69
USS Pueblo, 1968

In Hostile Skies: Aerial Reconnaissance
Air Force, Navy, Shoot-Downs (1946-70)

Service Beneath the Sea: Submarines, 1946-1991

Guerrillas & Terrorism, 1946-1991}
Philippines--Huks, 1946-54
NPA, 1970-80s
Taiwan, 1954, 1958-63
Laos, 1961-62
Congo, 1960-65
Panama Canal Zone, 1964
Guatemala, 1960s
Germany, 1970-80s
Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Greece



SOURCE: VFW Magazine

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

May 28, 2007
2007/05/28/Floridian

The unspoken war

The Cold War's battlefields may have been out of sight, but they're not out of mind to that era's veterans, who now want to honor these forgotten soldiers.

By John Barry

The most famous Cold War veteran was:

Maybe Francis Gary Powers. He died in an accidental crash of a weather research plane after running out of oxygen. Or so his family was told. Then the Soviets produced a live Francis Gary Powers and put him on public trial. He had parachuted into their hands after they blew up his U-2 spy plane. The Francis Gary Powers affair was one big Cold War stink.

Or could be Elvis. He was drafted in 1957. He declined assignment as an Army entertainer, instead served in Germany in the 3rd Armor Division, tanks facing gun-barrel-to-gun-barrel with the Soviets. "I don't think Americans even want to know about this stuff, " Elvis said. "A lot of people back home think I'm out of my mind doin' what I'm doin'."

Either guy may have been most famous. But someone lesser known may have been more truly representative of a struggle that lasted 46 years, consumed almost 400 American lives in some of the most obscure places on Earth, then was celebrated as "the war America won without firing a shot."

"Only a handful of Americans have ever heard of Lt. Col. Seldon R. Edner, or attached much significance to his death, " Richard K. Kolb writes in his book, Cold War Clashes: Confronting Communism, 1945-1991.

Edner's Air Force AT-6 plane was shot down by guerrillas during the Greek Civil War in 1949. His misfortune was surviving the crash. Kolb writes: "He was lynched, stripped, garroted, scalped, his head crushed and body mangled."

If anybody ever earned a Cold War medal, it would be Seldon Edner. He never got one. No one ever got one.

Says Kolb, "The Cold War was the great unknown of modern American wars."

The recognition Cold War vets have sought may soon come about. A National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House of Representatives this month, calls for a military Cold War Victory Medal. A similar bill, sponsored by Hillary Clinton, is pending in the Senate.

Until now most of the disparate efforts to honor Cold War veterans haven't involved the government. This was a mostly secret war, and most of the deaths were lonely ones in places Americans weren't supposed to be. Some families waited decades before even knowing that their son or father had died not accidentally, but fighting for his country in a place like Albania, or north China, or the Bering Strait.

Carrying flowers and a medal, Frank Tims led a delegation of Cold War aficionados to Arlington National Cemetery May 1. In the '50s, Tims had served in West Germany in "special operations research" for the Army. He's now writing a book about the Cold War at home in St. Petersburg. He helps run the Cold War Veterans Association.

The medal he and the others carried was not an official one. His was privately struck and can be had on the Internet for $24.95. Tims hopes the United States will one day issue an official "Cold War Victory Medal" and create a memorial in Washington. But he and the others wanted to start somewhere. They designated May 1 as their own remembrance day - the May Day once known for the annual display of Soviet nuclear missiles and tanks in Red Square.

As their first medal honoree, they chose a general named James A. Van Fleet, best known for leading the 8th Army in the Korean War. Except in Gator Nation, where he is best known for having coached the University of Florida football team in 1923-24. But Tims' delegation meant to honor him for a mission less remembered. In 1948, Van Fleet led 453 noncombatant military advisers into the Greek Civil War. They helped turn the tide against Communist guerrilla forces.

The ceremony was brief and modest. The group surrounded Van Fleet's grave in civilian suit and tie. As the others saluted, Tims laid upon Van Fleet's stone the $24.95 medal.

That was for saving Western Europe from Communism.

The Powers family might have never known what really happened to their father if the Soviets hadn't exposed him, says the son of the U-2 pilot.

Francis Gary Powers Jr. was born after his father's 21-month Soviet imprisonment and heard all the stories growing up, including the government cover story about an accidental crash of a weather plane.

The son has worked more than a decade toward the opening of a Cold War Museum on the site of a former Nike missile base in Lorton, Va. He has 120, 000 square feet of missile storage space to work with. Among his artifacts are shreds of dad's plane wreckage, presented to him by the Russians during a Moscow "spy tour" he took in 1997.

After repatriation, dad was criticized for failing to stick himself with a poison pin that U-2 pilots carried on their flights. The pilot took most of it in stride. He had a stock response when asked how high he flew his U-2:

"Not high enough."

Powers had survived his shoot-down by a Soviet missile and years testing experimental aircraft only to die in 1977 in the crash of a TV traffic helicopter in Los Angeles.

Powers was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 2000.

The stories of Cold War sacrifice and the names that go with them have come finally from veterans and their families.

"They weren't in textbooks, " says Kolb, the author of Cold War Clashes, who is also executive editor of publications for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Mo. "Families sent us the stories."

One included the last words of the first American soldier to die in Vietnam. He died of a machine gun bullet to the neck on Sept. 26, 1945, 14 years before Americans were supposed to have been there. Just before his death, Army Capt. Albert Peter Dewey sent a letter home.

"Now wouldn't it be stupid, " he wrote, "if I got myself knocked off in this two-bit civil war?"

John Barry can be reached at (727) 892-2258 or jbarry@sptimes.com

Son of Cold War legend speaks at March museum

11:24 AM PDT on Monday, September 17, 2007

By JOE VARGO
The Press-Enterprise

It's been five decades since his spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union but numerous theories continue swirling around the final covert flight of Francis Gary Powers.

Powers' son, Gary Powers, spoke at the March Field Air Museum Sunday to put that speculation to rest and champion his efforts to establish a national Cold War museum.

"The Cold War was a world war," Gary Powers, 42, told about 200 guests during a lecture. "It involved efforts on every continent. The Cold War was a hot war. People died in this conflict."

Steven Lewis special to The Press-Enterprise

A timeline of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers' life is on display Sunday at the March Field Air Museum in Moreno Valley.

Francis Gary Powers became the focal point of the Cold War on May 1, 1960, when his U-2 plane fell to a surface-to-air missile while over the Soviet Union on a nine-hour mission to photograph Russian missile bases.

The younger Powers called the missile that downed the super-secret spy plane a "lucky shot," one of 14 fired that May Day. The missile exploded near the plane, creating a shock wave that blew off the tail and sent his dad plummeting to the ground from an altitude of 70,500 feet. He landed in a wheat field.

Almost immediately the speculation began about what downed the plane, which was thought to fly so high it was invulnerable to Soviet defenses.

That speculation included such theories as:

A spy planted a bomb in the plane that caused the crash.

Bad piloting sent the U-2 into a death spiral.

The CIA sabotaged the mission to keep Cold War tensions high.

Powers defected to the Soviets.

A space alien got him.

The younger Powers said the American government might have contributed to keeping the various theories alive to divert attention from efforts to spy on the Soviets, Communist China and the Eastern bloc.

Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Held in an 8-by-12-foot cell with another prisoner, he could read only communist publications. In letters home, he complained about the bitter Russian winter and despaired that he never again would see his native Virginia.

"My dad never considered himself a hero," Gary Powers said. "He was a very low-key guy who didn't like talking about himself. He did what he felt he was obligated to do."

Francis Gary Powers endured months of interrogation, often being questioned 16 hours a day. He was threatened with death. He trusted no one, not even the man who shared his cell, for fear he was a Soviet plant. He returned to the United States in 1962 when he was exchanged for a Soviet spy. Although cleared of wrongdoing by a Senate committee, Powers said the CIA should have been more vocal in his defense, his son said.

"He felt there was black cloud hanging over his head," Gary Powers said.

The elder Powers became a test pilot for Lockheed and eventually flew airplanes and helicopters for Los Angeles radio and television stations. He was killed in 1977 when his helicopter crashed while on assignment for KNBC in Los Angeles. He was 47. An investigation concluded the crash was the result of pilot error.

An exhibit of Francis Gary Powers' mementos will be on display at the March museum until Nov. 4. The collection includes photographs of him on trial in the Soviet Union and in prison, excerpts from letters home, a flight suit and a piece of the wing of his U-2. His son spent years studying the Cold War and his father's role in it.

He lobbied the Pentagon to grant his father status as a prisoner of war. In 2000, on the 40th anniversary of the shoot-down, the government presented Powers' relatives with a Distinguished Flying Cross, the Prisoner of War Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He was also granted the CIA Director's Medal for "extraordinary fidelity and essential service." Eventually, the mementos will be displayed at a Cold War museum near Fairfax. Va., Gary Powers said.

Vietnam veteran Dave Pirnie, of Hemet, one of Sunday's event organizers, said spy planes and pilots played a significant role during the Cold War.

"It's important that people understand the sacrifices that were made by people whose work could not be acknowledged at the time," he said.

Memorandum from S. P. Ivanov and R. Malinovsky to N. S. Khrushchev

Date:
10/28/1962

Source:

Description:
Malinovsky and S.P. Ivanov report the shooting down of an American aircraft, which had taken surveillance pictures of the disposition of troops on Cuba.

Top Secret
Copy No.2

CC CPSU

To Comrade N.S. Khrushchev

I am reporting:

27 October 1962 a U-2 aircraft entered the territory of Cuba at an altitude of 16,000 meters at 1700 hours Moscow time with the objective of photographing the combat disposition of troops, and in the course of 1 hour 21 minutes proceeded along a flight route over Yaguajay--Ciego de Avila--Camagney--Manzanillo--San Luis--Guantanamo--Preston.

With the aim of not permitting the photographs to fall into U.S. hands, at 1820 Moscow time this aircraft was shot down by two antiaircraft missiles of the 507th Antiaircraft Missile Regiment at an altitude of 21,000 meters. The aircraft fell in the vicinity of Antilla; a search has been organized.

On the same day there were 8 violations of Cuban airspace by U.S. aircraft.

R Malinovsky

28 October 1962
10:45

No. 80819

Attested: Colonel General

[signature]
S.P. Ivanov

The Cold War in Asia took place in a vast theater. It stretched from the icy waters north of Japan-where a downed flier could freeze in six minutes to the muggy jungles of the Philippines and beyond to the desert wastes of the Australian outback. In many instances the duty, necessary and often dangerous, was little-known or even secret from civilians at home.

While the conflict between the West and the Communist Soviets, North Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese and their allies flared into full-fledged wars in Korea (1950-53) and Vietnam (1961-75), the much longer twilight struggle consumed Its first casualty, Army Air Force Capt. John Birch, an OSS operative, was killed by the Communist Chinese on Aug. 25, 1945 even before WWII ended. The civil war that raged in China would claim other American casualties, almost unnoticed at home except to the grieving loved ones they left behind. The Marines lost 12 killed in action (KIA) and 42 wounded in 26 separate engagements in North China by 1948. (See 'Walking a Tightrope in China' VFW magazine, October 1991 and 'Singed by the Red Dragon', VFW magazine, April 1997)

When the mainland fell to the Communists, Nationalist forces withdrew to Formosa (Taiwan). They also occupied smaller islands offshore-the Tachins, Pescadores and Quemoy and Matsu, both of which were within range of Red artillery. A Red invasion of these outposts on Oct. 1, 1949, was beaten back, but trouble over them would flare again and again.

PHILIPPINES: DEFEATING THE HUKS

Throughout Asia, Communist-inspired and led insurgents took advantage of nationalistic movements to cause conflict and attempt domination.

One such country was the Philippines, a fertile ground for the rebels of the Hukbalahap (Huks), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines. For the most part, Huks avoided U.S. troops such as those of the 86th Infantry Division. But on one occasion, in December 1945, a group of MPs was hit in Manila one American was killed.

"During the time I served aboard a patrol craft escort around Subic Bay in early 1946, my crew was put on alert for a Huk attack...' said Robert H. Hull. "We were issued sidearms and rifles, and the watch was doubled. But the assault never came."

According to Norman W. Schefstad, an MP with C Company, 738th MP Battalion in Manila, 1948-49, "A sentry on our main gate was shot at by Huks. Patrol jeeps also were often fired on. But worst were the accidental deaths due to terrible road conditions."

By 1949, the Huks were waging an all-out guerrilla war and government forces were losing ground. The assignment of Air Force Maj. Edward Lansdale, renowned counter-insurgency expert, to the 58-man Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG), marked the beginning of the reversal of the government's misfortunes.

Helping establish battalion-sized combat teams and an effective intelligence organization, JUSMAG was essential to the rejuvenation of the Philippine army. In 1951, the Air Resupply and Communications Service (ARCS) stationed the 581st ARCW at Clark Air Base. It was equipped with four H-19 helicopters for inserting and extracting operatives behind enemy lines.

After the 581st left the Philippines, tragedy struck. In September 1955, a B-29 was lost over water off Okinawa. All 13 crew members aboard perished in the crash. The cause is unknown.

"I served in the Air Force at Clark Field during 1951-52 at the height of the Huk rebellion'" recalled Bob G. Thrash. "Our checkpoint was once demolished by Huk small arms fire. Our waterworks was overrun and captured, too, but it was quickly relieved by the Philippine army."

With the outbreak of war in Korea in 1950, U.S. aid to Manila increased. JUSMAG advisors began to train and equip Philippine airborne infantry troops. In 1953, U.S. advisors were allowed by the Pentagon to take the field with Philippine forces. Within two years, less than 1,000 Communist insurgents remained at-large.

''EARTH-SHATTERING STORM'

Red Chinese pressure on the Nationalist forces on the offshore islands intensified in 1950. The carrier USS Valley Forge took up station in the 130-mile-wide Formosa Strait to deter a Communist invasion. As the Taiwan Patrol Force (TF-72), elements of the Seventh Fleet would serve there for more than a decade.(Also, a U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group set up on Formosa in 1951, training Nationalist units.)

Flying patrols over the Formosa Strait was a risky business. Former Master Sergeant Phillip H. Warren was with the U.S. Air Force Security Service. He recalls some close calls: "We were chased at least once by MiG- 15s off Shanghai, but after they could not get position they broke off and then returned to base."

As a radioman with VP-28 in 1952 things got closer to home. "During this deployment, one crew was fired upon by MiG-15s during the early patrol. They succeeded in at least damaging one of the MiGs when the upper forward turret gunner got a few hits. The MiG reportedly staggered off the intercept curve and turned toward Shanghai trailing smoke."

"Later on this tour' said Warren, "our No. 8 aircraft was shot up by a disguised junk which opened fire with a 40mm gun. It put several holes in the plane, including the No. 3 engine and through the wheel well, but somehow missed the engine. Also, a large hole was found just over the radio operator's station."

As Korea wound down, Red pressure in the Strait escalated. An attack on two American aircraft in mid-1954 left the navigator of one plane dead.

Then on Sept. 3, 1954, 5,000 shells descended on Quemoy. MAAG Lt. Cols. Frank Lynn and Alfred Medendorp were among the dead. The shelling grew heavier; during the campaign, an average of 10,000 Red rounds were fired daily

In January 1955, heavy air and amphibious raids were launched by the Reds against the Tachin Islands. Ships of the 7th Fleet evacuated 42,000 Nationalist soldiers and civilians from the islands.

Lester D. Ross was an aircrew member of VC- 11, which was aboard the USS Yorktown in February 1955. Task Force 702 operated around Taiwan during the evacuation of the Tachens. "Chinese aircraft would fly in large circles and every once in awhile they would come toward us' he said. "We flew air cover for supplies being moved to the Nationalists.

"From Feb. 8-12, the crew was on alert. All flights in the area were logged as combat missions. We saw shelling. The Chinese Communists even fired their artillery at U.S. planes, using proximity fuses, but failed to do any damage."

As a sailor aboard the USS Kidd, LeRoy Graves also was a part of the action off the Tachens. "Unidentified planes were picked up on radar during the evacuation, but would back off before getting real close to the ships" he said. In all, 50 ships were involved, along with a battalion from the 3rd Lt. Col. Alfred Medendorps Marine Division. The Air Force's 18th Fighter Bomber Wing was hastily deployed to Taiwan to provide additional air cover for the operation. Marine Air Group 11 also joined the Formosa Defense Command, with its Sidewinder-missile-armed F4Ds. Congress responded to this latest crisis by passing the Formosa Resolution. It authorized the President to employ U.S. forces in any way he saw fit to ensure the safety of Formosa and the Pescadores.

GI's stationed on Okinawa were caught up in the 1954-55 fracas, too. That included the Army's 29th Regimental Combat Team. Jack J. Woods was with its Heavy Mortar Company. He vividly remembers "unrolling the new maps they were not for Okinawa, but instead for Quemoy and Matsu. At this point, I was in a state of mild shock."

U.S. troops, of course, never invaded the islands. And, in early 1955, the colors of the 29th were sent home to be replaced by those of the 75th RCT of Ranger fame.

The Communists ratcheted up the pressure on Aug. 23, 1958, by slapping a blockade on Quemoy and beginning an artillery bombardment. The most vivid memory of Edward Fahey, a radioman on the USS Twining in the Strait at that time, is "steaming with a lot of 'heavy metal' flying overhead."

Nationalist convoys, escorted by ships of the Seventh Fleet, which were reinforced by a carrier and four destroyers from the Sixth, resupplied the islands

William J. Bennett recalls that any fire that came in the direction of his ship was "pre-judged to be accidental "Accidental, my ass;' he goes on. "For two days, we found ourselves within 25 yards of some hundreds of rounds of 'accidentals.' "Several hundred machine-gun holes dotted the superstructure of his ship, the USS McGinty.

The carriers patrolling the strait included the Ticonderoga, Midway, Hancock, Essex, Bon Homme Richard, Shangri -La, Princeton and Lexington.

Ron Johnson served aboard the USS Owen in 1958. Near the end of a 30-day patrol, he remembers: "Suddenly, a Russian MiG came toward us real low in the water. He sneaked in under our radar. All guns were loaded we were manned and ready. Our orders: Fire if fired upon! But he never fired at us. For 92 days on patrol, we rated the China Service Medal."

The Air Force deployed the 511th Tactical Fighter and 63rd Fighter Interceptor squadrons to Ching Tuan on Formosa. Meanwhile, the 354th Tactical Fighter, 27th Tactical Fighter, 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance wings and 354th Bomb Group went to Okinawa.

The Army, besides members of MAAG, contributed 703 men of the 2nd Missile Battalion, 71st Artillery, with its Nike-Hercules missiles on Formosa. It remained there until August 1959.

"During Red Alert, half the crew manned the Herc Air Defense System and the other half manned ground defense positions," recalls Dave O'Connell, a 71st veteran. "There was a constant grinding in the stomach from the daily anticipation of eminent attack from a million massed Red Chinese troops.

"Added to the stress of constant heightened alert was mud, rain, vermin, mildew, extremes of heat and raw, bone-chilling cold and the constant battle to keep light weapons clean"

"Air defense was strictly a U.S. role during the critical period of the crisis. Eventually, though, the 2nd just melted away; dissolved like a snowball in hell; lost in the silence of Cold War security."

Marines from Okinawa also made it to Taiwan. Some 500 Leathernecks protected the perimeter around the airfield at Ping Tung. Richard I. Feeney was a corporal with the 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, at the time. According to Feeney, some Marine jets were damaged by Red infiltrators who used blowguns to blow metal objects into the afterburners of the aircraft.

Faced with the resolve of the Nationalist Chinese and the massive show of U.S. strength in the Strait, the Communists ceased shelling Quemoy, 44 days after they began. The American presence in the area lasted on high status until 1963.

Intermittent shelling by the Reds continued as well. Richard Walsh spent his 19th birthday on patrol around Quemoy in waters so shallow that soundings were taken by lead-line. "The 'accidental' ordinance was always a threat," he recalls. "Chinese junks and sampans, hugging the coastline, would send out sprays of machine-gun fire. When you're close enough to hear the enemy breathe, you know you're close."

William Brunskill had a unique and sobering experience during the Taiwan scare. As a Chinese interpreter with the Army Security Agency (ASA) on Taiwan in 1959-60, he witnessed a Nationalist ambush set for raiding Reds. "A flare went off;' he recorded, "then several more. All the machine guns opened up, pouring a very heavy volume of fire into two large boats full of people. It seemed like the continuous fire lasted a long time. When it went silent, there was nothing left human or boat that was more than an inch square.

When the crisis was over, head Red Mao Zedong remarked: "Who would have thought that by firing a few shots at Quemoy and Matsu we would have created such an earth-shattering storm."

TIBET: 'ROOF OF THE WORLD'

After Mao's People's Liberation Army (PLA) pushed the Nationalists off the mainland of Asia, it consolidated its gains and assaulted peaceful neighbors.

A former Army Air Forces officer, CIA agent Douglas MacKiernan, led a 1,000-mile trek from the closed U.S. consulate in Tinwa, China, to the Tibet border, arriving on April 29,1949. There, in spite of a safe conduct from the Dhali Lama, nervous border guards fired on the party. MacKiernan was killed. The exact nature of his mission remains a secret. But his death represents the first star on the CIA Memorial in Langley, Va.

Using minor border skimishes as a pretext, 80,000 PLA troops invaded Tibet in the summer of 1950, while the world's attention was focused on Korea.

By 1956, large-scale drops of arms and ammo Operation Stbarnum were being carried out by Det. 2, 1045th Operational, Evaluation & Training Group under Maj. Harry C. "Heine" Aderholt.

Flying out of Okinawa, the C-130s staged to an emergency SAC recovery field at Kermitola near Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). They flew 40 materiel drops to freedom fighters on "the roof of the world." Flights took place over terrain 13,000 feet above sea level. In addition, selected Tibetans were flown out of the country to train in guerrilla operations at bases on Saipan and at Camp Hale in Colorado.

Like many actions of the Cold War in Asia, the one in Tibet remains shrouded in mystery. The CIA case officer who met clandestinely with the Dhali Lama's brother, to arrange the escape of the religious leader to India, was frank about that. "I'm sort of trained to forget about the operational detail," he said.

Operation Stbarnum ended, suddenly, in 1960. The Eisenhower Administration canceled all clandestine overflights of foreign territory in the wake of Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane being shot down over the Soviet Union.

CLANDESTINE WARRIORS

The U-2 incident spotlighted a heretofore secretive aspect of the Cold War-aerial reconnaissance and other forms of intelligence-gathering.Morse code intercept operators, cryptologists, traffic analysts and linguists plucked Communist communications from the air waves. The Army Security Agency (ASA) operated field stations in Japan (10th, 12th and 14th), Okinawa (3rd), the Philippines (9th) and on Taiwan (Shu Lin Kou).

"By 1949, we had broken the operational codes of the two principal Soviet Air Force units 9th and 10th Russian Air Armies in the Far East," recalled John Milmore who was assigned to Army Security Agency Pacific headquarters at Oji, Japan, in 1949-51 as a cryptanalyst.

"After meticulous analysis, I demonstrated that traffic emanating from Siberia was dummy traffic" he said. "This was the first instance of Soviet fabrication or bluffing during the Cold War."

Operators of the Naval Security Group (NSG) waged electronic warfare at far-flung bases from Japan (Yokosuka) to Australia's North West Cape and the broiling hot outback post at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs. Just being overseas could prove fatal. On Sept. 24, 1965, 12 men of the NSG stationed at Kami Seya, Japan, perished in a tragic fire.

The Navy also operated intelligence ships close to hostile shores. The tiny USS Banner (AKL-44, later AGER-1), 176 feet long, arrived at Yokosuka in October 1965 with orders to "conduct tactical surveillance and intelligence collection against Soviet naval units and other targets of opportunity."

In days, she was on her first patrol a mission within four miles of Siberia's Cape Povorotny Bay, where the Soviets insisted their territorial waters extended out 12 miles. During the next three years, Banner conducted eight patrols off the Soviet naval base at Vladivostok and a further eight in the East China Sea. She was harassed, with Soviet and Chinese destroyers and patrol boats coming within 25 feet of the tiny trawler, on nearly every mission.

Banner was joined by the larger USS Pueblo (AGER-2) in late 1967. On Jan.23, 1968, radio monitors in Japan read a terrifying message from Pueblo, then on her first mission off the coast of North Korea.

"Please send assistance, SOS, SOS, SOS, we are being boarded." By nightfall, one American sailor was dead and the remainder of the ship's crew had been captured. Pueblo was being towed into the North Korean port of Wonsan, where it remains today as a museum. The crew was held captive for nearly a year. Classified as "detainees" rather than prisoners, Pueblo crewmen were not awarded the POW Medal until 1990.

SHOOTING GALLERY OFF JAPAN

The Air Force was perhaps most deeply involved in the electronic war. "Floor stations," operated by the U.S. Air Force Security Service, monitored Communist radio communications, radar emissions and missile tests from many locations along the Pacific rim.

The largest, with over 1,000 airmen, and controlling center for the Pacific, was the 6920th Electronic Security Group at Misawa AFB, Japan.

"Russian MiGs from the airfield on the Kurile Islands buzzed our station often," remembered Harold H. Hutchinson, a vet of the 6986th Radio Squadron Mobile, based at Misawa in 1958. "No actual encounters occurred, though, because U.S. fighters scrambled quickly." It was operators at this facility who recorded the Soviet air force shoot-down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983.

Other security service units stationed in Japan included the 6926th and the 6922nd Radio Squadron Mobile (RSM). Gene Milligan, who spent two years with the 6922nd in the early '50s, proudly recalls its receipt of the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award at that time.

As a Russian linguist with the 1st Radio Squadron Mobile at Misawa in 1954-55, Nick Toyeas says his "task was to tape Soviet air force voice traffic:" "The purpose of our regular flights;" he said," was to provoke the Soviet air force into activity to determine how well it might perform. Whenever the B-45 flew near Vladivostok, it always brought out a flight of MiGs. Our tail gunner always got a look at them. With F-86 Sabre jet escorts, things could get exciting; terrific aerobatics and interesting aerial creativity."

On Okinawa, the 6990th Electronic Security Group monitored both Soviet and North Korean radio traffic and radars. The 6903rd and 6915th operated in Korea and the 6922nd occupied a site at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.

In the air, Navy and Air Force aircraft continually probed borders, even penetrating Communist countries to seek electronic intelligence. Communists intercepted and fired on many of the flights.

Air Force flights came under the 91st and 55th Strategic Recon Wings. The latter's motto was "We See All." Navy flights were conducted by squadrons of Fleet Air Recon "The World Watchers."

Navy Patrol Squadron (VP-22) lost a P2V in the Formosa Strait on Jan. 18, 1953. The entire crew of six died.

VQ-1, operating out of Guam, lost a P4M to Red fighters off the China coast on Aug. 22, 1956. Four of the crew of 16 were confirmed dead immediately, the remainder have been officially classified as missing in action, but presumed dead. The Sea of Japan was a virtual shooting gallery for the Communists during the Cold War. The 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing lost three planes there. VQ-1 lost two and VP-19 and VP-6 each lost one. So did the Air Force's 343rd SRS.

The EC-121 of VQ-l flying over the Sea of Japan on April 15, 1969, carried a crew of 31. All died when it was shot down by North Korean planes. In all, 80 American fliers were shot down into those icy waters.

Moreover, men continued to die along the border separating North and South Korea. Between 1966 and 1969, 44 Americans were killed in action and 111 wounded in Korea's DMZ. (See "Fighting Brush Fires on Korea's DMZ," VEW magazine, March 1992.) In the entire period since the cease-fire in Korea, 90 Americans have been killed on that Asian frontier of the Cold War.

This includes the last American to die as a result of hostile action in Asia, Army aviator CWO2 David Hilemon, shot down over the DMZ on Dec. 17, 1994.

SCANT RECOGNITION

Despite all the sacrifices, service in Cold War Asia has been quickly forgotten.

As William Bennett, under hostile fire on the USS McGinty, noted, "By the time we got back to America, Quemoy and Matsu were dim memories in the fickle American mind."

Taiwan remembers the hostilities all too well: It erected a memorial on Quemoy to Lt. Col. Medendorp, who was killed there in 1954 and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Cloud and Banner.

Duty in North China and the Taiwan Strait was recognized by the China Service Medal (Extended) for service there between Sept. 2, 1945 and April 1, 1957. (See Membership page for details.)

The Armed Forces Expeditionary medal is authorized for those who served in the Taiwan Strait (Aug.23, 1958-Jan. 1, 1959), Quemoy and Matsu (Aug 23, 1958-June 1, 1963) and Korea (Oct. 1, 1966-June 30, 1974.)

Recognition will finally come to some veterans of the Taiwan Crisis this year. In Boston, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office will present 410 vets with a "badge of honor" on Aug. 23. Those who served with the 71st Artillery will receive the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal in a ceremony at Fort Bliss, Texas.

"Revisionists may downplay the threat that China represented, but it was very real;' wrote Blair Case in an article on the deployment. "For a few months at the height of the Cold War, American soldiers of the 2nd Missile Battalion, 71st Artillery, stood on freedom's front line, and won a small but important victory in the fight against tyranny"

Eugene Kaiser, whose Matador-missile-equipped 17th Tactical Missile Squadron was rushed from Florida to Taiwan in November 1957, feels dismay at the lack of recognition the U.S. government gives Cold War veterans. He adds, "At least I know I was there and am proud to have been part of it."

What the Republic of China said of Lt. Col. Medendorp is true of each of all 187 Americans KIA in Cold War Asia: "He died at the edge of freedom's perimeter at a moment in history when the forces of oppression were seeking to impose their will:'"

Click on the link below to view the following articles:

The Unspoken War, by John Barry
Son of Cold War legend speaks at March museum, by Joe Vargo
The Cold War in Asia, by Michael Haycock