Lest We Forget: Rudolf Anderson 15 September 1927 – 27 October 1962

[Omaha Steve]

I remember doing duck and cover drills in kindergarten during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I also remember the fear that gripped the US. When was the last time only one life was lost to an international crisis. The finest moment of the Kennedy administration was keeping both sides from pushing the nuclear button! I argue this point with conservatives whenever I hear "Kennedy wasn't such a great President".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Anderson

Rudolf Anderson, Jr. (15 September 1927 – 27 October 1962) was a pilot and officer in the United States Air Force, and the first recipient of the Air Force Cross. Anderson was killed when his U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while overflying Cuban airspace during the Cuban Missile Crisis; he was the only casualty that occurred as a result of enemy fire during the confrontation.



On the morning of October 27, a U-2F (the third CIA U-2A, modified for air-to-air refueling) piloted by USAF Major Rudolf Anderson,<51> departed its forward operating location at McCoy AFB, Florida, and at approximately 12:00 pm EDT, the aircraft was struck by a S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2 Guideline) SAM missile launched from Cuba. The aircraft was shot down and Anderson was killed. The stress in negotiations between the USSR and the U.S. intensified, and only much later was it learned that the decision to fire the missile was made locally by an undetermined Soviet commander acting on his own authority.




The engine of the Lockheed U-2 shot down over Cuba on display at Museum of the Revolution in Havana.

See the films Missiles of October & Thirteen Days.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071847/

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTAzMjUyMzc3MjleQTJeQWpwZ15BbWU3MDk4MjM2MjE@._V1._SY317_CR3,0,214,317_.jpg


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146309/

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTkwMTkxNTYyM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTc5NTk2._V1._SY317_CR1,0,214,317_.jpg

[Omaha Steve]

1. Kick

[pintobean]

2. K/R