The Forgotten Heroes of the Cold War

Well, I've had a lifelong infatuation with military aviation. When I came to Abilene, Texas in 1971, I was aware this was a military community with Dias Air Force Base, also a former location for the Atlas FICBM program. It was like a switch had been turned on inside of me that said, hey, this is real. We really had no clue what we were facing. Gear center, the most critical threat of global war. The missile was ready. All we needed to do was turn that key.

It was very, very close. We were ready to destroy humanity. That's history that we can't forget. Music The Atlas missile stands on its pad ready for the longest missile shot ever made by either the United States or Russia. The Air Force calls this a test at extreme ranges of this ICBM, which is now going into operational use.

The Atlas ICBM program had been located at six bases across America, and I knew that Dyess Air Force Base was one of those bases. Safely delivered at its destination, one more successful airlift of the Atlas missile complete. So, in 1971, I immediately started asking questions of Abileneans about the history that had been totally forgotten. Atlas, built by General Dynamics, was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile on duty with SAC. There was not a single Atlas sight of any type. Held in a public trust for preservation.

If someone didn't take up that gauntlet to move forward and try to preserve a site, it would never happen. 300,000 parts functioned perfectly when the Atlas roared to life, living up to its reputation for dependability. Each of those six bases nationwide had 12 Atlas launch facilities around the Air Force Base, and these launch facilities were numbered just like the hours of the clock, and it took literally years for me to one by one discover the sites of these Atlas F silos that had been abandoned but totally forgotten by the folks in this region.

So, my site at Lawn is site number six. Atop the silo cap, we have the two 70-ton doors that opened in seconds to allow the Atlas ICBM and its massive elevator system to come to the surface for deployment.

A significant aspect was its lack of secrecy. Any type of aerial surveillance could recognize easily an Atlas F launch facility. If the enemy is not aware of this system's existence and its location, it compromises its ability to deter attack.

As we enter the launch control center, we encounter two blast doors. The right-angle turns on our entryway eliminate overpressure with each right-angle turn. So, you have three right-angle turns before encountering the first. Manganese steel blast door, and a fourth right angle turn before you encounter the second blast door. This ensures the security of the team inside the launch control center.

So, this was where the crew actually had their bunk beds. They had a full kitchen, bathroom, showers, all the luxuries of an intercontinental ballistic missile base, and this is where they lived for their 24-hour shift. Level 2 of the Launch Control Center was where all the command and control functions occurred. Electronics, communications equipment, instruments necessary for the launch of the missile itself.

I spent several weeks working with the state. I initiated a 10-year lease to own arrangement with the city of Lawn, and that is how I acquired the property. I would approximate my water depth at this time as being 150, 160 feet. It is a deep dive.

It is a very serious dive any time we scuba here. The Atlas ICBM was indeed our first intercontinental ballistic missile. Enormous looming structures over 150 feet high. The Atlas F was absolutely revolutionary. It changed our entire aerospace industry. The entire design of the Atlas itself, it is unlike anything that had ever been created before.

There's nothing inside the Atlas. It's inflated by its contents. The lower third is inflated by a kerosene propellant. The upper two-thirds of the missile is inflated by liquid oxygen, and when it reaches the top of its ballistic arc, it's called the apogee.

It releases its cargo, and the empty Atlas can then fall back through the atmosphere and burn up. Very, very efficient design, very, very accurate, and all those are a result of the technology and the innovation that went into the creation of that launch vehicle and its weapon.

I bought this as a home renovation project because I wanted to live underground. I thought it would be a cool thing to do. It would be a creative challenge, and it turned out to be all of those things.

Unlike Larry's site, where essentially the original floor plan is still intact, here I started by stripping everything out. The drywall that was here was rotten, the wood was rotten, it was all bashed in. Every place you see white paint had graffiti under it, so I just stripped it, and then I could kind of see what I was working with. But that was the motivation for buying the silo, was renovation.

When I bought this, the guy that I bought it through, I asked him what the hell I was going to do with the silo. I knew what I was going to do with the launch control center, but I said, what am I going to do with this big hole, the silo? And he said, turn it into a museum. And that thought has kind of stayed with me all these years. So, in the last two years, we were able to take a step toward that.

There is only world peace where there is power to preserve order among nations. The Atlas F carried a W38 thermonuclear weapon, which was approximately 500 times more powerful than the weapon dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II. It could hit almost any strategic target in the Soviet Union. In approximately 25 to 35 minutes, the Soviet Union was very aware of the Atlas's accuracy, which added to its entire reason for existence. The Atlas was a deterrent weapon.

And we can look at our entire history of ICBMs. That history is incredibly successful because we've never had to use any of our deterrent ICBMs, and that's a history we hope continues. The Atlas F was an in-ground vertical launch system. It was the first silo-launched ICBM. The Atlas F was launched from the surface as it sat on a launch platform.

Actual launch cradle and blast deflector were above ground level. These were only designed for one use. They were not designed to be reloaded with an additional missile. The Soviet Union adopted a different model for its strategic weaponry. They preferred mounting their ICBMs on mobile launchers, compromising America's capability to pinpoint their launch facilities. Their ICBM fleet was always in motion. ICBMs of tremendous power and tremendous threat.

As you know by now, the Atlas F was an inflatable missile held rigid with internal nitrogen pressure. What you're going to see now is a full-scale inflatable made of cloth, and it's a pretty fabulously done, well-detailed model. When I bought this, there's no book that says, now, when you buy a silo, here's what you should look out for.

You know, you just kind of take your chances. I really disliked the graffiti in here, and part of that was, it was intrusive. Most of it's political, names, dates. But the longer I've lived here, the more I've come to appreciate that it's part of the history. You know, they had stories to tell, just probably not unlike the missileers. You know, they had their own stories and their own fears and anxiety.

I'm Roger Jensen. And I'm a former crew member of an Atlas-F missile crew that was at Dyess Air Force Base as part of the 578th Strategic Missile Squadron. So, when I... Get through with basic training. I got called aside and said, listen, there's another opportunity here.

There's a possibility that you could go on and be part of the Atlas F missile program. I didn't really have even an understanding of what an Atlas F missile was, nor did anyone else, because they were just in the stage of being put together at this time. But anyway, it sounded interesting, and from what little I could gather, I thought, yeah, I want to do this.

I arrived in Abilene, come to the base at Dyess, checked into my squadron. I met some folks there, Major Cox, Lieutenant English, Staff Sergeant Condit, Airman Second Class Raleigh, and myself. And I knew at this time that this was going to be our crew.

Within two, maybe three days after that, we drove to Hopland, Texas, a little south of Abilene, where there was one hellish big hole in the ground. That was where the missile was going to be. Lots of activity going on, and there was a sense of urgency. Get this done.

The first Atlas F, we saw it being loaded on a transporter. We caravaned behind the spirit of Opland out to the site, and the missile was finally lowered down into the hole. The Atlas F, as a crew member, we had ownership of it.

And we had a responsibility to it. It was like our child, if you would. I didn't really realize what it was that we were being tasked to do other than to maintain this. You know, ultimately, you knew it had an objective. We now know that the Soviet Union has decided to transform Cuba.

...into a base for communist aggression, into a base for putting all of the Americas under the nuclear gun. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. Cuban Missile Crisis is something our crew lived through in October of 1962. We're pretty young at this time as a crew. We'd only been together a few months. I was a young guy. I was 19 years old at the time.

We really had no clue what we were facing. Cuba became the focus of world attention. Here centered the most critical threat of global war since the surrender of Germany 17 years ago. It was like a switch had been turned on inside of me that said, hey, this is real.

The United States arrived at the decision for an arms blockade after studying reconnaissance photographs made with high-powered cameras from planes flying several miles from the Cuban coast. Here, for example, is a medium-range ballistic missile base that has been labeled by these specialists.

Those weapons located in Cuba, and there was a significant number of them, were not only being assembled in Cuba, but were already in place to attack the United States if necessary. They would have had the capability of compromising almost the entire eastern seaboard. The United States answer to what Adlai Stevenson termed Soviet blackmail in Cuba was a quarantine of all offensive weapons being shipped from Russia to that island fortress. If the Soviet ships tried to penetrate that blockade, That would have been basically the signal to the United States to go to war, and that's how close we came to a launch of our resources during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

It was very, very close. You know, Cuba is just a stone's throw from the U.S., just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Missiles were... Like our missiles, where would they be aimed? 90 miles off the coast of Florida? They'd be aimed at us. We were scared.

It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile. Launch from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

President Kennedy was under tremendous pressure from his military leadership. To immediately engage the Soviets in Cuba with a ground attack, a naval attack, and an air attack. One day in particular, we got to the site. That day, our target of the missile changed.

We now had missiles aimed at Cuba. We knew that... There were missiles in Cuba aimed at us. We were ready to launch our missile. That message said, get ready to go to war. We knew that missile was going. It was going to leave. We had already packed up.

Everything. We had loaded it on the missile. The missile was ready. All we needed to do was turn that key. What Larry's going to do is, he's going to turn it on, and the commander will be doing a check with other people in the silo. On my mark, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark.

The first time he says that, Larry is going to push that button. For the next, on my mark, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark, and execute the key. Anytime you're ready. All personnel evacuate silently. Countdown on my mark. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark. Launch mode authenticated. L1 ready for countdown.

V1, ready for countdown. Deputy, ready for countdown. Fuel tank pressure rising normally. LL2 tank pressure 4.5 PSI. Commit start on my mark. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark. Missile away. We went to DEFCON 2. It was like cocking the gun, putting your finger on the trigger.

All you had to do. We were that close to a war that would have been the war of wars. Had the United States attacked Cuba in any way, Forces would have been brought to play immediately. That would have devastated our naval forces, our ground attack forces, and military bases all across the eastern seaboard. You've got targets all over New York City, Chicago, big industrial areas. What would the United States be like? That was a lot of our conversation.

And, you know, should you be a survivor, what would it be like? It would have been a very, very costly war. Dyess Air Force Base is a big tournament. There's a lot of aircraft, there's a lot of weapons stored at Dyess.

What happens if we launch our missile? What happens to Abilene? We're in a silo. We're protected. We're gonna live, but what are we gonna live for? I've got a wife back in Abilene. I've got a brand new baby daughter.

They're not going to be there. What are we going to do? I mean, we have got a couple of M16s, a couple of 38s, maybe 50 rounds of ammunition, a couple of jugs of water, and a little bit of food left. Everything else is contaminated.

So, we got a pickup, maybe we can come in there, a little bit of gasoline. Where do we go? Our crew was not necessarily a group of professing Christians, but I know that we prayed at that time. And God answers prayer.

President Kennedy wisely initiated under-the-table diplomatic channels, and by doing this, opened a channel of communication for Nikita Khrushchev and Kennedy to negotiate. A reasonable compromise that would allow both countries to back away from this confrontation with honor. The curtain goes up at the United Nations on what the world hopes is the final act in the drama that was the Cuban crisis. It is planned that observers from nations not allied with either side will supervise the removal of the sites. Then, it is hoped, the final curtain will fall.

Two heroes came out of that time. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, obviously, is one of those heroes. He chose words over bombs and bullets. The other hero is Nikita Khrushchev. I know that's probably contrary to what most people would think and believe, but I know he listened.

Kennedy listened. Because those two guys communicated and exchanged words, we live for another day. That's history that we can't forget, and a lesson of the importance of communication and patience. I believe we have to have a strong military in our world today, but I believe that the greatest victories are those where...

Fighting doesn't take place. The compromise is made. The words are what wins, and not bullets. I can tell you that I learned a lot from the vets I served with, the people that had been through an insane death.

It gets on your hands. You cannot, you can't wash that away. We didn't turn that key. We didn't launch that missile, and I wonder what would have happened, how many would have launched if we'd turned that key. I'm just thankful in the Cuban crisis that words prevailed.

And we didn't suffer that kind of loss right here. It was not just… Five men on a crew. We had a munition squadron responsible for the weapon itself, the bomb, security policemen guarding that system, the cook that put together the lunches, the people in the laundry that washed and starched our uniform. We tend to forget those guys. They were an important part of our mission. We couldn't have been who we were without those supporting entities. We need to salute all of those.

The Cold War veteran never received the acclaim. They had a unique mission. Their responsibility was extremely high, and pressure on them to perform to perfection every time. Without these men sacrificing for America's safety and security, we wouldn't be here to celebrate. Their accomplishment. They did their job. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, and when they were tested, they had nothing on their minds other than being focused on the mission, but yet, they're unrecognized and unhonored.

If America could pat on the back these veterans that are still with us, to thank them for their service. To thank them for the preservation of peace, they deserve that recognition, to recognize the accomplishment that they achieved for America.