The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Russians who saved the world
Two Russian soldiers deserve to be remembered for their heroism.
Unless an unexpected miracle happens, the chances for a life like statue of beady eyed Vladimir Putin watching over Main Street, Brookfield is about as remote as this simple country man becoming the second trillionaire in world history and permanently putting all American farmers in the black with lots of green.
Petrov and Arkhipov should have separate life size statues not only in Brookfield but in every American community. All three are Russians, of course. Putin is justifiably notorious while the second two are unknown in this country. But to me they are two incredible heroes who, in farmer terminology, literally “saved Amer- ica’s and the world’s bacon!” If it wasn’t for these two anonymous Russians, many of you would not be reading about what you missed—and the world averted.
First, Vasili Arkhipov. Dr. Max Tegmark, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said “Arkhipov was the most important person in modern history.”
This simple country man was a single graduate student at Syracuse University during the Cuban Missile Crisis over 55 years ago. The post World War II Cold War with the Soviet Union often became an eyeball to eyeball confrontation that was highly dangerous and unpredictable. Soviet missiles in Cuba were aimed at America. Who would blink first?
It happened off the Cuban coast. The U.S. Navy hunted down a nuclear armed Soviet submarine. Depth charges fell and the sub’s air conditioner failed, leaving the crew on the brink of carbon dioxide poisoning. There was no word from Moscow. The Soviet sub went rogue, launching a 10 kiloton atomic torpedo at a U.S. aircraft carrier—triggering a volley of U.S. ICBMs and ushering in World War III.
Everything happened except World War III, thanks to the Soviet’s naval commander Vasili Arkhipov, who countermanded the sub captain’s order to fire. As MIT Professor Tegmark recently observed, Arkhipov’s courageous decision was “an example of how individuals of integrity could prevent technology from unleashing devastation on the world.”
In 1998, Arkhipov died in relative obscurity—as veterans often do in every country. His heroism is an example of how close to nuclear catastrophe we have been in the past (and will unfortunately continue in the present and future, with more nations now with nuclear weapons.)
Stanislav Petrov is another unknown Russian who probably averted World War III and civilization’s grisly end. A man Kevin Costner said “who didn’t listen to the noise, but listened to his heart.”
Petrov was a Soviet military scientist, and for being an hour early coming to work may have saved our world. It was Sept. 26, 1983, shortly after midnight. Where were you? My beautiful wife Lois and I were in our third year of living off the grid in the Brookfield hills. No doubt harvesting our garden, gathering firewood and preparing for a long, cold and snowy winter. Our 45th president is a 36 year old New York City business tycoon. Petrov held his future in his “heart” too. Thanks to Petrov we would all live on Sept. 27.
Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s air defense program, arrived early at his secret bunker Serpukhov. Petrov was responsible for monitoring early warning Soviet satellites positioned over the U.S.
Suddenly alarms started ringing in the bunker signaling an attack had been launched. The siren howled. Petrov looked at the big red screen. The word on it read “Launch.”
Data reported five Minuteman ICBMs had been launched, probably from an American air base. The modus operandi is for Petrov to quickly notify the Soviet government if it is a real launch and counter launch is decided in Moscow.
Thankfully, Petrov had been taught to trust his instinct and brain, which at this point was seriously questioning the alarm. It was all up to Petrov whether to raise this alarm and possibly begin World War III. The launch didn’t make sense. Why would the Americans only send five missiles? Oddly, Soviet ground based radar had no evidence of an attack.
The bunker staff anxiously and fearfully looked up to him for an answer. After the longest five minutes of his life, Petrov decided it was a false alarm and ordered his staff back to work. He courageously reported this incident as a “system malfunctioning.” He admitted it was a 50-50 call, but he didn’t want to start WWIII by mistake! (The man he replaced that early morning was an Army man who was wired to accept orders without question. Petrov had used his brain and instinct, not a gun.)
Petrov was correct. Soviet computer software had mistaken the sun’s reflection off the top of clouds for missiles! Petrov was told by Soviet officials to never speak of that night again. He retired the next year.
In retirement, life was often difficult. His wife died of brain cancer. Loneliness ensued. A tiny state pension hardly supported him. It was said one time, without money, he was forced to boil his belts to give soup some flavor. Eventually what he did on the early morning of Sept. 26, 1983 was found out. Modestly he said, “I was just in the right place at the right time.” Petrov died in 2017.
Now you can understand why this simple country man should eternally thank these two courageous Russian military men for what they did for all of us. We hope that all of you also appreciate what they did to avert a catastrophe of monumental and possibly permanent effects.
Unfortunately the nuclear sword of Damocles still hangs precariously over all of our heads.