Cold War missileers refute Okinawa near-launch

RP Members here is a little blast from the past and some good information for the history buffs!

Bordne’s 53-year-old Cold War tale of a U.S. nuclear near-launch has emerged as another example of how close the world came to war as Washington and Moscow faced off over missile sites in Cuba. Experts and anti-nuclear advocates are trumpeting Bordne’s account as new evidence and calling for an inquiry and disclosure by the military.

But surviving Air Force missileers, many of them interviewed for the first time, told Stars and Stripes the account is implausible. An investigation by this newspaper discovered their attempts to shoot down Bordne’s claims were ignored or hidden.

The controversy unveils the little-known world of Air Force nuclear launch crews on Okinawa – many of them young enlisted men fresh from stateside training – who more than a half-century ago kept watch on the Soviets from reinforced bunkers during one of the most dangerous moments in human history.