When the US almost nuked North Carolina

I I had heard about this story before, but this morning there was a segment on NPR. The Munitions officer responsible for retrieving the two hydrogen bombs that fell from a B-52 that crashed in 1961 recorded his story on storycorps.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nuclear-bombs-dropped-on-north-carolina

It was a chilling story to listen to, but amazing to hear this man talk about how he intend other men  how to retrieve  these two devastating weapons.  I did not realize that one of them buried itself completely  in the swamp where it landed and they had to spend days digging it up to make sure it wouldn't go off.


Even more chilling are accounts, one from the Cuban missile crisis and one from the Reagan years, where nuclear war hung on the decisions of a single Russian officer.  We should be forever thankful that the right officers were on duty at those moments.



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