The Coming War on China Page #17

---

military contractor

from one of the bases.

(chanting)

It was the latest of

thousands of cases of violence

and it brought massive

crowds into the streets,

demanding an end to the

military occupation of their country.

(aircraft rumbles)

This is a Mace missile,

designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

During the Cold War, the United States

secretly installed nuclear weapons

at this launch pad in Okinawa.

Most of them were aimed at China.

Today, the nuclear missile site

is run by a Buddhist organization,

the Soka Gakkai, as a peace museum.

- In 1962, the atomic weapons,

that were on the missile,

was almost launched.

- They were almost launched?

- Yeah, according to the

spokesman of this military base,

said they were ordered to prepare.

Then we received second order to stop it.

- [John Narrating] One of

the American servicemen

whose job was to fire the Mace missiles

has since revealed that

China was a nuclear target

during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

- We were told that we had

to launch all the missiles.

But we only had one missile

headed towards Russia

and we did not see why we

should have to involve

the other countries.

The captain suggested that

everybody crack the doors open

so it would take less

time to launch the missile

if the doors were cracked open.

(beeping)

- [John Narrating] One of the launch crews

was on the point of firing their missiles

when a duty officer suspected

the order was false.

- The officer that was on the B side

was told to send two

men over there with 45's

and to shoot anybody that tried to launch

until the situation was resolved.

And it would only take like 15, 20 seconds

to run the distance between

the two command centers.

So those two men kept

that whole crew at bay

while we made a decision as what to do.

And it wasn't very long, maybe

two or three seconds later

where a very nervous major

came over the intercom

issuing the stand down order.

And then we just kind of

looked at each other, like

we could have exterminated

the whole planet.

The major who had given the launch order

was quietly court-martialed

and dismissed from the Air Force.

- That morning is just as familiar to me

and as clear as yesterday morning is.

And this is 53 years later

and how clear blue the sky was

and there was just some very light clouds

and there was a perfect breeze blowing

at the perfect temperature.

I did not know what the temperature was,

but it just felt perfect.

And we were all just kind of taking it in

and taking in the smell of the air

and the sea and the land mixture together

and everything smelled so beautiful.

- This is very interesting

because it shows

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes