"Where were you on that day?"... I can tell you exactly...

 

My father was U.S. Navy and we were stationed in Japan. I was thirteen and living in Nagai on that day. The events and those that followed are forever burnt into my memory. The assassination of JFK had tragic consequences that rippled around the world, tragically touching upon even our next door neighbors.

 

My father was awakened by a recall early in the morning to order him to return to the base as a result of a rise in the level of the DEF-CON. The Naval base in Yokosuka in those days had a very secure communications center located in a bunker in one the many hills on base. The bunkers had been built by the Japanese Navy prior to World War II. When the U.S. 7th Fleet was notified of the assassination, the communications bunker was put on full lock-down. That is, blast doors were sealed and guarded by burly marines for the duration. Locked in that bunker were communications specialist in all levels of crypto, intel and the other various disciplines necessary to keep comms open with the fleet and stateside forces and administration.

 

In that bunker was our next door neighbor, a first class communications specialist by the name of Voglesang. The DEF-CON lasted for 36 hours or so, if my memory serves me, and Mr. Voglesang was in there the entire time. For the first 12 to 18 hours of that, they did not know whether we were going to war or not. All they knew was that the president had been assassinated and that a foreign government could be responsible. Remember, in 1963 the Pacific rim was a very scary place. Given the two primary international suspects in a possible conspiracy (Russia and Cuba), things in the northern Pacific got very stressed almost instantly. You can only imagine the state of the personnel in that bunker after the long hours that they were hunkered down and without any communications about the consequences to the fleet and dependents in the region.

 

When the DEF-CON was reverted to "normal", the crew in the bunker was released and allowed to go off duty. Understandably, many of them went to the nearest bar to blow off the pent up steam. These were sailors after all and that's what they did; how they coped. When sufficient steam had been released, they broke up and went their separate ways. Our neighbor caught a taxi and proceeded home.

 

He apparently was leaning up against the passenger side door when the taxi went around a corner and that door sprung open. He was thrown out of the taxi and hit by another taxi going the opposite direction. He died immediately from massive head trauma.

 

His wife and my mother were good friends. When the Navy sent a chaplain out to tell her about the death of her husband, he came to our house first to ask for my mother to attend. All of that was pretty traumatic for everyone involved and still ripples with consequences today.

 

The butterfly effect is real...

Tom. You're just a year older than me so as you say we were both too young to understand the potential consequences of this killing. For all the US Govt knew this could have been politically motivated by the Soviet Union and I imagine it took some persuasion by Krushchev to convince Johnson they weren't behind it. Let's face it, after the Cuban Missile crisis the previous year these were seriously scary times.

 

Sad story regarding your neighbour. Just goes to show how fragile life can be.

My father was awakened by a recall early in the morning to order him to return to the base as a result of a rise in the level of the DEF-CON. The Naval base in Yokosuka in those days had a very secure communications center located in a bunker in one the many hills on base. The bunkers had been built by the Japanese Navy prior to World War II.

I remember that day vividly. I was sitting in a U.S. History class with my fellow cadets at Kentucky Military Institute when an announcement was made over the public address by the duty Officer of the Day from the guard house.

I was in the US Army at a Post for specialty training in what was then a relatively new technology (computers). The Post was put on alert, we were sent back to our barracks and issued rifles (no ammo) and told to wait. Pretty scary for a 19 year old in the Army for less than 6 months. I believe JFK's major legacies were the space program and the Peace Corps.

"Where were you on that day?"... I can tell you exactly...

 

My father was U.S. Navy and we were stationed in Japan. I was thirteen and living in Nagai on that day.

I was in Okinawa..Navy brat Naha NAS it was like ww3 had just broke out.

Edited November 23, 201312 yr by Polar