Only Read if You Are Over 50

Hello Again! Gordon Graham here with my monthly opportunity to say hi to all of you viewing this great site, and I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this piece. I put the catchy title on this one for a reason, and it was not to dissuade those of you younger than fifty from reading this – but rather to make the over fifty crowd (and I am part of that group) feel just a bit special – as if this was especially prepared for them. And it was prepared for the over fifty crowd, but if you are truly over fifty – you already know all of this because we lived through all of this.

Here is a list of names, places and events that the over fifty crowd knows about first hand. And for you young kids visiting this site – the year was 1968. I put these in no particular order (except for the last one). Also, I recognize that some of these people made huge contributions and some made none – but they were all part of that year.

Hubert Humphrey - “Hube the Cube”
Haight-Ashbury – I went to high school not to far from there.
Richard Nixon - I remember his “Checkers” speech.
Khe Sahn – Please read “Patch of Ground” by Michael Archer.
John Walker - We are still paying for his spy activities today.
Apollo 7 and 8 - I could not believe we pulled this off.
Tet Offensive - I watched it on TV every night with Walter Cronkite.
Summer Olympics – Remember the “raised fist” salute.
Michelle Phillips - The Mamas and the Papas.
OJ Simpson - He went to Galileo High School in San Francisco.
Robert Kennedy - Was this the first “Islamic Terrorist” event on US soil?
Martin Luther King - I wonder what he would say today if he were alive.
USS Pueblo - I think the Russians instigated this event off Korea.*
Abbie Hoffman – The first of many to come.
Arlo Guthrie - Alice’s Restaurant.
Richard Daley - His son now runs the place.
Aristotle Onassis - I wonder what Jackie saw in him.
Bruce Springsteen - I still like his music.
USS Scorpion - Still a mystery forty-one years later.

Mr. Nixon had a quote in 1968 about 1968 and what a “wonderful time” it was to be alive here in the United States. Frankly, I was a 17 year old kid in San Francisco going to St. Ignatius High School and pretty naive about what was “really” going on in the world back then.

However, the last one on the above list “popped” up in my head last week. In my “live” programs I talk about our Nuclear Navy – and what a phenomenal safety record that part of our Military has achieved. I do know we lost the Thresher – and that I understand that was an “accident”. And in May of 1968, we suffered the loss of the Scorpion – SSN 589 – and as I indicated above – still a mystery forty-one years later. Was it a Soviet attack? Did one of the Scorpion’s torpedoes accidentally detonate? Did its hull crack due to poor maintenance? Did its main storage battery explode?

If you are really into sea mysteries, check out “Silent Steel” by Stephen Johnson. When I finished that book, I was leaning towards the “accident” theory. And then I read “Scorpion Down” by Ed Oaffley – and I started to lean towards another theory – that the Russians sunk our sub in retaliation for their poor seamanship that caused the loss of one of their subs earlier.

And because I suffer from a huge “bias” against the old Soviet Union and now the new Russia – I convinced myself that indeed it was the Russians that sank our sub and that the ninety-nine crewmembers that were “lost at sea” were in fact murdered by the Russians.

And my bias is present with the USS Pueblo event highlighted above with the asterisk. I am convinced the Russians were behind the seizure of the Pueblo off the coast of Korea in that same year.

I tell you all of this because during a class this last week I mentioned the Nuclear Navy, and its safety record, and the “Thresher Tragedy” and the “Scorpion” event and gave my opinion as to what happened. And a fellow put his hand up and said that he thought it was an accident – and a friendly discussion started and he said “My brother was on that submarine!”

And all of a sudden the “event” – had a new meaning to me. I did not know anyone on that submarine, and for me it was just “another event” that happened in 1968. I have visited the memorial to the Scorpion at the Naval Station in Seal Beach – and I will get a picture of that memorial to my new friend back East, but that tragedy was not personal to me. But to the fellow in my class – this event was a defining moment in his life – and we went to lunch (and took his truck which had license plate frames commemorating the Scorpion) and had a long chat.

Of course I apologized for bringing up the “event” – and he was so gracious in dismissing the apology and simultaneously thanking me for remembering this tragedy. “No one has ever mentioned the Scorpion in a class before” – and he was grateful that someone remembered.

So for my “over fifty” friends, I know that some or many of you out there have a “very personal” tie to one or more of the names, places or events that I mentioned at the start of this piece or some other “event” earlier in your life. And perhaps this brief piece will make you think of that place, time or person and “remember” things that you have not thought of in a while. Maybe it is time for a phone call or a visit to someone you knew back then who may have had some ties to all of the “events” including the ones going on in 1968.

And to tie this together for this piece – there are many events since 1968 that will be ingrained in our heads forever. I just finished up a book by John Maclean – son of Norman Maclean who wrote the classic work “Young Men and Fire”. The younger Maclean wrote a piece about an “event” in 2001 – shortly before September 11. On July 10 we lost four brave young firefighters in Washington State – and “The Thirtymile Fire” is well worth the read. On my next visit to Eastern Washington I plan on visiting that memorial also. And a sincere thanks to Fire Chief (Ret.) Gerry Kohlmann for sending me this great book. I am glad I read it.

Each of these events creates “victims” beyond the decedent. And if you are in the over fifty crowd and went to the funerals that follow these events – you saw the relatives and friends there – so sad and so lonely. Let us “Never Forget” these people who suffered so much in what was an “event” for many of us.

And as the “events” continue to occur – please keep in mind the friends and families that remember and suffer every day – and who commemorate events with “license plate” frames and other memorabilia so that the “event” is never forgotten.

Anyhow, I promise you a happier piece next month. Thanks for taking the time to visit my little corner, and to the good people who run this LA Fire Credit Union – my sincere thanks for all you do.

Gordon Graham
Co-President, Lexipol

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