Walter Scadden
U.S. Marine Corps - Aviation Safety Technician
2nd Marine Air Wing
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962-1967
U.S. Marine Corps - Aviation Safety Technician
2nd Marine Air Wing
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962-1967
Walter Scadden was born in 1944 and grew up in Manchester, CT with his three siblings. Walt described his father, Walter, as an “off the boat Irishman; hardworking, smart, practical guy.” His mother Katherine, also immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland. Initially Walt attended a preparatory school in Thompson CT. run by an order of brothers that escaped from Lithuania and didn’t pack a sense of humor when they left. By mutual agreement Walt left and attended St. Rose High School but he had a problem consistently attending class. Walt won the battle of wills with his parents and attended Manchester High School for his junior and senior years. Walt had a big interest in art from a young age and beginning in the sixth grade he participated in an art development program run by the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT. Walt had an after-school job working at Pioneer Parachute Company doing “high school kid jobs”, such as sweeping floors, loading boxes onto trucks and stamping brass grommets into straps on the parachutes.
Walt headed for Marine boot camp the day after high school graduation. Walt thought he was a pretty tough guy until he arrived at boot camp on Parris Island. After completing boot camp, he went for Advanced Infantry Training at Camp Geiger and then to Camp Lejeune. “Every Marine is a rifleman.” The Marines saw he had worked at Pioneer Parachute and decided Walt’s path in the Marine Corps. should be as a parachute rigger. Walt had his education in mind and wanted to know what he was going to learn at Parachute Riggers School. He was told he would learn to run a sewing machine, which was not what he had in mind. When he received his orders, he learned he was going to the Coast Guard Rigger School where their treatment and accommodations were decidedly better than Marine Corps.
“To go through that sort of training, it’s good for you. It builds you up. When you walk out of Parris Island you are invincible.” “There is stuff I learned there that I have used every day of my life.” These concepts include integrity, honesty and accountability.
In October 1962 Walt got news that they would be deploying. The Marines assembled in Moorehead City, NC and shipped out in the middle of the night on the USS Hale. The men had no idea where they were headed and “the rumors were wild”. The Hale left port alone but when Walt went to breakfast the next morning, “It appeared to me that every boat in the Navy was out there next to us. You could have walked to Cuba. There were hundreds of ships.” The first time the men learned where they were headed was when President John Kennedy addressed the troops over the ship’s intercom.
The Marines floated off the shores of the island of Cuba as part of a naval blockade that was part of what has become known as ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis.’ During this time the Marines went through practice drills, took classes and learned that there would be heavy casualties if they were called on to take the beaches of Cuba. Walt knew this could be the ‘real thing’ because during the drills the Marines were carrying live weapons.
The Cuban Missile crisis was a 13-day high stakes diplomatic confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during October of 1962. In September of 1962 President Kennedy learned of a Soviet Union military buildup on the island of Cuba. On October 14, 1962, a high-altitude U.S. U-2 spy plane discovered Soviet ballistic missiles on the island of Cuba. The U.S. could not permit these missiles, capable of carrying nuclear payloads, to be located a mere 90 miles from Key West in the United States. This would create an untenable situation for the U.S. during the height of the Cold War.
President Kennedy and his advisors decided to form a naval blockade around the island of Cuba to prevent further deliveries of Soviet missiles in conjunction with a warning to the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, that all missiles must be removed. Over the next 13 days the two sides engaged in high stakes Brinkmanship. During the negotiations Soviet ships were headed for Cuba to deliver more missiles. Tension mounted knowing that if the Soviet ships tried to ram the U.S. blockade, war could break out and nuclear weapons could be employed. Fortunately, the Soviet ships turned around and a crisis was temporarily averted. On October 28th the Soviet Union agreed to remove it’s missiles in return for various U.S. concessions. Both sides stood down and the crisis was over. Walt said the news that the crisis had been averted “was very slow in coming”. With the order to standdown the Marines returned to the U.S. in November.
In 1964 Walt came home on leave and his buddy called to say he had a date, but the girl wouldn’t go unless someone took her cousin. Walt agreed and the two couples went to Riverside Park in Agawam, MA. Walt and his date had a such a good time that they got married a short time later and are celebrating their 60thwedding anniversary this year.
At the end of his four-year tour Walt was ready to leave the Marine Corps. However, the Marines told him that with the ramp up of Vietnam his tenure was being extended for an indeterminable amount of time. After four months Walt learned he would be discharged, only to be told shortly thereafter he had a critical MOS and would not be discharged. At the end of four years, nine months and 28 days Walt was discharged.
Walt decided he wanted to be a fire fighter and had a job waiting for him at the Bradley Field Fire Department. He worked there a short time and then went to the Pratt & Whittney Fire Department. When a job opened up with his hometown fire department of Manchester, CT Walt took it and retired 22 ½ years later.
After his retirement Walt went back to school at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he ultimately took a position teaching for 20 years. “The most rewarding time of my life.” Walt talked about being part of “The Bomb Squad” with Woody Flowers, a well renowned mechanical engineering professor at MIT. The Bomb Squad would be sent into companies that had made major investments into their operations and they were not generating the improvements, benefits or returns originally anticipated. “This team would come in and try to help sort it out.” With a great deal of money riding on the line, people’s careers were at stake and Walt recalls being viewed as the enemy when they arrived at a company to begin their assessment. “I was very fortunate that I was a very small part of it. He (Woody) was a huge influence on my life.”
Walt has an eclectic skill set he has developed over the years and put to use in his retirement. He is a blacksmith and built his first forge from a hibachi grill and a hair dryer. His work has been displayed at the Smithsonian Museum, he worked on the restoration of the Guggenheim Museum’s carousel at Sands Point, NY and he was the primary blacksmith for the construction of the replica of the historic schooner Amistad.
Walt is also a playwrite. He has written “Murder in Manchester, the Great Silk Heist” which tells the true story of the murder of Bill Madden, a corporate security chief in January 1919 during an attempted silk robbery. He has also written “447 Tango Down”. The fictional story of a downed helicopter pilot awaiting rescue.
“I’m the luckiest guy you ever met. Whenever I came to a fork in the road, whatever fork I took worked its way into being the right one. It just seems to work out dozens and dozens of times.”
Walt, thank you for serving your time as a Marine and floating a few short miles away from what could have been a terrible international crisis. It just seemed to work out!
Walt headed for Marine boot camp the day after high school graduation. Walt thought he was a pretty tough guy until he arrived at boot camp on Parris Island. After completing boot camp, he went for Advanced Infantry Training at Camp Geiger and then to Camp Lejeune. “Every Marine is a rifleman.” The Marines saw he had worked at Pioneer Parachute and decided Walt’s path in the Marine Corps. should be as a parachute rigger. Walt had his education in mind and wanted to know what he was going to learn at Parachute Riggers School. He was told he would learn to run a sewing machine, which was not what he had in mind. When he received his orders, he learned he was going to the Coast Guard Rigger School where their treatment and accommodations were decidedly better than Marine Corps.
“To go through that sort of training, it’s good for you. It builds you up. When you walk out of Parris Island you are invincible.” “There is stuff I learned there that I have used every day of my life.” These concepts include integrity, honesty and accountability.
In October 1962 Walt got news that they would be deploying. The Marines assembled in Moorehead City, NC and shipped out in the middle of the night on the USS Hale. The men had no idea where they were headed and “the rumors were wild”. The Hale left port alone but when Walt went to breakfast the next morning, “It appeared to me that every boat in the Navy was out there next to us. You could have walked to Cuba. There were hundreds of ships.” The first time the men learned where they were headed was when President John Kennedy addressed the troops over the ship’s intercom.
The Marines floated off the shores of the island of Cuba as part of a naval blockade that was part of what has become known as ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis.’ During this time the Marines went through practice drills, took classes and learned that there would be heavy casualties if they were called on to take the beaches of Cuba. Walt knew this could be the ‘real thing’ because during the drills the Marines were carrying live weapons.
The Cuban Missile crisis was a 13-day high stakes diplomatic confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during October of 1962. In September of 1962 President Kennedy learned of a Soviet Union military buildup on the island of Cuba. On October 14, 1962, a high-altitude U.S. U-2 spy plane discovered Soviet ballistic missiles on the island of Cuba. The U.S. could not permit these missiles, capable of carrying nuclear payloads, to be located a mere 90 miles from Key West in the United States. This would create an untenable situation for the U.S. during the height of the Cold War.
President Kennedy and his advisors decided to form a naval blockade around the island of Cuba to prevent further deliveries of Soviet missiles in conjunction with a warning to the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, that all missiles must be removed. Over the next 13 days the two sides engaged in high stakes Brinkmanship. During the negotiations Soviet ships were headed for Cuba to deliver more missiles. Tension mounted knowing that if the Soviet ships tried to ram the U.S. blockade, war could break out and nuclear weapons could be employed. Fortunately, the Soviet ships turned around and a crisis was temporarily averted. On October 28th the Soviet Union agreed to remove it’s missiles in return for various U.S. concessions. Both sides stood down and the crisis was over. Walt said the news that the crisis had been averted “was very slow in coming”. With the order to standdown the Marines returned to the U.S. in November.
In 1964 Walt came home on leave and his buddy called to say he had a date, but the girl wouldn’t go unless someone took her cousin. Walt agreed and the two couples went to Riverside Park in Agawam, MA. Walt and his date had a such a good time that they got married a short time later and are celebrating their 60thwedding anniversary this year.
At the end of his four-year tour Walt was ready to leave the Marine Corps. However, the Marines told him that with the ramp up of Vietnam his tenure was being extended for an indeterminable amount of time. After four months Walt learned he would be discharged, only to be told shortly thereafter he had a critical MOS and would not be discharged. At the end of four years, nine months and 28 days Walt was discharged.
Walt decided he wanted to be a fire fighter and had a job waiting for him at the Bradley Field Fire Department. He worked there a short time and then went to the Pratt & Whittney Fire Department. When a job opened up with his hometown fire department of Manchester, CT Walt took it and retired 22 ½ years later.
After his retirement Walt went back to school at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he ultimately took a position teaching for 20 years. “The most rewarding time of my life.” Walt talked about being part of “The Bomb Squad” with Woody Flowers, a well renowned mechanical engineering professor at MIT. The Bomb Squad would be sent into companies that had made major investments into their operations and they were not generating the improvements, benefits or returns originally anticipated. “This team would come in and try to help sort it out.” With a great deal of money riding on the line, people’s careers were at stake and Walt recalls being viewed as the enemy when they arrived at a company to begin their assessment. “I was very fortunate that I was a very small part of it. He (Woody) was a huge influence on my life.”
Walt has an eclectic skill set he has developed over the years and put to use in his retirement. He is a blacksmith and built his first forge from a hibachi grill and a hair dryer. His work has been displayed at the Smithsonian Museum, he worked on the restoration of the Guggenheim Museum’s carousel at Sands Point, NY and he was the primary blacksmith for the construction of the replica of the historic schooner Amistad.
Walt is also a playwrite. He has written “Murder in Manchester, the Great Silk Heist” which tells the true story of the murder of Bill Madden, a corporate security chief in January 1919 during an attempted silk robbery. He has also written “447 Tango Down”. The fictional story of a downed helicopter pilot awaiting rescue.
“I’m the luckiest guy you ever met. Whenever I came to a fork in the road, whatever fork I took worked its way into being the right one. It just seems to work out dozens and dozens of times.”
Walt, thank you for serving your time as a Marine and floating a few short miles away from what could have been a terrible international crisis. It just seemed to work out!