The Good

Thirteen Days

by Dexter Goad I, USN Ret.

Having served aboard the USS Newport News (NN), CA-148, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this movie hits home with me. I was more afraid one day in 1962 that I was another day 5 years later when 28 N. Viet Gun Sites were firing at the NN. But that's a story you can see by using Shadowdog's link below, let's talk about this movie.

Clinton look-alike Roger Donaldson did a great job directing "Thirteen Days". Dex II bought me the DVD for my birthday and I have gone over it like the Zapruder film. Bruce Greenwood as JFK and Steven Culp as RFK carried the film and did a great job potraying the events as they actually happened. Oh yea, Kevin Kosner did a good job also as the glue that held this story together.

The NN played several key roles during the actual crisis but, since there are no longer any Heavy Cruisers around, most of the action shots shown on the USS John R. Pierce, DD-753, actually took place on mighty Thunder (the NN). The Pierce was actually with us during the crisis, but played a more minor (but still important) role. Some of the action shown never happened at all; such as the ship firing starshells and the Cuban ground troops shooting holes in the Navy Crusader's wing. But, Hey, that's Hollywood. Got to have some action every 20 minutes to keep us awake.

As an old Navy Warrior, I have to say that JFK was right and the Military Hawks were wrong during those 13 days. Kennedy and Krushev saved the world from WWIII and maybe nuclear anialation. We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russian bear and they blinked first. As the trailer for "Thirteen Days" says; "We may never know how close we came". But, see the movie, and you'll know. DG1

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