"They Thought the WAR Was On!"

October 30, 1962, Miraleste Elementary School in Los Angeles County, California.

The school was located on a crest overlooking the San Pedro Harbor and no one really thought about the school becoming a target until the previous two weeks. Our country was in the midst of a nuclear showdown with the Soviet Union – the Cuban Missile Crisis.

8:40am - Ten minutes after classes had started for the day, Mrs. Acuna, secretary to the principal, was in the school office opening mail. Suddenly the civil defense disaster alarm flashed a yellow warning signal and sounded an ear-splitting alarm. She looked at the clock. It was only 8:40am, the daily test wasn’t supposed to happen until 9:30am!

Then Mrs. Acuna also noticed that only the yellow-alert signal – warning of a nuclear attack within the hour – was ringing. Normally the daily test pattern was all colors together - blue (expect trouble soon), yellow, red (imminent attack) and white (all clear). It had never shown just one alert. 

The principal, Mr. Armitage, was administering a standardized test to fifth graders in the cafeteria. Mrs. Acuna immediately buzzed the intercom and asked him to come to the office. The alarm was audible over the intercom.

Mr. Armitage arrived in the office and told her to call the phone company that services the alarm system to check if the system was malfunctioning. Then she was to sound the “long bell” for a drill which meant the school was to be evacuated to the playground.

He turned on the office transistor radio which was already set for 640 kilocycles, the CONELRAD civil-defense wave length (precursor to our current Emergency Broadcast System). Music blared through the radio! Was this alert for real?

Meanwhile, Mrs. Acuna was speaking with the telephone company who stated they could find no malfunction and she should assume the alert was real.

Mr. Armitage called the Superintendent’s Office and was told that no other schools had reported yellow alarms. Again, the telephone company insisted that there were no malfunctions.

At 8:42am, two minutes after the alert first sounded, Mr. Armitage grabbed his portable electric megaphone and headed for the playground where the students and teachers were gathering. The alert was still sounding. He wondered, “Did the Cuban crisis erupt overnight? “

The students were being gathered into their 10 dispersal groups which were determined by the direction they would walk to arrive home. Some children lived just down the street, while others lived as far as two miles away. 

Mr. Armitage knew a submarine could surface in the harbor below and open fire in the direction of the school. He grabbed his megaphone and shouted, “Teachers, take your students home!” They were WALKING home during a nuclear alert!

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8:48am -Seeing that the children and teachers were on their respective ways, Mr. Armitage went into his office intending to call the sheriff when suddenly all was silent. The alarm stopped!

8:52am - The telephone repairman who had Mrs. Acuna stay on the line throughout the alert told her calmly that malfunction in equipment at the San Pedro office had allowed the signal to slip through all protective measures. The school was to excuse the alert.

Within 12 minutes, it was all over.

“My God!” cried Mr. Armitage. “I’ve got to get those children back!” He dispatched two teachers in their cars and then jumped into his car to head off the walkers.

9:15am – The 24 children who had reached home were back in school.

9:30am – Classes were again in session.

How did the children fare during their WALK?

In spite of their fears, the children were orderly and well-behaved. The older children helped and sometimes carried younger children. Some even sang songs as they WALKED – during a nuclear alert!

Afterwards, some children shared their thoughts -

Terry Thomas, 6 years old:“I didn’t think it was funny. Everything would’ve been destroyed if it had been real. Then it wouldn’t have been a very good place to live.”

Pam Patterson, 10 years old: “I thought about my dog and cat. They always wander away, and maybe, if it was real we wouldn’t get them back again.”

Joy Bowman, 9 years old: “I thought the whole school was going to fall down any minute. I felt kind of like this – wavy – all the way.”

Mark Hollingworth, 10 years old: “I was busy all the time answering the little kids’ questions. They asked me – ‘Are we going to live any longer? Are we going to be safe? Is this real, or is it just a drill?’ We all wanted to get home real fast.”

A few days after the false alert, Marla Dirks, 7 years old: “I was playing school with some of my friends. Sherry rang an alarm clock and yelled, ‘Go home!’ And we all rushed to the front door.”

And the adults ...

The experience left the adults more aware.

Mrs. O’Neil, First Grade Teacher: “Things seemed so different when we got back. I couldn’t help thinking: Why do we teach them to read? Are these children going to grow up to use all this?”

Mrs. John Barrett, Mother: “Ever since, every school day one mother is on duty to meet the children at the end of our street. If she leaves home, even for an hour, she must find a replacement and notify the school. “

Mr. Armitage, Principal: “I discovered a number of children would not be able to walk home in an hour. Thirty-two parents have requested that their children should remain at school. I also requisitioned planks to cover the windows. From now on, teachers are to ensure that students take lunches and wraps with them for the WALK. Finally, I recommend that teachers keep flat-heeled shoes handy.”

Parental letter to Mr. Armitage: “Johnny should stay with the Joneses, and if they’re not home, he should go to his own house and pray.”

(Los Angles Times, November 1, 1962, pages 37 and 38 and McCalls Magazine, Vol. 90, No. 7, April 1963, pages 96-97, 201-203.)

In this true story what we are left with is a sober meditation on the absurdity of how we thought we could just “duck and cover” or simply WALK away from a nuclear threat.  As current events unfold, we are still, unfortunately, under a nuclear threat from a variety of nations. Are we any better prepared? 

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On this 60^th. Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, I highly recommend the docudrama, Ladybug, Ladybug (On YouTube) based upon this actual event. The film is a commentary on the psychological effects of the threat of nuclear war.