What was happening in Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

by Feezec
lee-c

Looks like this was addressed a year ago.

I also recommend "Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba," by Rear Admiral M. E. Murphy. It's available at the Exchange on base... just pop in some time and pick up a copy next time you're in the area. Ch XIX is what you're looking for.

Some things I didn't see mentioned in that post from a year ago:

  • The base was inundated/strained by reinforcements
  • Lots of construction of roads and defensive structures
  • Long days... 16-20 hour workdays

Admiral Murphy cites a 2 Nov 1962 message from the Chief of Naval Operations which paints a nice vignette of the base, I think nicely summarized as "once a community with overtones of suburbia, [Naval Base Guantanamo Bay] now has all earmarks of an armed camp with stark remembrances of the past."

The evacuation of dependents was mentioned in the above link, but I was interested to learn how: ~2,800 of them were crowded onto naval vessels, and transported to the Amphibious Base at Little Creek, VA. Those women nearing the end of pregnancy were evacuated by aircraft. There was a heartwarming effort within that area to house, feed and clothes what were essentially war refugees.

Now spouse-less, apparently men left at GTMO not on duty returned to base housing... which was a bit of a ghost town. They ganged up to share cooking and other household chores.

R&R didn't go away. The base football league was active. There were lots of extra spectators (Marine reinforcements killing time) at the golf course. All nine movie theaters stayed open, and the three bowling alleys stayed open all week long.