Sharing My Story

I remember the Hungarian Revolt of 1956
and was saddened when the Soviets tanks
moved in and crushed the freedom fighters.
I was diappointed that the U.S. did nothing
to help these brave people.

The launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite in
1957 turned my thoughts to the Space Race
and eagerly watched America’s early attempts
(sometimes disastrous) to match the Communist feat.
Eisenhower’s sending the Marines to Lebanon
in 1958 interested me as brother Russ had
joined the U.S. Marines in 1957 and spent
6 months in boot camp (Camp Pendleton
near San Diego, California). The Polaris
nuclear submarine was also a scientific
feat that caught my attention.

In 1959 brother Russ was going to college
(Western Washighton College of Education
—now Western Washinton University) and
met a friend named Don Dale. Don was a
Christian and attended our church
Immanuel Bible Church
(Bellingham, Washington) and was
something of an intellectual. He strongly
believed that Fidel Castro was a sort of
modern day Robin Hood and his cause
of liberating Cuba from the Batista
dictatorship was a just one. Not knowing
otherwise we all hoped that was true.
We were all disappointed that Castro
turned out to be a Communist and after
he came to power produced a much worse
police state than what had gone before.