Memorial Day and the Cold War

As a young girl in the late 50's and early 60's I had often heard the term "The Cold War." I never really understood what that meant. I never really understood what "war" meant. I knew that there was on overriding sense of dread and fear around but did not understand from whence it came. I was just a kid.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch a KPBS special (alright, I couldn't sleep but hey it was a good show anyway) about the Cold War and suddenly it all made sense. They interviewed several people who lived through the end of World War II and were present during the transition to the Cold War. A pilot, a Nazi work-camp survivor, and several others. What they described both shocked and amazed me. They shared how the allied forces moved into Germany and discovered various machines (specifically, remarkably designed rocket propelled aircraft and other high technology). They explained how those machines had been built using starving, decimated camp workers. And, how the race was on between Russia and particularly the United States to obtain those machines and their plans before the other could.

The pilot had the opportunity to fly one of the aircraft and reported that it was always a step ahead of him. He was amazed. Ultimately, that design was implemented in future aircraft and is still used today.

The camp worker was saddened, maddened and disgusted with the United States as it hailed the German scientists as "heroes" for developing these machines. The scientists had been able to avoid war crime prosecution for their abuse of Nazi prisoners because of their "contributions" to these technologies.

They saw the end of World War II transform into the Cold War, the race for control over these advanced technologies. As for myself, I clearly remember the sense of dread as the realities of living in a world of nuclear weapons and advanced killing machines weighed on our daily lives. At last I understood what had created this thing called "the Cold War" and in my little-girl mind wish the men of the time could have been wiser in their greed and ambition to conquer the technology.