A Vet’s Story – Dale Guth

Cuban Missile Crisis was for real

Somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania, there is an ordinary house, on an ordinary street, in an ordinary neighborhood. The house is a brick three bedroom ranch. The front door is on a plain concrete stoop with a brown welcome mat. Inside the house, a radio is tuned to a country music station.

This house could very well be the house of someone you know a friend, a neighbor, a relative. A walk through its rooms, however, would reveal that this house is special. Perhaps it is the reproduction Revolutionary War memorabilia that hangs above the fireplace in the living room. Perhaps it is the den whose green walls are covered by pictures of men who have just emerged from the trenches of battle. Or, perhaps it is the assortment of books chronicling nearly every war the United States has been a part of. What distinguishes this house from others is a combination of all these things. It is a time machine that has the power to transport a person through history, while instilling a few life lessons along the way.

This house belongs to Dale Guth, a United States Navy veteran who served during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961-1962. Magnifying his brown eyes are glasses whose frames are nearly identical to the ones he wore in a black and white photograph that was taken when he was 17, the year he enlisted in the Navy. His navy blue T-shirt displays famous U.S. sailingships. His face is warm and inviting, despite years of hardship that could have made it cold.

"If you want to know the truth, it all started back in 1776, he said with a whimsical smile. A few years ago, my brother and I did a genealogy search of our family. I’ve had relatives in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, you name it. My grandfather was in World War I, and my father was in World War II. It was in my blood to be part of the armed forces. Listening to their stories of what it was like in the Army and Navy made me realize part of my destiny." Guth knew that being in the Armed Forces was in his fate, but he had no idea how soon his destiny would manifest.

Guth enlisted in the Navy in 1961, right after his junior year of high school, completing a year of service by the time he graduated the following year. "Most people nowadays can't say they've done that," he said. But, I guess things were different back then. Guth was sent to Norfolk, Va., to work on the Admiral's staff, the Commander of Amphibious forces, Atlantic Fleet (ComPhibLant), from August 1962 until February 1963. During this time it was part of his duties to stand armed guard at night on the docks guarding the ships in the Norfolk Naval Base. In February of 1963, he was transferred to a troop transport, the U.S.S. Chilton APA38 as a deck hand. "The best part about being on a ship was that I got to see the world and I got paid Uncle Sam's money to do it!"

It was then that Guth had his first chance to travel the high seas. He spent the next five months doing landing exercises throughout the Mediterranean Sea with the Marines stationed on his ship. He turned 19 on April 13, 1963 while in port at Izmir, Turkey." No sooner had I gotten back then I was called to the Caribbean. At first I joked that they just needed people to protect the cruise ships. That was until I found out that we were circling Cuba in preparation for combat."

For fourteen days in October 1962, a conflict occurred that almost started a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. This conflict came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, perhaps the greatest threat of nuclear war the world has ever witnessed. Soviets armed forces had installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of the United States. U.S. armed forces were at their highest state of military preparedness, and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by the United States. "Although it was now July of 1963 and the missiles were removed from Cuba, there was still a threat of their return and that meant that we had to be ready to land our Marines at a moment's notice. I was 19 years old, and I was defending my country" he recalled.

However, what started out as practice became chillingly real one fateful day. "I was painting near the stern of the ship, when suddenly I heard the captain yelling over the loudspeaker, "This is not a drill. This is not a drill. General quarters! General quarters!" I couldn't think after that. All I remember doing was aiming my gun, not even knowing what I was trying to shoot. When the captain gave an order, you obeyed, no questions asked. Nobody knew what was going on; we just thought we were going to war."

Guth was lucky that day. What may have been the last few moments of his life turned out only to be a fly-by by a Russian Mig. "There were six huge guns on our ship, all attached to the deck. My battle station was a twin mount 40mm Anti-aircraft gun. I was a pointer, which means that it was my job to control the movement of the gun from side to side. There were also trainers, and it was their job to move the guns up and down. I was turning the wheel to make my gun move, and all of a sudden it stopped. The captain had taken control of all the guns and locked them into the Combat Information Center (CIC). At that point I no longer had control of the gun and was only along for the ride. When the Mig flew over the ship at the altitude of only a few hundred feet and CIC didn't fire, I knew that whatever had happened was over. I was relieved".

After that day, a divide formed between the men on board. The younger sailors wanted to stay and fight, while the older ones wanted to leave. Things became different after that day. Combat of any kind will change a person. The young guys, like me at the time, wanted to stay and fight. We had just gotten our first taste of what it was like to almost be in battle. It was scary, but it was also exciting. We wanted to defend our country. The older guys, though, they wanted to call it quits. So many of them had been involved in Korea [during the Korean Conflict] and just couldn't handle it again. It's strange, but they reminded me of my father. He was in the Navy during World War II, and he never even spoke about it until the late 1950s. Looking back now, I can see why.

"One thing that stands out, though, is the time I spent just staring at the sea," Guth said, staring out the window with a far off look in his eyes. "There was always three of us [fellow sailors] steering ship. We did it in shifts for four hours at a time. It was incredibly rugged because it was all around the clock. I would sleep for six hours, have some free time to sort out my thoughts, and then I'd spend time with the sea for another four. There's nothing like the ocean in the middle of the night".

Guth served three years of active duty in the Navy and two years in the reserves. Fascinated by U.S. history, he has engaged in war re-enactments for the past 30 years. "Funny as it may seem, I only re-enact army scenes. People always ask me, 'why would an ex-sailor re-enact the army?' I tell them it's because it's easier than sailing a ship on dry land".

As if a light bulb had gone off somewhere in his mind, Guth jumped out of his seat, ran into the den and took a brown leather photo album off a shelf. Inside are dozens of photographs of a 1942 jeep which he restored over a two-year time span. "This is my pride and joy," he said, beaming. I got it on a farm in Nazareth, and fixed it all myself. I've used it in nearly all of my re-enactments".

Guth took another photo album off a shelf, revealing rows of men posed in military uniforms from the Revolutionary War, World War I and World War II. "That one is my favorite," he said, pointing to an enlarged framed photograph hanging on the wall above his desk. It is a photograph of men dressed in Revolutionary War attire. In the center of the photograph is General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. "That was one of the proudest days of my life," Guth said. "I actually got to escort him to dinner that night. It was right after the Gulf War, so there was a whole entourage of security around [Schwarzkopf]. But I got to spend a moment alone with him. It was a great honor".

Since completing his service, Guth has worked as a mechanic for Mack Trucks following yet again in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. "I remember the day I was discharged [from active service], I drove out of the base in Virginia. There were two directions I could go - north or south. North was where I was supposed to go. That was where my job was waiting for me; it was where my family was. I looked north, and then I looked south. I sat there in my car for a long time. Who knew what adventure lay ahead of me if I went south? I thought about it and thought about it, and I decided that I'd better go north. I had enough adventure for a while. If I learned anything from the Navy, it was that life itself is the adventure.

You can't judge a book by its cover, so the saying goes. From the outside, Dale Guth's house on Barbara Drive appears to be just like any other house in the small neighborhood that surrounds it. The freshly mowed lawn and strategically placed foliage suggest that this house is as ordinary as any other. It is only when one walks through the door that he or she is truly captivated by the house's content and the character who inhabits it. Every person has a story that is unique. However, it is only when we open the cover of their book and take a closer look that we can truly understand and appreciate the person inside.

Maura Kutner is a junior at Lehigh University. Her hometown is Port Washington, N.Y.