MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
.. mt-"r"""- """"" THURSDAY. APRIL It. 1963 g y
Abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion Described
Editor'i note: "Alert alert
- look well at the rainbow.
The fiih will be running
very toon." Theie cryptic
words crackling out over a
clandestine radio two years
ago signalled one of the
worst fiascos in U.S. his
lory - the abortive Bay of
Pigs invasion of Cuba. The
following dispatch recapitu
lates the grim episode.
in comoai unuorms stormed , and rid Cuba of international organized them, it was 72
I ashore in a remote and cruelty and oppression." hours of heartbreak, blood-
swampy section of Cuba fac- In the early morning hours j shed and total disaster. The
i dangerous and grim repcrcus-
sions have influenced power
fusion; but this in itself was
an experience that became a
teacher. Lessons learned in
April, 1962, were not forgot
ten by the Kennedy adminis-
uauuca ana Diplomacy unui irauon in ine American - so- ft, t-.. i. ui...
and the Cuban people it an-! today, two years later. vict missile slowdown last B.,t no'nct nn ....
nounced: Out of the episode emerged October. , li...
By NORMAN RUNNION
United Press International
Washington - IUPII - In the
early morning hours of April
17. 1061, a force of 1,500 men
ing a body of water called the of April 20, just three days
nay oi rigs. j later, Havana radio also had
As brigade 2505 slugged in-.i a communique. To the world
land with high hopes, a Madi
son avenue public relations
nrm in lar-otf New York is-: Army Crushed much tnat was Bad, indeed Because the Bay of Pigs was
sued a communique in the ! "The mercenary armv ! terrible, and a little that was sllrh , fl.., a. wii
"Alert alert - look well at the
rainbow.
The fish will be running very
soon
Chico is at home visit him
name of the Cuban Revolu-1 which occupied Cuban tcrri-! Bd
tionary Council. tory for less than 72 hours j Castro Endures
"Before dawn," it said with j has been crushed, the govern- Brigade 2505 set out to de-
unjustified optimism, "Cuban ment disclosed at 2:30 (A.M.) stroy Castro, but Castro is
patriots in the cities and the I today in communique No. 4." still there,
hills began the battle to liber-1 For the men of the brigade. The invasion was launched
ate our homeland from the and for the United States gov- from a sea of errors and en-
dcspotic rule of Fidel Castro I ernment which supported and gulfed in a tidal wave of con-
tragedy for the men involved,
and because it was such a
glaring failure of U.S. policy,
it will remain a controversy
for years to come.
The adventure began, on
the night of April 16, with a
poem.
Verse Alerts
Broadcast by a clandestine
radio starting before mid
night, the poem appeared to
be beamed at the Cuban un
derground to alert it that the
"fish" were at that very mo
ment approaching the Cuban
shores. It Is an old trick, hid
ing a message in verse, and
was a method employed by . 300,000-man militia.
the Allies to alert the French Behind this lack of knowl
unnergrouncl on the eve of edge was simple fact. The
D-Day.
Although melodramatic and
exciting, this poem alerted
virtually no one. It was mere
ly symbolic of futility. The
anti-Castro underground w is
very much in existence. Some
of its members heard the
verses on short - wave radios
and with agony realized they
had no instructions to unlock
the code of the fish, Chico or
the rainbow; no prepared
plans to blow up bridges,
block trains, or delay Castro's
Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) planners who organized
and directed the Bay of Pigs
expedition had decided to all
but ignore the underground,
which they did not totally
trust, and concentrate instead
on a one-hot landing of 1,500
men with no local support.
Blunder Seen
In the penetrating light of
hindsight, it was a blunder
that forged another link in
the chain of destruction which
was to crush the whole oper-
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CORNER JACKSONVILLE HI WAY AND LOZIER LANE
w
alion and badly damage
American prestige.
The invasion began at 3
a.m. Brigade 2505 hit the
beaches on the southern coast
of Cuba less (nan 100 miles
southeast of Havana and start
ed to move inland toward its
initial objectives.
In its ranks were men both
rich and poor who were dedi
cated to overthrowing t h a
man and the regime which
had driven them from Cuba.
Some had fought In Castro's
ranks. But because of CIA in
aistence there also were soma
- a handful - who had been
Involved with the deteated
Batista, another mistake that
was to provide Castro with
propaganda ammunition.
For nearly three months
American and exile personnel
naa trained the assault forces,
mostly at a remote camp in
Guatemala.
Report For Duty
One such trainee was Man
uel Penabaz, who waa ordered
to report for duty in Miami
on Jan. 24, 1961.
This was four days after
John F. Kennedy had been in
augurated President of the
United States and found him
self confronted with plans for
an exile invasion of Cuba
which had been drawn up in
the Eisenhower administra
tion. Only a comparatively
short time was to elapse be
fore Kennedy gave the final
go-ahead for an operation
whose ramlflcatlona neither
he nor his chief advisers had
really mastered.
In the meantime Penabez,
one of the lucky few who
eventually was to escape from
the hell of the beachhead, was
to undergo his military train
ing. During this same period
the master plan which he and
his fellow exiles were to fol
low was drastically altered.
Penabez kept a diary. On
April 14, as the six ships car
rying the invasion forces were
en route to Cuba, he mad
this entry:
Flotilla Moves
"The flotilla is steaming to
ward our date with destiny . .
. two destroyers ... I think
they are North American . . .
flank us. The sensation Is ct
an authentic war convoy.
"We were told that the un
derground waa to deatroy the)
bridges and declare a general
strike throughout the island.
we were told we would have
an air umbrella over us at all
times ao as to guarantee that
the sky would alwaya ba
ours.''
There was no general strike.
There was no umbrella.
To provide sufficient aerial
firepower to protect the In
vasion forces, American
planes would have been need
ed. But Kennedy irmly ruled
out any overt U.S. participa
tion. Four Americans did. in
fact, fly planes provided to
the exiles, and vanished un
der attack from Cuban jets.
But the four had been hired -presumably
by the CIA - for
the sole purpose cf aiding the
exiles.
Pottpona Strike
Available to the brlgada
were World War II vintage
B26s, no match for Castro's
Mlgs. Two days before tha
landing the exiles had bomb
ed Cuban airfields In the hopa
of knocking out Castro's air
force, but destruction had
been far from total. A second
planned strike was postponed
because of the worldwide
storm over the first one.
April 17, the day of the
landings. From the diary of
Manuel Penabaz: "We are en
trenched on Cuban soil, and
here we will stay . . .
In less than 24 hours we
have already driven 42 kil
ometers (26 miles) Inland."
A little further on the ad
vance halted in the face ot
Cuba's military might, per
sonally directed by Castro.
Con.olidaie
On April 18, the second day,
Penabaz reported: "Early to
day battalion two pulled back
to Blue beach to consolidate
our forces already too dis
persed and far from supply
lines. For the first time, en
emy aviation appears very ac
tive . . . the enemy planes . . .
arc constantly bombing and
strafing our landing strip.
"Everyone keeps asking us:
'Where are the Americans? t
don't see any Americans
here.' They are ronvinced that
the Americans are landing!
and no amount of persuasion
changes their minds. Napoleon
Villa Boe, executive officer of
the battalion, tells me we are
fighting against 100 times our
number hut that he is not dis
couraged." Within hours he would be.
On April in it was all over.
Pounded relentlessly by jets
and Castro's tanks, deprived
of supplies that were destroy
ed when ships were sunk,
alone with no air cover, lack
ing any internal uprising that
would have diverted the mi
litia, the brigade floundered
and then quit.
For 10 months its mem
bers suffered In Cuban pris
ons before New York attorney
James Donovan, aided quietly
I by the Kennedy administra
! tion and openly by the Ameri-
can Red Cross, obtained their
i release.
Water Renttl 77c Day