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Make October 27 of each year "Vasili Arkhipov Day"

Created by G.W. on January 11, 2013

October 27, 1962, Vasili Arkhipov was a Russian Submarine officer on duty in one of the nuclear armed submarines of the Soviet Union near Cuba. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, his submarine lost contact with its controlers and, thinking that war had broken out, the senior officers prepared to release their nuclear weapon. Two officers inserted in their launch keys but Vasili Arkhipov, who had the third and last required key to release the weapon, refused to do so. Had he followed the actions of his two fellow officers, the Third World War would surely have started.

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