I’m writing this column on March 2. With several deadlines of our nine editions, I’m often required to write further in advance than I did years ago.

The reason I’m mentioning this inside baseball fact is that I hope my thoughts are still relevant when they are published in a week’s time.

I don’t know about you but the Russian war in the Ukraine has touched me deeply. It is such an example of the cruelty of the human race. It is completely unjustified and unnecessary and simply an exercise of ego from a sociopath.

When Putin announced that if any country interfered, he could use nuclear weapons as a response, that touched off a memory from childhood.

My family came to Springfield in 1957 just before my third birthday. I attended kindergarten, first and second grades here before my dad, who was in the Air Force, was transferred. At that time, nuclear war was prominent in our lives.

My dad was a B-52 pilot who was qualified to carry nuclear weapons. He wore a round plastic disc on his dog tags that measured the amount of radiation to which he was exposed. He explained to us what it was.

When on alert at Westover AFB, he and his crew would stay in an underground bunker called “The Mole Hole.” The building is the one that has been used as a passenger terminal in the civilian part of the base. He and my mom would set a time when he would come out and meet us at the fence surrounding the bunker.

Nuclear bomb testing was so prominent at the time that kids would be warned locally not to eat snow. There was a New England tradition to pour maple syrup on snow, but because of the nuclear fallout from these bomb tests, it was feared children would be harmed by ingesting the fallout that was in the snow.
At my school, formerly Greenaway, now Freedman, we ran drills. In the case of an atomic attack, we were to gather in the hallways, face the interior wall and shield our heads with our crossed arms.

That was going to prevent us, in theory, from being killed. Other schools practiced “duck and cover,” which meant kids would drop to the floor under their desks.

That was no more effective than what we did.

You see, Westover AFB being a Strategic Air Command base was definitely on the Russian radar. In the case of war, Westover would have been targeted. This part of Massachusetts would have been obliterated.

Eventually though the threat faded as people on all sides realized the nature of a nuclear war and its aftermath. Yes, there was a renewed concern in the 1980s but, again, cooler heads prevailed.

Now, however we have a guy who making another threat and one, based on his behavior, seems to be possible.

I really didn’t think we would ever have to face a nuclear threat from a government with whom we have diplomatic relations. A terrorist group perhaps but not even a country such as Russia.

The whole world would lose. I thought any sane person would recognize this fact.

I should never underestimate the cruelty and deep stupidity of the human race.

In my heart I’m hoping this war will be over soon with Putin retreating with his tail between his legs. I hope he understands what the reaction of the world has done to his country. I hope the Russian people rise up and remove him from office and begin a new chapter in their history.

Perhaps I’m being naïve. I should emotionally prepare for the worst outcome. I just want to believe that good and right will triumph in this case.