Pete Copeland, former naval officer bids final farewell to U.S.S. Enterprise

When Pete Copeland was assigned to naval duty on the U.S.S. Enterprise, he did not know that as a U.S. Navy photographer’s mate Petty Officer 2nd Class, he would play an historic role during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.
 “I was just a 20-year-old-kid at the time, and our crew was told a hurricane was coming and we were given orders to depart from Norfolk, Va.,” said Copeland. But within three days, after more crew and supplies had been brought aboard the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Copeland realized “we left our home port for something much more momentous than a hurricane.”
 The Enterprise, along with other U.S. 2nd Fleet carriers – the Independence, the Essex, and the Randolph – was part of a naval and air “quarantine” of shipment of military equipment to Cuba. This blockade, ordered by President John F. Kennedy, aimed to prevent the Soviets from continuing to arm Cuban Premier Fidel Castro’s regime with nuclear weapons. Kennedy demanded the Soviets dismantle medium-range ballistic sites in Cuba that were capable of launching nuclear missiles that could strike most American Cities.

 The blockade officially began on Oct. 24, and the first Soviet ship carrying military equipment was stopped by the U.S. Atlantic fleet the next day. By Oct. 28, the crisis had passed. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle nuclear missiles and bases in Cuba – after the U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from Italy and Turkey. This narrowly averted confrontation was the closest the U.S. and U.S.S.R. ever came to nuclear war.

 While on board the Enterprise, Copeland, then a fledgling photographer, was asked to board Navy aircraft and photograph Cuban missile sites and nuclear warhead bunkers under construction at San Cristobal. “We were not told too much, but just took the photographs we were asked to shoot, no questions asked,” said Copeland. Although Copeland and his buddies took thousands of now-iconic aerial shots, Air Force photographers, rather than Navy photographers, got the initial credit. “The U.S. Department of Defense did not want the communists to know that the Enterprise was so close to their shores,” said Copeland. Throughout the four days of the Cuban missile crisis, the men on board the Enterprise were not in panic mode. “It was a lot scarier for the people living in the states than it was for us,” Copeland said. “It was only when we came back to America that we realized what terror those four days had brought to the American people.” During its Cuban deployment, the Enterprise was away from its home port for 54 days. “As we were headed back to Norfolk a real hurricane hit the Virginia shores, so our return trip was delayed,” said Copeland. “By the end we couldn’t wait to get back to dry land.” The Navy experience was life-defining for Copeland. “There is a saying, ‘Join the Navy and get a career’; that was true for me,” he said. After his discharge, Copeland became a professional photographer, working at the Washington Star and the Plain Dealer. He continues as a freelance photographer. On Friday, Nov. 30, Copeland will have one more chance to take pictures aboard the Enterprise. The nuclear carrier will inactivate on Saturday, Dec. 1, after 51 years of legendary service. All the Enterprise veterans, their families and friends, were invited to the inactivation ceremony in Norfolk and to visit the ship. More than 12,000 are expected to attend. The Enterprise will be inactivated, not decommissioned, and will be sent to Newport News to have its nuclear reactors removed. “Because the ship had nuclear capabilities, it must be scrapped, not turned into a museum like the oldest commissioned warship, the U.S.S. Constitution,” said Copeland. Touring the carrier one last time will be bittersweet for the Highland Heights resident and member of B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike. “I have many strong emotions connected with the Enterprise – it was such an important part of my life,” he said. “But I am very anxious to show my wife Doris where I spent my naval career. I only have good memories. How fortunate that time has erased the bad ones.” Attribution: Arlene Fine Special to the CJN | Posted: Thursday, November 29, 2012