Posted on 07/12/2008 3:18:47 AM PDT by Uncle Ralph
Twenty years ago today (March 24, 2005), Army Major Arthur D. "Nick" Nicholson drove into East Germany to survey Soviet military activity. It was a bright Sunday morning, and he was about to become the last American to die in the Cold War.
Relatively few people have heard of Nicholson, even though his killing dominated newspaper headlines around the world for several tense days two decades ago. A handful of people won't ever forget him: A small band of former comrades gathers at his Arlington National Cemetery each spring...
I wrote about Nicholson's story in National Review last year. Since then, the Pentagon has made available a large batch of documents on the U.S. Military Liaison Mission, which is the organization Nicholson was serving when he died. Many of these papers describe in detail what happened on his final day. It would be an exaggeration to say they contain shocking new revelations, but they do deepen our understanding of what happened on March 24, 1985.
(Excerpt) Read more at arlingtoncemetery.net ...
Warm salute for Major Nicholson.
C(ret)K
The sentry that shot Nicholson was probably some stupid 19-year old Russian conscript under orders to fire on any trespassers, no matter who they were. Typical Soviet incompetence killed the Major more than anything, especially after the sentry’s panicked officers arrived and debated what to do in committee while Nicholson was bleeding to death. Senseless.
I remember this incident. Major Nicholson was considered to be the best at doing his job, and there were accusations that because of how well he was always doing his job, he was murdered. I remember following this incident for many days back then.
Even with the great Reagan as president, we often got pushed around by the Soviets. This incident and KAL 007 are prime examples. There were times when the great man appeared as impotent as Carter.
Cold-blooded murder by the Soviet Union.
No American soldier would have done that to a Russian.
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