I HAVE just finished reading the article by Peter Mullen about the Cuban missile crisis that happened 50 years ago this week (Echo, Oct 23).

I was 16 at the time, just enjoying myself going to dances, playing local football and chasing after the girls.

I didn’t have a care in the world, but everything seemed to change when news broke out that Russian ships were heading for Cuba with nuclear missiles aboard.

That prompted President Kennedy to put a blockade around Cuba to prevent the Soviet ships from getting in.

I have never been so scared in all my life thinking we were all going to be blown to kingdom come in the next few days.

All my interest in football, my favourite music and girls just went out of the window.

I couldn’t think of anything else at the time. It was very scary.

I remember watching my dad’s face listening to the news on the radio and I could see the worried look on his face, so I asked him what he thought of the situation.

He just turned to me and, with half a smile, he said: “Don’t worry son, them Russian ships will turn back, they don’t want a war with America. They are just testing the waters to see how far they can go.”

Thankfully Dad’s words turned out to be right.

After a stand-off the Russians and Americans came to some sort of arrangement and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

We had just gone through two weeks of hell, thinking that we were heading for a nuclear war.

Mick Peacock, Coxhoe.