A Year that Brought Change to the World
David Goeckeler
In the past 20 years, many advances have been made. Cars, planes, computers, televisions, and even the quality of music we listen to changed and improved. Throughout history, technological improvements have revolutionized the way people live. Change is generally what people notice. People recognize what changes before they recognize what stays the same. The world has had tragedies, conflicts, and advances throughout known history. All of these bring change. The year 1983 also brought change to the world.
Salt Lake Killings
The bodies of five youths from the Salt Lake area were found on my birthday, July 25th, 1983. Graeme Cunningham, 13, was found five miles southeast of Salt Lake City in Big Cottonwood Creek. Troy Ward, 6, was found near Cunningham in Big Cottonwood Creek. The three other boys, Kim Peterson, Danny Davis, and Alonzo Daniels were found 20 miles south of Salt Lake City. Authorities were unable to find these boys until they found the suspect, while working on Graeme Cunningham's case.
The suspect was a 32-year-old bookkeeper, Roger W. Downs, who also went by several other names. " I can say that as a result of talking to him (Downs) we were able to find the graves," said John Nielson of the Salt Lake County Attorney's office ("Bodies " A-3). Downs was suspected in the killings of all the boys, but at the time no motives were given nor was it yet known how the boys had died. After the discovery of the bodies, all kidnapping cases in Salt Lake County since the early 1960's have come to a close. Graeme disappeared July 14th, 1983 on his way to meeting a friend at a nearby grocery store. Troy Ward vanished June 22nd, 1983 while waiting for an older friend to give him a motorcycle ride.
Daniels disappeared at the age of 4 on October 16th, 1979 while playing in his front yard. Danny Davis, 4, disappeared October 24th, 1981 while at a Salt Lake store. Kim Peterson, 11, disappeared November 11th, 1980. He was on his way to� "meet a man who wanted to buy his roller skates,"(Bodies). Major Stolen of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office commented, "We can thank God tonight that this is over with [b]ut our parents can't just relax. They've got to train their children," (Bodies).
War In El Salvador���
Also on my birthday, The U.S. was training Salvadorian men to become medics for their 23,000-man army, which was in conflict with Salvadorian extremist guerillas. This news may not sound very exciting, but it was literally a lifesaver for Salvadorian infantry units. One out of every three wounded Salvadorian soldiers died in the 18 months leading up to my birthday (Nordland A-11). The death rate was three times worse than the U.S. death rate in Vietnam, and unparalleled since the American Civil War. The Salvadorian army had only one fourth of the medics needed to be considered sufficiently cared for (Nordland A-11).
Not only did they not have enough medics, they also lacked supplies. In fact, most medics didn't have adequate tourniquets or splints, the most basic of military medical supplies. Because of the poor medical care, wounded soldiers usually had to wait for hours before they were helped. Salvadorian morale suffers because of this too. In 17 months, their army had incurred 5,380 casualties with 1,680 deaths. Twenty-five United States medical advisors scheduled to train 480 medics who would be ready within six months of my birthday (Nordland A-11).
Iran-Iraq War
Another conflict going on during my birthday was the Iran-Iraq war. Over the two days leading up to my birthday, Iraq suffered 3,850 deaths while Iran suffered 1,400 (Lamb A-11). Iran's population outnumbered Iraq's 40 million to 10 million but Iraq's military was more advanced. Iraq had nearly 300 Soviet combat planes outnumbering Iran's air force ten to one. Iraq, due to poor coordination and poor leadership, was unable to capitalize on its military advantages over the "massed formations of fanatical Iranian boy soldiers"(Lamb A-11). According to diplomats in the area neither side would be able to defeat the other.
Although Iraq had expressed that they would like a cease-fire, Iran would not comply. Iranian officials wanted nothing less than the removal of Saddam Hussein as Iraqi president before any form of peace would exist. So far, the war had claimed 200,000 lives, and had displaced 700,000 Iraqi Shias (the same religion as Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini) into Iranian exile. Another aspect of the conflict was its effect on oil. 65 percent of the free world's oil passed through the region at that time. Also because of the war a huge oil spill was unable to be stopped. It spilled 5,000 barrels a day over a six-month period, doing extensive damage to the Gulf ecosystem (Lamb A-11). These problems surely rose the price of gas in 1983.
Military Advances����
Also on July 25th, 1983, the U.S. military successfully de-armed five air to air missiles for the first time with the use of lasers. The laser was mounted in a lab on a C-135 plane and the missiles were launched towards the C-135 by an A-7 fighter/bomber over California. Each of the five missiles was traveling at 2,000 miles per hour. "Although the flying laboratory is not a prototype weapons system, the completion of this program is a major milestone in the continuing air force program to further our understanding of the technical feasibility of laser weapons,"the military statement announced ("Air Force" A-2 ).
President Reagan hoped that into the future lasers orbiting earth could be stationed in space to take out international ballistic missiles. This would render nuclear warfare useless. Such missiles travel six times the speed of sidewinders ("Antimissiles").
Although Reagan's aspirations of lasers in space have not yet happened, many advances have taken place throughout our globe. Medicine, criminology, and advances in our military have taken place since 1983. The earth is ever changing; some of that change took place over my birthday.
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