Please Enjoy This All New "Person in History Who You May Not Know About." This is the Story of Vasili Arkhipov, the Only Man in History Who Could Actually Say He Saved the World.

Vasili Arkhipov was born to a peasant family outside Moscow, USSR in 1926. He joined a naval school and even was involved in action against Japan at the very end of WWII. After the war, he returned to the naval school to become an officer.

He did mainly submarine duty, climbing the ranks. In 1961, he was aboard the ill fated K-19, which suffered a massive coolant leak and barely avoided a meltdown. Numerous members of the engineering crew faced certain death entering radioactive areas to create a new coolant system to save the ship and prevent an international disaster/incident. The entire crew was exposed and 22 members, including all 7 engineers, died (they even made a film about it called "K-19: The Widowmaker" starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neesen).

The following year, in 1962, Vasili Arkhipov was second in command on the Soviet submarine B-59. They were near Cuba for the purpose of protecting any Soviet vessel from US aggression as they headed for Cuba. This was in October, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where the US had already identified nuclear missiles were in Cuba and blockaded the island country. The Soviets were preparing first strike possibilities in Cuba in case of a war with the US, and their submarines were also equipped with nuclear torpedoes in case a war started. 11 US ships and an aircraft carrier located B-59, and in an attempt to force it to surface, began to drop depth charges.

The sub B-59 was cut off from Moscow, and had no way to receive communication being so deep avoiding the US ships and depth charges. Believing they were under attack because WWIII had begun, the captain Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky wanted to fire a nuclear torpedo to avoid being sunk and hit many major US ships at once. On B-59, unlike other Soviet ships, the 3 head officers had to unanimously agree to fire a nuclear weapon without orders from Moscow. The captain and political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov were ready to launch, but Vasili Arkhipov refused, despite heavy pressure, fearing it was a drastic decision to make without any confirmation a war had really started. His reputation, especially from his actions aboard K-19, allowed him to sway the captain to surface and receive proper orders from Moscow. This action prevented a nuclear WWIII.

Instead of receiving a heroes welcome, most of the crew were criticized for their actions following being discovered by the US ships. Vasili Arkhipov never achieved any notoriety in the USSR for his refusal to agree to launch the nukes. The crew was broken up, but Vasili Arkhipov did continue his career. He commanded numerous subs, then ran the Kirov Naval Academy before rising to the rank of vice admiral before retiring in the mid 1980s. His wife Olga Arkhipova mentioned how he never spoke of the events that saved the world, and how she was sad what happened to him immediately afterwards. The 2 stayed married his entire life until he died in 1998. He actually died of cancer, believed to have been advanced due to the radiation he encountered aboard the K-19. He had 1 daughter. In 2002, retired Commander Vadim Pavlovich Orlov, who was on B-59 at the time of the events, held a press conference telling the world of Vasili Arkhipov actions. Vasili Arkhipov was never known as a hero his entire life, despite how he may have been the biggest savior of lives of all time.

Feel free to check out my other forgotten people you may not know about.

Anna Held - https://imgur.com/gallery/ybynp
Audie Murphy - https://imgur.com/gallery/Qg5wg
Annie Oakley - https://imgur.com/gallery/Tawoe
Evelyn Nesbit - https://imgur.com/gallery/FqpTQ
Fatty Arbuckle - https://imgur.com/gallery/hg4OQ
Mata Hari - https://imgur.com/gallery/qpccq
Maude Adams - https://imgur.com/gallery/Cv0U8
Claus von Stauffenberg - https://imgur.com/gallery/vhzWw
Clara Bow - https://imgur.com/gallery/cx4hm
Lupe Vélez - https://imgur.com/gallery/sRmp9
Stepin Fetchit - https://imgur.com/gallery/kyial
Chiune Sugihara - https://imgur.com/gallery/5zMkZ
Louise Brooks - https://imgur.com/gallery/S2lbT
Cléo de Mérode - https://imgur.com/gallery/7XGIe
Lina Cavalieri - https://imgur.com/gallery/2GQ76
Lillian Russell - https://imgur.com/gallery/WqWPk
Cora Pearl - https://imgur.com/gallery/MDCZU
Minnie Ashley - https://imgur.com/gallery/aojTM
Helen Gibson - https://imgur.com/gallery/A27IH

Enjoy!