Even here in southeastern New Mexico, land of cattle and oil, the echoes of The Bomb, WWII and the Cold War continue to reverberate. Seen in the checkout line last Sunday:

My friend S told me about a small museum at the airport devoted to the history of Walker AFB. Seemed like a perfect prequel to a Godzilla movie and boy howdy, was it ever. Walker AFB was where the 509th CG was based after WWII – the 509th dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After the war, the 509th participated in Operation Crossroads – they were the first post-Trinity tests and took place at Bikini Atoll. You’ve seen footage of Baker (the second test), I’m sure. There was a photo of Baker in the museum; I didn’t realize at the time that there’d be a direct through-line to the night’s movie. Speaking of through-lines, I lived with the 509th as a neighbor during the Reagan years. They were flying FB-111s out of Pease AFB in New Hampshire and between a SAC base on one side and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the other, I took grim comfort in knowing that if Ronnie managed to start a nuclear war, I’d likely never know.

Then it was off to the movin’ picture show. Godzilla Minus One is, imho, really good. I’m not going to offer any criticism or analysis – when I watch a movie I’m fully engaged (at least the first time). If I can stand back and look at the movie as a movie, it’s either something I don’t like or it’s a “so bad it’s good” MST3K kind of experience. GMO was neither of those; it’s an excellent re-telling of the origin story (spoiler: Operation Crossroads did it) set in WWII, devastated post firebombing Tokyo, and finally Japan as the country was just starting to get back on its feet. Strong recommendation!

Oh, no reason…