July 1, 2020
A copy of the 50-page 1964 Medfield Civil Defense Operations Plan recently turned up at the historical society. It was prepared by the CD director, Austin Chilson “Buck” Buchanan, Medfield’s CD director from 1958 to 1975 and a Medfield Renaissance man.
Much more on the remarkable Buck Buchanan later.
The concept of civil defense – having civilians help protect civilians – took root in England during World War I, as bombs were dropped on the U.K. by German zeppelins in 1915 and later by bombers powered by Mercedes engines. Germany is only a few hundred air miles from Britain.
In the United States, the Office of Civil Defense was established in May, 1941, just six month before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, to coordinate civil defense efforts in the event of war. Germany surrendered in May 1945. The OCD closed in June 1945. World War II ended in August 1945, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For four short years, the United States was the world’s only nuclear power. But in 1949 the Soviets exploded an atomic bomb, and the communists under Mao Zedong took over in China. The war in Korea began the next year, and Congress passed the Federal Civil Defense Act, with a substantial focus on nuclear preparedness and fallout shelters.
One of the most cited…and ridiculed…artifacts from the federal level was “duck and cover.”
But the Federal Civil Defense Act called for civil defense operations plans at the local level. The plan specifies the various conditions of war emergency that might occur and the actions to be taken by civil defense in each emergency condition.
Medfield’s plan begins with this foreword by Buck Buchanan:
“The purpose of this operations plan is to direct those actions that will be taken by civil defense forces, by town employees, and by the entire town of Medfield at the time of enemy attack on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The plan is to provide for the survival and basic care of the civil population. Its purpose also is to serve as a guide for preparing emergency plans for military, industrial, and other important installations within Medfield.
This plan will not only provide the best chances for survival under conditions of intensive enemy attack, but can be adapted operationally to cope with any lesser assault.”
What follows in the manual is a methodical analysis under headings of national, state, and local situations: assumptions about the nature of the attack and the impact of a 20-megaton bomb on Boston, Worcester, and Providence; strategic warning; CONELRAD warning, evacuation and reception (via Routes 109 and 27); the post-attack period; staff and service responsibilities; police and fire services; intelligence; logistical issues and procedures; etc., etc.
Shift in CD Focus
As nuclear weapon and missile technology advanced and became ever more deadly, CD lost public support. Many people thought, “What’s the use of spending money on CD? We’ll all be killed anyway.” The nuclear attack-oriented CD agencies were replaced in 1979 by the all-hazards Federal Emergency Management Agency, which after 9/11 was put under the new Department of Homeland Security.
In Medfield today, the emergency management (EM) head is Fire Chief William Carrico. Chief Carrico says the local EM team tries to provide a “state of ever-readiness” for all sorts of potential hazards: weather, fire, flood, power outage, active shooter, chemical and biological threats, pandemic, etc.
About Buck Buchanan
Buck Buchanan (1926-2016) was a modest, soft-spoken (often with tongue in cheek), generous man who had a curious, inventive, and far-reaching mind. He served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and went to Boston University after the war. Buck was a member of the American Legion, VFW, and Masons, and he later was a member of the Medfield Horse Thief Detecting Society.
He lived most of his life with his wife Kay and their children at the corner of Oak and Pleasant Streets in Medfield. In the Arab oil embargo years in the 1970s he designed and built a rooftop solar hot water heater and made other energy-efficiency improvements to the house.
In the 1950s he and Kay operated the Buchanan Press, and they edited and published a short-lived local newspaper. Later he was employed as a safety engineer at Kidde-Fenwal, a manufacturer of fire protection equipment in Ashland. He also served on the board of directors at the Ben Franklin Savings Bank.
In addition to being CD director from 1958 to 1975, he was a volunteer firefighter and an EMT instructor for 25 years. He served as a selectman from 1959 to 1967, and at the end of his term he was appointed to the newly created position of Keeper of the Town Clock, a position he held for 30 years. This is the clock at the Old Meetinghouse, First Parish Unitarian-Universalist Church, of which the Buchanans were members for over 60 years. At some FPUU social events Buck, with his wry sense of humor, performed as a stand-up comedian.
Buck also became an organ donor. About 2010, FPUU Church needed to replace its century-old pipe organ, and Buck bought a high-end Lowrey electronic organ, like one he had recently bought and learned to play, which he gave the church in memory of his wife Kay.
In the 1990s, Buck became frustrated that he couldn’t find someone to repair his lawnmower to his satisfaction. So he took a course in gasoline engine maintenance at Keefe Vocational School and opened a small repair business for family and friends.
December 5, 2015, was proclaimed Austin C. Buchanan Day in Medfield on the occasion of his 90th birthday.