◆ SpookStack

As stated in Appexdix E: Perhaps indicative of the Navy's sensitivity about its performance during the Bay of Pigs operation is the fact that the operational records of its participation were ordered destroyed presumably at the direction of Admiral Burke. Admiral Clark was not reluctant to jump into other areas where his competence was even more suspect. In response to a que.stion about the. failure of the invasion, Clark popped out the answer that Castro'!;! forces had not been taken by surprise. When he was pulled up short by a question from one of the committee members indicating that the evidence previously presented to the committee indicated that there had been complete tactical surprise, Clark volunteered that because Castro's opposition had formed up so quickly "I think Castro's people saw the CEF forces from a lighthouse and they could have seen them from the air." Mr. Dulles pointed out to the Admiral that again there had been no evidence that the brigade had been observed from the lighthouse in question. The landings at Playa Giron and Playa Larga, in fact, met no organized resistance. Extending his expertise even ,further, Cla.rk. also suggested that another reason for the failure was that the beach turned out to be coral rather than sand, but this was offered without any further explanation. Iwas the next - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - witness to appear before the Cuban Study Group during the course of the seventh meeting • I Itook over the infantry * Admiral Clark probably referred to the fact that some of the landing craft had been hung up on a coral reef at Blue Beach and tore their bottoms out. Although this did delay the movement of the troops to the beach somewhat, it had no serious effect on the landing. 63 ...;~