December 1997 -- February 1998
Feb. 19, 1998--Posted another email from Vince Paynter a veteran of Operation Redwing.
Feb. 19, 1998--Posted a very well-written newspaper article by Frank Warner about his father, Master Sgt. Thomas E. Warner and his atomic duty at the Nevada Test Site during Operation Dominic II in 1962. The article contains a photo of shot Small Boy.
Feb. 19, 1998--Posted a couple of email inquiries from Family members of atomic veterans.
Feb. 4,1998--Posted a good Newspaper article sent by Dave Thomas about Air Force Capt. Norman Proctor at Operation Redwing
Feb. 2, 1998--Added email from Glen Griffeth to the Redwing section and email from Fred Gear to the Crossroads section.
Jan. 31, 1998--MOVING DAY! Portland Atomic Veterans get their own user name: pdxavets . . . Compliments of aracnet.com -- our supportive internet provider!! The computer counted more than 330 pictures on the pdxavets site and more than 110 pages of information.
Email is the strength and uniqueness of this web site about, and by, Atomic Veterans. Without your email support and personal narratives, this web site would not exist. Thank you!
Please notice that our email address changed when we got our new user name. Send mail to: pdxavets@aracnet.com And, please Bookmark our new address or elect us as a Favorite.
Jan. 30, 1998--Added a new page with stories from emails we've received from family members of atomic veterans.
Posted Atomic Veterans Photo Album for Operation Tumbler-Snapper.
Jan. 21, 1998--Posted Atomic Veterans Photo Album for Operation Buster-Jangle.
Jan. 20, 1998--Posted Atomic Veterans Photo Album for Operation Hardtack.
Jan. 18, 1998--Posted a Certificate of Service at Operation Castle that was presented to US Atomic Veteran Lloyd Kosted Engineman Second Class, for his service during the test series. Also, Philip Freytag sent us some more information about his time in Samoa.
Jan. 15, 1998--Added a story from Philip Freytag and a description of his company's work during the test Fishbowl at Operation Dominic. Also added pictures from DOE's Dominic Fireballs video into our Atomic Veterans Photo Album.
Jan. 14, 1998--Sent new atomic test videos to veterans of Wigwam, Plumbbob, Hardtack, Redwing and Dominic.
We added to the site a new Atomic Veterans Photo Album for Operation Upshot-Knothole, 1953. The pictures are all scenes from the recently released atomic testing videos. Courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Jan. 10, 1998--Added the Atomic Veterans Photo Album for Operation Redwing and Atomic Veterans Photo Album for Operation Wigwam.
Jan 6, 1998--US Atomic Veteran Boley Caldwell, veteran of the Crossroads tests, sends his detailed account of the Geiger Man.
Jan. 6, 1998--US Atomic Veteran Al Wheyland, helps the guys on Wetok find out about Elvis Presley, 1956.
Jan. 3, 1998--Added the first of our Atomic Veterans Photo Albums -- Operation Castle. (The link is near the bottom of the page.) Our Atomic Veterans Photo Albums are made possible by a video capture device given to us by Bill Bires and the Northwest Veterans for Peace. We hope you enjoy them. They are all scenes from the recently released atomic testing videos. Courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Jan. 2, 1998--We posted an email from Bernard Melton about his service at Operation Dominic.
Jan. 2, 1998--US Atomic Veteran Allen Skelton stationed on Perry Island during Operation Hardtack describes his experience with Umbrella shot.
Dec. 30, 1997--Crossroads Veteran and NAAV Medical Database Custodian, Boley Caldwell, sent us an email, he said he is now home after a sudden trip to the hospital! Boley is excited about the amount of email he's getting from atomic vets . He wants EVERY atom vet to complete a NAAV Medical form. You can link to NAAV Medical information at the end of most pages.
Dec. 29, 1997--US Atomic Veteran Earl Wuchter from Catasauqua, PA., and a veteran of the Upshot-Knothole tests, contacted us here in Portland about his experience at the Nevada test site.
Dec. 29, 1997--Oregon Atomic Veteran Tom Thomas, Electrician's Mate on the USS Arikara (ATF 98) contacted us by email and sent his very interesting and detailed story of his duty at Operation Hardtack.
Dec. 27, 1997--US Atomic Veteran Lloyd Kosted Engineman Second Class watched the detonations of Operation Castle and wrote about his service.
Dec. 22, 1997--US Atomic Veteran Al Wheyland, Eniwetok Atoll, Christmas Eve, 1956.
Dec. 17, 1997 -- U.S. Atomic Veteran John H. Wetherell from Iowa, served aboard the USS Nicholas during Opration Castle and sent us an email about his duty.
Dec. 15, 1997 -- U.S. atomic veteran John Christy who served as an tailgunner aboard a B-50 bomber, describes an airdrop during Tumbler-Snapper.
December 14, 1997-- Rick Edwards, Wigwam veteran, sent us a picture of the USS Cree ATF 84.
Dec. 9, 1997 -- Today we add a new page for those veterans who served at the
Eniwetok Clean-up, 1977-1980 and the atomic veteran whose story we have added: Steve Donald served from March, 1978 to September 1978, "cleaning up" debris and fall out created during earlier tests in the South Pacific.
Dec. 6. 1997 -- This week we added Atomic Veterans, Atomic Test Series and Dates a new page which works as an index (or table of contents) for the test series. The background image is the Climax Shot, the last atomic explosion of the Upshot-Knothole series in 1953. We included an About this Photo page which contains information about the shot and the series. We plan to change the image every month and include a bit of history about them. Our "new" What's New page will let you know of recent additions to the site of stories from (or about) Atomic Veterans who have contributed their story to atomic history.
New stories from Atomic Veterans
Gary Anderson, who was stationed aboard the USS Estes during Operation Redwing, sent his impressions.
Robert Stivanson wrote about his experience on board the USS Indianapolis CA 35, as they delivered the atomic fuel to Tinian. We placed his story in the Hiroshima section.
Dave Thomas sent us many new graphics for the Crossroads page. One of the files is large (1.1 meg.) It is an important file as it lists the Command and all the ships at Crossroads. It had to be left large to be readable. Thanks very much to David Thomas for his contribution to our web site.
We also added the atomic history of two of the ships at Crossroads, the USS Flusser (thanks to Herb Doering) and thanks to Jim Vasko for the history of the USS Current.
We made a Wigwam page when Rick Edwards sent us his story about his Naval duty in 1955.
Bob Swart, from Oregon served on the USS Curtiss AV4 in the 1956 Redwing detonations.
Larry Remole sent us a discription of the Priscilla explosion at the Plumbbob tests in 1957.
We had many housekeeping changes and fixing this and that. Thanks for all the email and if you have any suggestions or contributions please let us know.
--Keith Whittle
