Eniwetok Clean-up
Aug 1978 - Jan
1981
U.S. Atomic Veterans
Robert J Barrall Jr.
Robert J Barrall Jr. sent email about his duty at Eniwetok.
From: "BARRALL JR, ROBERT J" RJBARRALLJR@sunocoinc.com
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Enewetok Atoll Cleanup Project
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005
I served in the Army from May 1976 - Aug 1981 and one of my duty stations
was at A. Co. 84th Engr. Bn. Schofield Barracks HI. from Aug 1978 - Jan
1981.
While I was station there I was sent TDY to Enewetok Atoll cleanup
project against my will since my wife was 3 months pregnant, but they
sent me anyway. I was on the Atoll from May 1979-Oct 1979, assigned to
Headquarters Co. Maint. Platoon on the island of Enewetok.
Our shop was
located in the center of the island along the runway, our "Hooch 76"
where most of the mechanics stayed was located on the south end of the
island near the aircraft hanger. There was no air conditioning in our
little steel home, which made it hard to sleep at night without downing
a few beers to knock you out.
I worked on the heavy equipment and trucks
that came down from the other islands. I've got pictures of some of the
junk we had to try and keep running, which was hard at times without the
parts we needed. The rust was a big problem (trucks literally falling
apart) from the salt water, but we did our best with what we had, and
sometimes made our own parts.
As the project was winding down for
us (less equipment being used) we had less work to do so we were sent
to the island of Runit to pick steel off the reef up there. The first
day we were there we joined up with the "Steel Pickers" (if you were
there you will know what a steel picker is) and formed a human chain at
the north end of the island.
We were spread out from the beach to the
ocean side on the reef in ankle deep water ( low tide) to walk south,
pick up any steel that you could and put it in piles out on the reef.
Later a bucket loader would come out for you to load the pile of steel
in the bucket, and he would take it to the beach where it was sorted by
how HOT it was ( we are not talking heat hot) by the Radiological people
to determine how it was to be handled.
Myself and another mechanic
( I don't remember his name) picked up a large piece of steel and put it in
the loaders bucket. He took it to the beach to be checked, meanwhile we
continued on our way. There was a commotion on the beach, here the piece
of metal we just put in the loader was so hot they told everybody to
stand back. They suspended the steel picking for the day and sent us
back to our island until they decided what to do with the metal piece.
They never told us how hot it was, sent us back up to Runit 5 days
later to continue our steel picking. We went up there for a week (6 day
work week) to pick steel with no other incidents.
One day while waiting
for our boat to take us back, here comes a D8K bulldozer down the ramp
into the water and turned around several times then out he goes. I asked
one of the "Steel Pickers" what he was doing, he replied he was decontaminating
the bulldozer for the mechanics so it could be worked on. I was shocked,
we were told they were decontaminating the equipment before it came down
to us, but not in the ocean.
I could go on and on with my stories, the
bottom line is, I don't have any health issues to date but you never know
what might happened down the road.
If there anyone out there who would like to
know more, I will be glad to correspond or talk by phone. I also was
there when the 60 Minutes TV show filmed over there and I have a copy of the
program that I sent away for, and have plenty of pictures from the
ground and the air.
Robert J Barrall Jr.
RJBARRALLJR@sunocoinc.com
Keith Whittle
January 28, 2005
[ Eniwetok Clean-up ]
Wetokian