Operation Tumbler-Snapper
1952
US Atomic Veterans
Bruce Bastian
Bruce Bastian sent us this recollection of Operation Tumbler-Snapper.
From: "Bruce Bastian" bbastian@lcc.net
To: "Web Editor" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Atomic Veteran (Operation Tumbler-Snapper
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998
Hi Keith:
Thanks for the information on the April 22, 1952 Charlie Shot. I would like
to get a copy of the video of that shot. Let me know to whom and where to
send my check.
You asked for my recollection of the test. While it is hard to do justice to
the beauty and chilling force of the shot, the following scene comes to
mind. Our squad was crouched in a trench reported to be about four miles
from ground zero when the air-drop bomb detonated. After the initial
sensation of heat on my back I rose on command to see the trademark mushroom
cloud billowing up.
One of the members of my squad of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel
emotionally recalled the next events. " I seen it - that big ole cloud come
a lopin' across the desert and wham it knocked me up agin the back of the
trench. Then before I knows it, it comes the other way and knocks my glasses
loose."
One of the other guys wryly offered the opinion that the glasses weren't the
only thing that got knocked loose. The good-natured joshing relieved the
tension of witnessing that momentous event. We then went on to observe the
effects of the blast in the drop zone.
Best regards,
Bruce Bastian Capt. USAF,ret.
bbastian@lcc.net
Keith Whittle
July 3, 1998
[ Operation Tumbler-Snapper ]