Operation Plumbbob 1957
Hardtack 1958
US Atomic Veterans
Jim Burlingame
Jim Burlingame sent email about his duty at Operation Plumbbob and Operation Hardtack.
From: jimburl@juno.com
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000
Subject: Atomic tests
I was stationed with the 1st Radiological Safety Support Unit at Fort
McClellan in Alabama from December 1956 to September 1958. During this
time I participated in Operation Plumbob in Nevada in 1957 and Operation
Hardtack in the Marshall Islands in 1958.
The mission of the 1st RSSU was to provide support to the Atomic Energy
Commission. In this capacity I was assigned to the dosimitry and records
section. We issued, processed and recorded radiation film badges for all
participants of the tests. If a person accumulated a certain amount of
radiation they were sent back to their home base. In the Pacific with
Operation Hardtack we maintained all the records on one of the early
computers. It was huge and required a small building to support it and
all it's peripherals. All the information was punched into cards and fed
into the computer. It had one great advantage in that it had to be kept
cool so we were about the only people that worked in air conditioning.
I witnessed almost all of the detonations at these sites and will always
remember the initial flash. Depending how close you were it was like
someone firing a giant flash bulb. Even when we turned away from the
blast or wore the dense goggles we were issued it was very dramatic.
Also very dramatic were some of the weekends spent in nearby Las Vegas
(70 miles) but that's another story.
I would like to correspond with any of the old members of the 1st RSSU.
It is hard to believe this all took place over 40 years ago. My Email
address is below.
Jim Burlingame
Email: JimBurl@juno.com
Keith Whittle
March 15, 2000
[ Operation Hardtack1 ]
[ Operation Plumbbob ]