Operation Tumbler/Snapper
US Atomic Veterans
Clark Caldwell
From: "Clark Caldwell" cdcaldwell1@earthlink.net
To: "pdxavets" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Atomic Bomb Chronicle
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003
WITNESSING AN ATOMIC BOMB EXPLOSION
A Personal Chronicle
By Clark Caldwell
Operation Tumbler Snapper (Charlie Shot) 1952
140th Fighter-Bomber Wing, Clovis Air Force Base, Clovis New Mexico
During the first part of April, I noticed a sign-up sheet on our squadron bulletin board. It was a notice for a limited number of volunteers to participate in an Atomic Bomb Exercise at Yucca Flats, Nevada. Quite a number of men had already signed the sheet. There was no indication on the sheet that we could be putting ourselves into “harms way”. Using “great wisdom?” and foolhardy anticipation, I signed my name and that of my close friend, Bill Thomas, right at the top of the sheet (above all the other names). A week or so later Bill and I were notified that our orders were being processed and that we would be part of the planned exercise. We were to leave in 2 days.
The flight to Nevada was very eventful. I believe the plane we were on was a C119,perhaps, the first version of the famous “Flying Boxcars”. The C119’s were most famous for their blazing speed (maximum of 250 mph), and their smooth ride (if a flight of geese flew a cross pattern in front of them, the wake would cause the plane to shake like a belly dancer).
The base cooks had made up box lunches for everyone. We had barely started the flight when we experienced a high amount of turbulence. As the plane was not pressurized nor heated, the flight had to stay low, about 8,000-10,000 feet. The plane pitched, dropped and bucked all the way to Indian Springs AFB, a short distance from Camp Desert Rock. Between the turbulence, the engine noise and the predestined smell, an awful thing happened. I had never before, nor since, seen so many people air-sick. They used all the barf bags, many of the lunch boxes, and in some instances, their fatigue hats. I can only remember the flight crew, Bill and myself as the only ones that weren’t sick. We had a great time eating chicken, rolls and milk. I guess the bananas caused the most problem. We talked with our mouth’s full, and offered mashed bananas to everyone. The only remarks we seemed to get was something like were going to kill you before we land. We weren’t worried as none of them could hardly move, let alone stand up cause us any trouble.
1
From Indian Springs we were trucked to Camp Desert Rock. Although we didn’t know it when we got there, it only took a few hours to find out we were being treated special. We were told we were the first Air Force troops to participate in an Atomic bomb exercise. Our tents had wooden floors. Only the Army personnel that were permanently assigned to Camp Desert Rock had facilities as good as ours. Our beds were already set up and made, and our tent had been recently cleaned. Our assigned camp mess was really close. The only negative aspect was the latrine. Inside of a big tent they had constructed a long wooden trough out of lumber. The bottom was raised about a foot of the ground at one end, then sloped down to about six inches at the other end. A constant flow of water was maintained at the upper end and flowed out of the shallow end into a drainage ditch. Not what you would expect at a motel but much better than a slit trench.
I am not sure but I think there were about 12 men to a tent. The only men that I can remember, by name, being in our tent were: Verl Jensen, Bud Killgren, Bill Thomas and myself. We were all from Clovis AFB. I remember Verl because he was an instrument technician with a good knowledge of electrical circuits. There were no electrical outlets in the tent, only a hanging cord with a light bulb. Verl jerry-rigged a way to be able to plug in my electric razor and we all used it every day.
We went through various briefings regarding the forthcoming bomb drop. We were briefed in every aspect of the drop; the mission purpose, what they expected to prove, what our participation would accomplish, and specifically that we had nothing to worry about, everything would be OK. We were even told the size of the bomb. It would be bigger than either the bomb dropped on Nagasaki or the one dropped on Hiroshima. We were informed we would witness the blast from approximately 4 miles from ground zero. At the end of every briefing, whoever was in charge would open up the briefing for questions. It seemed that the question most asked was “Will the radiation make me sterile”? The answer was always “No! If you get enough radiation to make you sterile, you won’t have to worry about it because you will be dead”.
During the time we were at Camp Desert Rock, we were trucked out to Yucca Flats three times. The first time to do a “dry run” so we would know exactly what to do.The second trip was to be the actual drop but was delayed after we were deployed because of unfavorable winds. We returned to camp. I believe the actual drop was delayed three times because of weather conditions.
I mentioned earlier about being treated special. I will explain that now. With the exception of one night, there were Greyhound buses at the base every evening to take us into Las Vegas if we wanted to go. The only night we didn’t get to go was when they let the Army and Marines go into town (that was the only night they got to go. The paratroopers never got to go into Las Vegas at all.
2
On the days when the bomb drop was delayed, the buses were there for us to take trips to Hoover Dam, Lake Mead or Death Valley. We were told that an Air Force general had made all the arrangements. We felt as though we were being treated like field grade officers rather than enlisted men. This caused a lot of animosity among the other services toward the Air Force.
The night before the actual drop, Bill and I talked with a Master Sergeant who was stationed at the base. He told us he had witnessed many bombs and that we should disregard one of the main things we had been briefed on. In the briefings we were told that we were to kneel down in the trenches, close our eyes and cover our faces with our hands, and when the blast was over to slowly count to 15. Then we could get up and look at the bomb blast. The sergeant told us to do exactly what we were told, but don’t count to 15. As soon as the blast (flash) was over to jump up and look at the blast. He said if we waited to count, we would miss the most amazing thing we would ever see.
After all the delays the day finally came, all conditions were right, and the drop would be made. We were excited to finally get to participate in the test. We were trucked out to Yucca Flats and we assembled just four miles away from ground zero. The foxholes were already prepared, they were about 4 ½ feet deep, 2 ½ feet wide and about 6 feet long. Two men were assigned to each foxhole. We had about an hour or two to wait before the drop. To give us some kind of a comparison between atomic power and conventional power, the Army set of an explosion of TNT. To the best of my recollection it was about 2 tons, it could have been much larger. The blast was in an area near the mountains to the North and slightly East of where we were. We could feel and hear the noise easily.
There were two young men from New York City that had just got out of basic, who claimed they were raised in a tenement area of the city and the only time they had ever seen grass, was when they went to a park. They had “a ball”, one of them was a nut. We nicknamed him “Nutsy”. He chased lizards, horny toads and snakes. When he would catch one he would chase his buddy, who was scared of them, all over the area, eventually throwing them on him. I am telling this only because of what happened next.
We were advised to get ready as the plane carrying the bomb would be arriving shortly. The Army Lieutenant in charge of our group, started yelling at everyone to get in their assigned foxholes. About this time Nutsy dove under a sage brush, jumped up with both hands clasped in front of him, with what appeared to be a lizards tail sticking out of his hands. Nutsy ran to his foxhole and threw the object right down on top of his buddy. His buddy screamed, jumped out of the foxhole and started jumping up and down. All this time the Lieutenant was screaming for him to get in the fox hole. He would not do it.
3
Looking up in the sky to the Northeast, we could see the plane approaching over the mountain. Even seeing the plane and knowing the bomb would be dropped very shortly couldn’t convince Nutsy’s buddy to get back in the foxhole. The Lieutenant coaxed him, to no avail. He finally threatened him with physical violence if he didn’t come and get in the lieutenant’s foxhole. That worked, but by that time the bomb drop was only a minute or two away. It was a wonder that any of us could see anything after that, as we were laughing so hard we were crying. Incidentally, what Nutsy threw into the foxhole was only a handful of dirt with a stick protruding out.
We then knelt down, closed our eyes, placed our hands over our faces and within just a matter of minutes the bomb exploded. With your eyes closed and covered by your hands you could see the bones in your fingers. As soon as the flash was over, Bill and I jumped up. We were speechless. It seemed that even though we were four miles away from ground zero, the bomb blast was right above us. It was beautiful, a massive flaming doughnut was in the center, about every color in a rainbow could be seen in the flames being burned into the doughnut. There was no beginning point for the flames, they appeared to come from the outside, be swept underneath and then pushed up through the center, all in a continuos sweeping circular motion. It was a raging, boiling inferno that defied one’s capability of being able to adequately describe.
Less than 10 seconds after the bomb exploded the blast reached us. We were pushed back against the wall of our foxhole. Shortly thereafter, we were hit with another blast, this time from behind, pushing us into the front of the foxhole. It was the blast being pulled back and sucked up into the atmosphere.
The doughnut was obviously the most beautiful and impressive part of the blast but the billowing big mushroom cloud that appeared was also mind boggling, as the cloud was over us and went back and up into the sky. If the outside of the blast reached us, then it would have been eight miles to the other side. It was gigantic. We watched and marveled at the size and magnitude of what we were experiencing.
Another unbelievable part was the shear noise and feel of the explosion. The noise and feel in comparison to the TNT explosion we had earlier experienced would be like comparing an ant with an elephant. There was no comparison. In trying to put this in perspective, imagine being in a desert and seeing a dirt storm rushing toward you. It hits you, goes right on past, then reverses itself and comes back over you then heads back toward where you first seen it. Then all at once all this power, dirt and debris is suddenly sucked up into the sky by a giant vacuum. We have all seen thunderheads in the sky. They are the beautiful white clouds that generally start about 10,000-15,000 feet and reach upwards of 40,000 feet. The mushroom cloud reached from the ground up and beyond that.
4
All of us climbed out of our foxholes and tried to express what we had just witnessed. It was like everyone thought they were the only who saw it and wanted everyone else to know what they saw. It was great, everyone was laughing and having a great time. Even the Lt was happy, I think he had even forgiven Nutsy by then.
About a half-hour after the blast, planes appeared from the south. They were carrying the paratroopers as they were to be dropped into the ground zero area, to show that it was possible to disperse troops into an area where an above ground atomic bomb had just been detonated, before enemy troops had time to regroup and prepare for battle.
The first planeload of men were dropped and the second planeload was only partially dropped when they cancelled dropping anymore of the men. Apparently the explosion had changed the atmospheric pressure or the density of the air, as the size of the chutes were not adequate for the weight of the men. They were coming down way too fast and landed very hard. Many had minor injuries; broken or sprained ankles and knees, bruised arms, butts and especially bruised egos. The paratroopers were housed in a row of tents right behind ours at camp. We talked to them about the hard landings and what I just described was information given to us from them.
We were originally scheduled to be picked up by trucks, taken to within one mile of ground zero, and then march into ground zero one hour after the blast. For some reason this was delayed. We waited for a couple of hours and then we were trucked to within one mile. At this point we were all issued film badges. They were pinned onto the front of our uniforms, chest high. We then marched toward ground zero. It was not a formal march, we were in route step but were told to stay on a narrow path and not to wander from it.
As we got closer to ground zero there were significant changes. We saw snakes, lizards and a rabbit. They appeared to have been blinded by the flash, as they moved irrationally, mostly in circles. I got chewed out for stepping out of line to kick a small snake out of the way. When we got within ¼ mile from ground zero the ground was becoming harder. There were goats and sheep moving around, some were bleating . You could tell by looking at them what direction they were facing when the blast went off. Their hides were burnt black on one side or the other. If their legs were white and their bodies black they had probably been laying down. They were also blind, They had originally been tethered and the blast had blown them loose, many had short strands of rope around their necks. Army personnel were trying to round them up. They were hard to catch, as they jumped at the slightest noise. The animals were all part of the exercise. We felt as though they didn’t want us to see the animals and that was why we were delayed earlier.
5
At ground zero and the surrounding area many structures had been built. Buildings, building faces, lean-to’s, bunkers, etc.. Some out of concrete, some from wood and other materials. There were many aircraft strategically placed; in ravines, behind mounds of dirt and in some instances right out in the open. The same held true for many kinds of Army weapons. Every thing had been built and placed to give the broadest and best information possible as to both the destructive and protective capabilities in regards to the blast.
As we walked into the heart of the ground zero area, the desert sand was more solidified, it was crusted from the heat of the bomb. You could easily break through it by stomping your feet. We were not allowed to pick up anything or touch any objects, including equipment. At the center point of ground zero was a Sherman tank. The bomb had exploded in the air directly above it. The tank had been burned black and the wide tracks the tank runs on had been forced straight down into the ground about 1-1/2 feet. The pressure to accomplish this must have been tremendous. We walked all around the ground zero area and were amazed at the destruction; however, there were some positive sides to it. Dummy bodies had been placed in ditches, by buildings, on benches, chairs, inside buildings and wherever they thought they might get some kind of protection. In observing all the dummies, it was apparent that it was possible to keep from being burned with a minimum amount of protection. All the dummies that were outside, without protection were burnt. Those that were in the ditches, even shallow ones (12-14 inches deep) were not burnt. Those along side or behind buildings were also protected. We surmised that you could survive the burning with little protection, but protection from radiation would be another story. We felt all the animals that were burnt, even though they were alive when we saw them would die from either the burns or the radiation that had to have doused them. This in turn, made us wonder, if the dust from the blast that had originally hit us had contained much radiation? Also, how much radiation was still at ground zero?
The march back to the trucks was uneventful, we discussed what we had seen previously as well as what we had just witnessed. When we got back to the pickup area, Army personnel retrieved our film badges and threw them into a box. If there had been any irregularities with the badges, they would have never known who wore the badges. They were given out randomly without any type of identification as to who received which one. They then went over each of us with a geiger counter to see if we had any radio active elements on us. As they went over me the geiger counter beeped, an officer standing right there said the beep was attributed to the radium dial on my watch. The Army had a truck there that had a shower installed in it, in case someone showed up with radio active elements above the predetermined level. We were never told what that level was. I did not see anyone go into the shower and receive new clothing.
6
That night we were debriefed, telling us what we could say and what we couldn’t.We were allowed to express what we saw when the bomb went off, our feelings about it, but nothing about the size and power of the bomb and absolutely nothing about the paratroopers and what we saw at ground zero. We were told it would be a court martial offense to do so. They also told us we hadn’t received enough radiation to matter. For a long time I have felt that last statement was not completely true, but we were dumb volunteers, who wanted and received “a night out on the town” at the governments expense. A small price for the government to pay for the “goods received”.
Wilbur Clark, the owner of the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, hosted a dinner for a few servicemen from each branch of the service. He also invited those that had witnessed the blast from a safe distance (some 20 miles away from ground zero). This included the news media, the generals and high ranking government officials. Every news corespondent at the dinner tried to get someone to tell them in detail what happened, as they wanted to have a scoop on the blast. No one obliged.
I will be turning 73 in less than a month and thought it was time to let my grandchildren know about one of the most eventful events in my life. I was 21 when I volunteered for this event. Young, Dumb, Trusting, and Ready for adventure. I was ripe for the plucking to become a HUMAN GUINEA PIG.
I had friends who were in the service with me at Clovis AFB, who have died of cancer but I can’t remember if they were at Tumbler-Snapper or not. It would be interesting to know.
I don’t know if my being a participant had a detrimental effect on my health but I have had two total hip replacements, one in 1985, the other one in 1994. Both hips work fine and only stop me from running and jumping. I am very active and enjoy life. I also have had several different forms of cancer but fortunately I heal well. I have never blamed the government for any of my problems, nor have I sought compensation. Time and the possibility of serious health problems, coupled with new findings from radiation researchers, may eventually change my present attitude.
Clark Caldwell
September 13, 2003
cdcaldwell1@earthlink.net
Keith Whittle
September 24, 2003
Operation Tumbler/Snapper