Eniwetok Clean-up
1977
U.S. Atomic Veterans
Don Clifton
Don Clifton sent email about his duty at Eniwetok.
From: dpclifton@sbcglobal.net
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004
Subject: Lojwa July 1977 to October 1977
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Found your website today and thought I would share my experience at
Enewitok.
I was stationed with B Co. 43rd Eng. Bn. at Fort Benning, GA. I
volunteered for TDY to the Marshall Islands in the summer of '77 to see something
different. I was attached to B Co. 84th Eng. Bn. Schofield Barracks, HI. I spent two
weeks in Hawaii processing thru for the trip to Enewitok.
I arrived in Enewitok in July of '77. We spent a couple of days on the
"big" island before transporting over to Lojwa. When I arrived on Lojwa there
were two dirt roads and about a dozen tents on the island. The mess hall was on
the nortwest corner of the island and we ate in two tents. Fresh water came
from two desalinization units running 24-7. There were two concrete bunkers on
the island left over from the testing days. One on the north side of the island
contained several diesel generators which we later bulldozed dirt into the
door of and never used. The one in the center of the island became our
communications building and outdoor shower facility. We put a large black water bag on
the roof and ran piping around the outside of the bunker. We used cans with
holes punched in them for shower heads. The shower floors were wooden and how hot
the shower was depended on how much sun there was to heat the water.
Our mission was to construct the 500 man base camp to house the cleanup
crews that came over later. I was one of the two electricians on the island at
the time. We began pouring concrete for the multitude of tin huts we later
constructed on them. As we progressed we were able to move from the tents to the
buildings. We constructed a large wooden latrine and tried to avoid the daily
burning detail. Our squad built the generation and desalizination building on
the south side of the island. We used explosives to create the crater for the
salt water sump used to make fresh water. We had the great idea of using
matresses on top of the blast to keep down dust and shrapnel. We were a little
enthusiatic about our amount of explosives and blew small chunks of matress a mile
into the lagoon but we managed to clean a thirty foot deep crater in the
island and did not have to clean out any debris. The biggest memory of electrician
work was having to repair the temporary wiring on the tops on the tin
buildings when the splices would break. This would usually happen in the afternoon
when the winds would pickup at the beginning of the daily afternoon thunderstorm.
There is nothing like standing on the top of a metal building in the wind and
rain splicing live wires back together.
I left Lojwa in October of '77. We had most of the buildings up including
a very large mess hall and real showers. We had set power poles on the island
for electricity and the next crew was coming in to connect the powerplant and
finish the base camp. A very interesting experience.
The last memory of Enewitok was the day before we left. We were back on
the island of Enewitok. I was leaving the mess hall after dinner and walked into
Marlin Perkins of the show "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom". They we on the
island to do a show on the sharks of the lagoon.
I just thought I would sent a letter after reading some from others who
had been there. I still have the letter of appreciations signed by Captain
Timothy Woods of the 84th Eng Bn and the certificate of membership in the society
of Lojwanians. I believe there is a picture of Lojwa after the base camp was
completed with one the letters on your site.
Thanks,
Don Clifton
dpclifton@sbcglobal.net
Keith Whittle
December 27, 2004
[ Eniwetok Clean-up ]
Wetokian