Hardtack 1958
US Atomic Veterans
Jay Fowler
Jay Fowler sent email about his duty at Operation Hardtack.
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001
From: Jay Fowler jafwlr@qwest.net
To: Keith pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Operation Hardtack
Hi Keith:
I reported aboard the Boxer (CVS-21) in Long Beach, and found out
we were going to test the bombs. It was 1958. I was a Fire Controlman, Second
Class (FT 2). Our main job was to track the weather balloons with a handful of
aluminum chaff and rubber cement inside. They were set free every two hours,
and then before a test, one hour. The first test was a very small bomb carried
by a Pillsbury balloon, and the first test with a "dummy" was enlightening.
In our steaming around, we saw the protesters in the ship Planetree being shadowed
by the Coast Guard, to be arrested when they entered the Bikini testing area.
We were out to sea about seven months doing the testing
and that was too long. We steamed under our own fallout one day, and really
contaminated the ship. When the radiation monitoring teams found a "hot"
particle, they slapped lead-based paint over it to seal it to the surface. I doubt that anyone
told the shipyard workers about these "hot spots", for their locations were
never recorded. The Blasts were interesting, and awe inspiring.
I did a lot of snorkeling on the dive boat. After the testing, the ship was remodelled, I think in Long Beach, and given to the Marines as LPH 4.
Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in January,1959 and we
offloaded all our training ammunition, stacked the hanger deck full of cases of
recoilless ammunition, and took on about 2,000 combat Marines, and steamed
toward Cuba. Our ships newspaper had an article that said that Castro would
kill 1,000 Americans for every Marine that landed in Cuba. We put the Marines
off on an Island for their training, and went back to Norfolk. I was discharged
in May, 1959. Of all the Marines we had on board, the paratroopers were amazing
to watch. They followed a different set of rules. I was appointed to go ashore
for the Cuba invasion, and would have done spotting for shore bombardment. I
was assigned to four Marines that were to "take care of me". I asked the Marine
Lieutenant what I was to do, and he was most definite that I was to do exactly
what they said. With those four, I know I would be absolutely safe, no matter
where we went.
Jay Fowler
Email: jafwlr@qwest.net
Keith Whittle
May 27, 2001
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