Operation Redwing
US Atomic Veterans
S. Don Jorgensen
S. Don Jorgensen sent email about his duty at Operation Redwing.
From: SDJPJJ@aol.com
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002
Subject: USCG OPERATION REDWING
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
My Name is S. Don Jorgensen.
I was on Eniwetok September 1955 to September 1956.
I was an ET1 on a Coast Guard Loran Station. For the year I was there
we had only seven men including the skipper LTJG Robert S. Lucas.
As mentioned by others Eniwetok only had four trees left by the
invasion in WW2. As we had a small boat we decided to add trees.
We went to Japtan and gathered 30 growing coconuts and planted them around
the Coast Guard base. I wonder if they are still there?
Our base was on the end of the island away from the airfield. The planes had
to clear our antenna on take off. When the B36 took off we would duck.
On shot morning we had to turn off the Loran Transmitter 15 minutes before
the
shot. After the one big blast in the lagoon we measured the drop of water
level
with the tide gage. The water dropped four feet and didn't return for three
hours.
The blasts were beautiful, the mushroom cloud had an ionized film around it
that would glow for about 5 minutes.
The H Bomb blast at Bikini was very early in the morning. We turned off our
Xmiter and went out on the antenna field to see if the blast would be
visible,
it was, also we heard the blast about 15 minutes later and heard it about
7 or 8 more times! Through water and different altitudes?
The VA checked me this year (2002) and I'm ok so far.
S.Don Jorgensen
sdjpjj@aol.com
Email:sdjpjj@aol.com
Keith Whittle
January 25, 2003
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