Robert L McIntyre sent email about his duty on board the USS Bairoko.
From: "Bob and Ann McIntyre" bobnann@airmail.net
To: "Keith" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Atomic Veteran (Operation Castle)
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1999
Keith,
On the big blast I was at the helm on the Bairoko, we were headed into the
blast. I remember the skipper advised us to turn our backs and cover our
eyes with our arms and keep our eyes shut. I remember feeling the heat
going through my entire body, it was like you stepped into a blast furnace.
It lasted only a few seconds, then I remember a very bright light, I could
see all the bones in my arms just as if I was looking at an x-ray. The
skipper told us we could turn around and watch the blast. We could see the
mushroom start and some of the light was still in the blast. it was quite a
sight. I remember looking out the battened down port holes and seeing
something coming across the water, it appeared to be a wall of something
about 10 to 15 feet high above the water, I reported it to the skipper, he
advised that it was the shock wave, when it hit the ship it blew the port
hole covers off and it was quite loud, after that it was fairly calm, the
mushroom continued to build. It was something you would never forget.
We were involved in seven bomb drops in all. At one point we built a
recreation island, we assumed it was for us to have a little R & R, you know
what it means to assume. The island was blown out of the water at a later
date. Old ships were anchored in the harbor of one of the islands and
checked for radiation, then on the next blast they were checked again for
radiation after they got the radiation level, LCM'S full of sailors were
sent aboard the hot ships to try and bring down the radiation level, this
was done by scrubbing the ship by hand using different cleaning agents, at
the end of each day aboard the hot ships we would be taken back to our
assigned ship where we would be checked for radiation and our dosimeter
would be taken. We would discard our clothes, take a saltwater shower then
a fresh water shower and be given clean clothes, then do the same thing the
next day. We weren't given a lot of information other than their was no
danger what-so-ever in what we were doing. Sometime during this process I
developed small lesions or burns over my waist, groin and lower parts of my
body. I went to sick bay and was checked, a lot of head scratching and then
a remedy for my problem. The remedy was fresh water showers numerous times
a day and had to go out in the sun for about 15 minutes after each shower.
After several weeks some of the burns started to dissipate. I was never
taken off duty but I did not have to go aboard the hot ships.
We were in the islands for approximately six months, I don't know how much
radiation the ship got but when we got back to the US we were not allowed to
come into San Francisco for three days because the ship was to hot.
I never received any real medical help for the burns other than sunshine and
showers. After I got out of the service, I had developed severe nose bleeds,
my joints would swell and it was hard to move around, at times I would get
large red whelps all over my body, my eyes would swell shut and my mouth and
tongue would swell so bad I could not eat, my wife would feed me milk and
mashed potatoes that she would make into a thin liquid, she would spoon feed
me for about two weeks. This would occur about every seven years. My
doctor sent me to Duke University in North Carolina, they studied me and
sent me home unable to do anything.
We sent a request for my records from
the Navy only to find there had been a fire and all the records had been
destroyed. I think around 1980, I received a letter from the Navy Dept and
the AEC requesting that I go to the nearest VA hospital, which I did, they
poked, took blood, x-rayed and every other thing they could think of, then
sent me home, sometime later we received a letter saying I was fine and they
had found six dosimeters that I had used during the tests and that
everything was well below the allowable rates of radiation. This confused
me somewhat because they said I was issued six dosimeters during the six
month period, but I remember getting a new dosimeter every few days because
the ones we were wearing had the max dosage, but being very young and dumb
we didn't know any better.
This isn't much but its about all I want to remember. I wouldn't trade the
experience and the memories for anything in the world and if I had to do it
all over again I probably would. I was 100% GI back then and I would go
wherever and do whatever I was ordered to do with no questions asked, unlike
todays military.
If this will help you in any way I am glad and if you want to ask anything
else feel free.
Robert L McIntyre
Email: bobnann@airmail.net
Keith Whittle
July 5, 1999.
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