Operation Dominic 1962
US Atomic Veterans
Bob Melley
Bob Melley sent email about his duty at Operation Dominic
From: Bob Melley
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Operation Dominic ........Johnston Atoll.......1962......STARFISH....April Weather calling......
Hi:
Interesting times and interesting web site...
I was Communications Officer and GQ OOD on the (old) USS John S. McCain (DL-3) when the really big guy finally went off.....
As GQ OOD, I was on the open bridge with the CO, our Chief QM and a NASA photographer....we all wore thick red goggles.....
I'll never forget that huge exo-atmospheric blast........the night sky eventually (slowly turned) every color of the rainbow ROYGBIV.....you could read a newspaper on the bridge for more than a half hour before the light finally faded away....I understand natives on some small islands hundreds of miles away thought the world was coming to an end...
They should make the head of every country in the world sit under one of these high altitude explosions every five years or so.......it would give pause to even the biggest boneheads around.....
Our CO, a wonderful guy, shook his head and said, "We shouldn't be fooling with these things."
That summed it up perfectly....FYI.....on McCain all cameras and film were under lock & key for the duration of the time we spent at Johnson Island.....The Honolulu newspaper had a picture of hundreds of people sitting on Waikiki Beach wearing sunglasses watching the nuclear warhead detonate.....
Best regards,
Bob Melley
Sarasota, FL
rjmelley@aol.com
Keith Whittle
December 30, 2006
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