Operation Sandstone
US Atomic Veterans
Robert Oakes
From: "Robert Oakes" robert_oakes@hotmail.com
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002
Keith,
We found your website and a flood of memories came rushing back. I took part
in the atomic bomb tests on Eniwetok in December of 1947 and subsequent. I
was a sergeant in the Officers Pay and Records Section of the personnel unit
of the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade, stationed at Fort Worden, Washington.
I served with the brigade until my discharge.
Just before Christmas, 1947, we learned that we were to be assigned to the
force that was going to Eniwetok. Once security clearances were finished, we
boarded a train for Port Jeuneme, CA where we were loaded aboard the USS
Pickaway, APA 222. I learned sometime later that there was a motion picture
taken of us going up the ramp, but I have never been able to get
confirmation. I have asked the US Army if I could purchase a copy of the
film, but they don't reply.
The Pickaway was part of a three ship "fleet" including an AKA (which I
believe is a floating dry dock) and a water tender. I do not know their
names.
On the way over, there was a brief stop, one night, at Pearl Harbor.
It was reported to us that a young GI was taken off the ship because they
found a camera in his posession, which we all knew was prohibited. We never
found out what happened to him.
We "celebrated" the crossing of the International Date Line; I have a
certificate, but can't find it right now, to determine the exact date. The
officers and non-coms were privileged to serve the other enlisted men as
well as doing the necessary KP duties. It was a lot of fun.
Two things stand out regarding the trip across. First, the crowded quarters
and the stiffling atmosphere below decks. The Navy refused to let us above
deck at night, unless we were pulling guard duty. It was amazing how many of
us volunteered for guard. After out tour, we took life jackets and made a
bed in the gun tubs. Naturally, at that time there were no guns mounted. It
was very cool and conducive to a good nights sleep.
The other was the Master-at-Arms who supervised the galley. He kept an old
greasy pork chop under the serving counter. When one of the troops came
through the line that was a little green under the gills, he would produce
the chop to see if he could cause the GI to leave and go up on deck. It
worked sometimes. It is a wonder he wasn't "Missing"
when we got to Eniwetok.
When we first arived, we toured the main island and found a number of spent
cartridges and shell casings left over from the battle to take the atoll;
even at that late date. Also, the island was loaded with construction
equipment of every kind.....bulldozers, cranes, road scrappers, etc. Shortly
after, they were all gone; they had been dumped into the ocean. We were told
that it was too expensive to ship the stuff back to Hawaii or mainland.
Duty on the islands was somewhat routine, except when I was taken to one of
the smaller islands to take care of personnel duties. Most of the time this
was by LCVP, but occasionally by helicopter. That was most thrilling looking
down on the sharks "playing" in the lagoon.
One night the routine was shattered. Several of us were in the first floor
office of Brigade Headquarters (in the center of the island) playing cards.
There was a sudden and loud banging on the door. I went to see what the
noise was all about when I looked out straight into a single silver
star.....belonging to our Brigade Commander, Brigadier General David A. D.
Ogden. He informed us that an unidentified submarine had been spotted inside
the perimeter covered by screening destroyers. Believing it to be a snooping
Russian submarine, the general ordered a complete alert, and all lights to
be put out. He ordered us to go upstairs and report to the OD for
instructions.
I was ordered to get a jeep and go around the island and see that all lights
were, in fact, out. For the most part there was no problem until I came to
one of the Port Company's barracks. When I went inside and ordered the
lights out, I was told that they were shooting craps and no *&#$%#@ was
going to interupt them. I went to the Platoon Sergeant's door and knocked.
There appeared the biggest man I had ever seen at that time. He was at least
6' 4" and weighed in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. When I told him the
problem, he went to the bottom of the stairs and roared like a lion.
Needless to say the lights were put out immediately and there was no more
trouble.
We were never to learn what the submarine was doing, or even it there was
one. But it reminded us that this was no mere simple duty.
I only stayed on the islands for a few months and was witness to only the
first blast. We were loaded onto the good ole "Pickaway" and taken out to
sea. We were given darkened glasses and told to face away from the atoll
until instructed to turn around. After the inital blast we were given
permission to turn and view the famed mushroom cloud and the pyrotechnics
that went with it. Later, after the islands were tested for radio-activity,
we were returned to our normal duties.
I was flown out of Eniwetok, to Kwaj, Honolulu, and back to Fort
Worden. Until I was discharged I was assigned to the Brigade Intelligence
section where there was absolutely nothing to do.
As other memories come to me I will jot them down and send more email
messages. Do you know of any roster of the members of the 2nd Engineer
Special Brigade that were in this operation?
Robert L. Oakes
Overland Park, KS
robert_oakes@hotmail.com
--Keith Whittle
January 8, 2001
Operation Sandstone