Operation Redwing
US Atomic Veterans
Julian E. Relf
Julian E. Relf sent email about his duty at Operation Redwing.
From: "dorothy relf" dorothyrelf@bellsouth.net
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: On the list
Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005
Dear Keith,
I have applied for medical help and compensation for my involvrment in Operation Redwing. I was a member of the flight deck crew aboard the USS Badoeng Straits.
I would like for my name to be added to the list of Atomic Veterans.
I came aboard the USS Badoeng Straits out of boot camp in late December of 1955. I was assigned to the flight deck crew. A group of us were sent to Atomic Biological and Chemical Warfare School. We were part of the decontamination crew. I remember setting up sprinkler systems for the flight deck.
I remember being on the flight deck with our backs to the blast. I don't remember Tom Simms, but as he said, we could feel the heat from the blast on our backs. I remember swimming in the waters. I remember the shark that was caught and pulled aboard the fan tail of the ship. I remember the heart being cut out. It was beating long after it was cut out. We wore dosimeters around our necks to measure the amount of radiation exposure.
I was part of the crew that decommissioned the ship at Bremington Washington in 1957.
I was discharged from the Navy in 1959 . I enrolled in Alabama State University and graduated with a degree in Physical Education. I coached football, basketball and track at the high school level in Decatur, Ga. I retired as an Elementary School Principal in 1995.
Julian E. Relf
Decatur, Ga.
Email: dorothyrelf@bellsouth.net
Keith Whittle
December 18, 2005
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