Eniwetok Clean-up
1978 -
1979
U.S. Atomic Veterans
Daniel Rose
Daniel Rose sent email about his duty at Eniwetok.
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005
From: enjabi_soldier@yahoo.com
Subject: Enewetak Atoll Cleanup Project 1978-1979
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
To whom it may concern. My name is Daniel L. Rose. In 1978 I was a member of Company A 299th Engineer Battalion stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
In July of that year I was given the opportunity to volunteer for the Enewetak Atoll Cleanup project. We were told it was a Pacific paradise. I was only 18 years old, a nieve young kid from rural Maine. I hadn't learned about trust and the government yet. I volunteered.
In August of 1978 I departed Ft. Sill and after a week of processing at Hickam Air Force base in Honalulu Hawaii I arrived on the main island of Enewetak. Upon exiting the C 141 transport plane I noticed a fenced off area with a bunch of rusty broken down vehicles near the runway. I asked one of the guys stationed there if it was a salvage yard, he said "salvage yard? Hell boy that's our motor pool".
After processing in at Enewetak I learned that I would be stationed at Lojwa Base in the northern part of the atoll. After arriving there I was attached to the 1st Combat Platoon B Co. 84th Engineer Battalion.
I was assigned work with the R and R crew (rock and rebar) on the island of Enjabi or as it was known to the military "Janet". Life there was somewhat different from my other assignments in the military. I made some freinds that I lost touch with after leaving. I knew Richard Masculine and Steve Harrison, and when I saw their names on this web sight I was prompted to write this email in hopes of recontacting them.
I didn't know about the Atomic Veterans until I typed Enewetak into my search box on a whim. I haven't had contact with anyone who had been there in about 26 years but I remember it like it was yesterday. The Hotel California, the Mars Station, rat hunting on "Sally", that was the next island north of Lojwa connected by a bridge. The island south of Lojwa was affectionately called "Gillagan's Island and sometimes on Sunday when we were off duty we would walk over on the reef at low tide for a little solitude and exploration.
If any of you who were stationed there and remember me, please contact me. I now reside in Kingman, Arizona where I am employed as an aircraft mechanic at Kingman airport.
Daniel Rose
enjabi_soldier@yahoo.com
Keith Whittle
January 28, 2005
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