Operation Upshot/Knothole
US Atomic Veterans
Joseph A Rutterer
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002
Subject: Re: Atomic Veteran (Upshot/Knothole)
From: Joseph A Rutterer jar.amr@sbcglobal.net
Hi Keith
I joined the Air Force In January, 1951. Was sent to Lackland Air Force
Base and then to Keesler Air Force Base for training in Radar
Fundamentals. One day near the end of training I was told to report to
the 1009th SWS Squadron. An officer asked if I wanted to volunteer for an
assignment, couldn't tell me what it was but said nobody in the past had
been sorry that they did. I had already been told "NEVER VOLUNTEER FOR
ANYTHING". But I did anyway.
I then when through some more training and
shipped out to McCellan AFB. More training and one day they called three
of us in and said we were going to Chile for 3 years. Two days later we
were called in again and told that there was a change in plans and that
one of us was going to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, "who wanted to volunteer"?
Nobody did. The officer stuck out his hand with 3 matches, short match
goes to Arabia. I got the short match and spent 1952 there. With a 2 week
TDY at Wheelus Field in Tripoli Lybia. Flew there and back aboard a
54th Weather Squadron B-50. As we took off from Tripoli on the way back
to Arabia just as we got over the Mediterranean the port outboard engine
caught fire and we were told to be ready to bail out. Not being a regular
crew member I was given a quick lesson on parachuting and we moved to the
hatch into the bomb bay. We then got word that the fire was out and as I
turned around there was this big guy right in back of me ready to push me
out in case I hesitated. Made it back to Arabia without further incident.
Made Corporal.
Went back to McClellan AFB and from there to Upshot/Knothole for about
three months. I was at Indian Springs and participated in 11
shots. My job was to remove and analyze particulate samples from F-84
drones which flew through the clouds immediately after the detonation.
I also removed gas samples which were sent elsewhere for analysis.
The only protection were lead lined gloves. I don't know how much
radiation I received, but we took showers with a GI brush and strong soap
sometimes for more than an hour until the radiation level was reduced to
what at the time was considered acceptable. However for days afterwards
if I blew at a Geiger counter it would go off scale. I am happy to say
that as of now I am cancer free at age 72.
One of the highlights was one day after a shot I reached into the cockpit
of an F-84 to activate the arming switch to remove the gas sample and hit
the wrong switch and jettisoned the tip tanks. After that they would not
let me near the cockpit again.
Also for one shot I went up to Mercury to watch the shot close up from a
trench a couple of miles away.
The CO of our unit liked to go to Vegas whenever off duty and would take
our Travelall. The trouble was it had a governor restricting the speed to
55 mph. That was too slow for him so he asked if anyone knew how to
override the governor. I figured it out so that we could go 80 mph. One
day going up to Mercury got picked up doing 75 mph They took me to the
motor pool and found out that the governor had been tampered with. They
called my CO and told him I was in trouble and for what. He took full
responsibility. When I got back to Indian Springs he asked how to
override the governor and promptly fixed it so he could go 80 mph again.
Made Sergeant.
Went back to McCellan AFB for a few months. At this point we were given
schematics for some electronic equipment and started building several
racks of equipment. When we were done we shipped out to Larson AFB Moses
Lake, Washington, where we set up the equipment which monitored spheric
activity. There were three locations across the US and by triangulating
on USSR we were able to tell if they had an atomic test. Made Staff
Sergeant.
Discharged in January, 1955. Having volunteerd for the 1009th was the
best desicion I made while in the Air Force.
Joseph A Rutterer
jar.amr@sbcglobal.net
Keith Whittle
February 21, 2002
Operation Upshot/Knothole