Operation Hardtack.
US Atomic Veterans
Walter Venator
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
From: Walter Venator hunter@atlcom.net
Subject: My story
Keith,
Here I was, with what appeared to be the perfect assignment.
It is 1957 and I am an electronics technician, (radio/radar) stationed at
Westover AFB, Granby, MA. I had it made. Because I worked at an off base
secure communications facility, I lived off base too. Not just off base,
but I got real lucky and secured quarters in the College Inn, directly
across the street from Mt. Holyoke College. Just imagine, 3200 love starved
girls, two of us and per-diem too.
I knew it wouldn’t last. All this would change in January 1958.
One of my buddies, who worked in personnel, informed me I would have to
take an overseas tour or risk being sent to Thule. He knew I hated the
cold. So I told him to find a nice warm place where the girls spoke
English. A week later he presented me with my choices; Saudi Arabia,
Lebanon and Turkey. What I had in mind was the other side of the world.
Hawaii would have been nice, but I had under four and that would have been
a three-year stint. I needed a one-year tour. A week later he told me he
had the perfect place. "Picture this", he said, "a beautiful South Pacific
island with a bare-chested girl behind every tree, and it’s only a year.
And you qualify. They need your AFSC and you have a Top Secret Clearance."
I was secretly hoping he wasn’t getting even for the times I beat him in
chess.
I should have suspected something when he said Top Secret, but I had those
girls on my mind. So, I left the cushy assignment at Westover and headed
for Travis AFB enroute to APO, 187, 1253rd AACS, Eniwetok, Marshall
Islands. The MATS Lockheed Constellation stopped in Hawaii and Kwajalein
just long enough for refueling and crew changes, and continued shaking and
rattling over the endless ocean until we came upon what looked like a
carrier. Ok, two carriers. Upon landing and a debriefing in the main
hanger, it dawned on me that my personnel friend either knew more about
this place then he let on, or he believed his own story, but I was clearly
in trouble. There was only one tree and not a girl in sight. This island
was so flat and small that I could see practically every inch from the
flight line. There wasn’t a whole lot to see!
I remember being called white-meat by some of the guys. They were nicely
tanned and I had a winter white look having come from Massachusetts and New
Jersey. After I met the guys I would be working with, I decided this isn’t
so bad, and it’s only a year. Well, a year is a long time when you’re 19.
Within two weeks I was as dark as a white person can get. All one could do
was eat, sleep, drink, lay on the beach, swim or dive and go to the open
theater which was just outside my aluminum barracks. The food was ample and
good. The drinks were cheap and everyone went to the NCO club. At first, I
was careful not to absorb too much of the Sun’s rays for fear of getting
burned. After a week of daily exposure and ample quantities of lotion, I
was quite dark. No more white meat.
I recall the awesome sight of the remnants of WW ll. Eniwetok, being part
of the rim of a volcano, has a lagoon side and an ocean side. The lagoon
side is beautiful if you overlook the truck, plane and ship parts strewn
over a good part of the lagoon.
Our day started at 4:30 AM. We worked in the morning hours and spent the
afternoons relaxing. We had to stop working around noon because the
temperature was in triple digits and the humidity was 100 percent. We had a
light bulb in our closets in order to dry the air and keep our shoes and
garments from mildew. Every day was sunny and it rained just about every
night.. in the middle of the movie of the week.
I worked in a communications building housing ground to air transmitters
that used 4X150 tubes in their finals. Because of the intense ambient
temperature, and the resulting building heat, the 4X150s needed continual
replacement. A team of four was kept constantly busy maintaining the
transmitters. After about two months, air conditioning was installed in the
building that housed the transmitters and we were out of work. The air
conditioning cooled the site so much that the 4X150s never melted again and
we just needed to take meter readings once a week. I got transferred to an
Army communications facility in the middle of the island. We had a great
crew and all got along like brothers. I recall my Air Force supervisor was
Darrell but I can’t remember his last name. I can’t recall the name of the
Army Staff Sergeant who later became my supervisor.
Two weeks after I arrived at Eniwetok, my personnel friend showed up. He
must have really believed his own story. He asked how I was doing and I
said, I’m getting off this rock." It seems that’s what everyone said.
Everyone except the civilians. They were making good money as employees of
Holmes and Narver.
After about two months I awoke one morning to a lot of facial pain. I had
no idea what it was. The Army medic did. It was my wisdom teeth, all four
of them. That entitled me to a trip to Hawaii. After my return from Hawaii,
I saw my personnel friend (I wish I could recall his name) and when he
asked the obligatory question, I responded with, "I m getting off this
rock." To my amazement, he replied with, "You’re right this time, you are
going to Hawaii, then on to Johnston Island." An Air Force Sergeant, S/SGT
Brewer was placed in charge of about six of us. We flew to Kwajalein and on
to Hawaii. We were assigned to Bellows AFB for about a week and then I flew
to Johnston Island with another Darrell (Darrell Chalcraft) to participate
in what turned out to be Project Newsreel and witness a nuclear blast set
off from a missile.
We spent about a month getting the equipment installed for the missile
shot. Then, we were instructed to pack an overnight and were evacuated from
the island on a LCM to board an aircraft carrier, the Boxer. I was in awe
of its size, but it was small compared to today’s carriers.
That night, we were instructed to go to the flight deck to witness a
nuclear blast. Although only 19, and not at all educated in the physics of
nuclear devices, I clearly proceeded with hesitation. Something didn’t
sound right. We were told to bring sheets because the radiation would be
reflected by the white color. I couldn’t believe it, knowing a sheet
couldn’t stop solar rays, why should it have any affect on nuclear rays. I
didn’t know about alpha and beta particles then. My gut just told me this
is something to be reckoned with.
So I dutifully stood on the deck with my sheet and goggles. I recall asking
a civilian standing next to me if he had any idea of how long the heat
would last. He said he had no idea. I later found out it was Dr. Werner von
Braun. What did he know about bombs. All he cared about was his rocket. I
didn’t dare look at the shot. At about 10:00 PM the bomb was detonated from
an altitude of (I believe) 50 miles. We were approximately 710 miles from
Waikiki. I recall three very vivid things. An intense white light that I
can only describe as an infinite number of flash bulbs going off and
staying on for quite a lengthy time. I heard from people in Hawaii as I
passed through back on my way to Eniwetok some weeks later, that you could
read a chapter of a book, the light was so bright and lasted so long. They
had no idea the blast was coming and when they observed it, they thought it
was the end of the world. The second thing I recall, is the heat. It was
intense. It probably didn’t last more than 200 milliseconds, but the
residual temperature was uncomfortable. I had my head down because I
refused to look into the fireball. Because I had my head in this position I
think it enabled me to see something those looking up couldn’t see. I saw
those in front of me, (and there were hundreds on the deck) as though they
were Xrayed. I remember that sight most of all. The Xray sight was awesome.
I thought, my God, this is not good. I also thought that the people
responsible for these tests don’t have a clue.
We were debriefed the following day. I left for an assignment to Okinawa on
90 days TDY and returned to Eniwetok just in time to be sent home for
Christmas.
I have an 8 x 10 full color picture of Oak. The WW ll junk in the lagoon
was sucked up in a column of 13,000 feet of super heated irradiated water.
I won’t forget that. I can’t forget the many craters caused by nuclear
bombs set off in the pristine coral. And, most of all, I can’t forget the
shot I witnessed aboard the Boxer. I wonder about the effects of nuclear
radiation on the Marshallese to this day.
Today, 40 years later, I am a sales manager in the computer field. I used
to be an engineer, a microwave design engineer. And, I studied nuclear
engineering. At one time, I thought I would become a nuclear engineer and
work in a power plant but I never pursued it. I know from my studies what
effects alpha and beta particles have on human tissue. I also know how
harmful radioactive substances can be on human tissue, especially Plutonium
239, Uranium 238 and Strontium 90.
I wonder how many people were affected by the radiation exposure from the
37 bombs detonated in 1958. I didn’t witness all of them, but the ones I
saw convince me that what I saw later in life prove we could have done
these tests differently. Dr. Robert Oppenheim was right. We could have
performed the tests with mathematics. After all, that’s how I learned how
powerful and harmful nuclear particles can be, and it convinced me that I
want no part of it.
Walter E. Venator
hunter@atlcom.net
Keith Whittle
February, 1999
Operation Hardtack