Operation Castle
1954
Oregon Atomic Veterans
Joseph A. Waggoner
Joseph Waggoner
Chief Warrant Officer 3
Chief Machinist
41 Years Ago
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I was born Jan. 9, 1918. Harvey Creek -- Reedsport, Oregon. My father was born at Scotsburg, Oregon, March 3rd, 1883. So you can see that I am a real webb-foot vet. |
Joe Waggoner lives in Coos Bay, Oregon and I've posted his interview below. After watching the Operation Castle and Wigwam videos, he sent a letter and a package of information about his duty. Included are several documents and pictures. My questions and comments are in italics.
Joe, you were at Operation Castle?
Yes, Operation Castle, the first one, I was on duty in Portland and they shipped me down to the Molala (ATF 106), she was working with the AOG, there were two of us down there, ATF tugs. They were radio controlled, so they could work with the Libertys, the AOG's were old Libertys, and we would take them out and run them around and then we'd shift our remote controls to the airplanes up above and they run around with them. We practiced there for months and then we went out to the drop at Bravo.
USS Molala
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Were you on the Molala for both series of tests?
I went on her in 54 and I retired in 57. When I left her, I could still get a little reading, down below, from the sea suctions, and stuff like that. You could still pick up a little radiation. |
When we got out there, they put a light crew on the AGO, they'd go out and we would line up to where the atomic bomb was going to be. Within a few miles of it. We'd take the skeleton crew off of the AGO and put it on remote control. Then we'd circle around there, they'd turn the ships operation, the AGO, to the radio control so they could operate them from the airplane, and then when the bomb went off, they would send them in as close as they wanted to get the radiation fallout. Once they stopped them, they could'nt start them again, they would lay anchor or be drifting around and we'd go pick em up, with our tow line, and then drag em in to Bikini or Eniwetok, wherever they wanted to take them to decontaminate them. Then the crew on our ship, half of them went over and helped wash the AGO down. We did that about four or five times, each blast.
The danger was when we picked them up, they had us set up with so there were seventeen guys out on deck, out of a sixty man crew, the rest were inside and the ones on the outside would get ahold of the tow line and throw it on the tow bit from the chain dragging from the bow of the AGO. Some of them had a bridle on em, in those days things wern't fixed up as easy to get a hold of it. Sometimes it would be a half hour before the penant line and they'd finaly get the tow chain up and they'd hook on to it with the main gear and drag it in to port, then go through the wash off.
We'd be going along, first you wouldn't have any fallout, then the next thing you'd have rain coming down on you, be all kinds of fallout, no big chunks or nothing, just rain. Then you'd be going along, you'd go through patches of saltwater that was contaminated, from the rainfall, thats the way it went for alot of the time we were out there, about 3 months. From the beginning of Operation Castle to the end of it. We drug one of them (AGO) back with us to Pearl Harbor with us, then took it on back to Frisco and then started it out to the next one, Operation Wigwam.
With Wigwam there was only one blast on that one. We went out there with the AGO. First we towed all kinds of stuff out there, they got the submarines they were using. We'd go out and hook on, there was one tow boat pulled all of it. We'd hook our cable on and hook it on the next on, I forget which tug was the final one, it was about a five mile long cable out there, dragging the submarines along. We stationed the AGO about five miles from the center of the blast, we were about eight miles. When the blast went off you could see the wave coming, it wasn't a big break, but a shock wave, coming over the water and when it hit the bottom of the boat, it was just like you'd had a big plank and swatted somebody on the bottom, all the tools we had on the racks and stuff that hadn't been moved for years fell out of the racks.
We were far enough out we couldn't see anything but the fringe, it was just getting dusk anyway. The AGO when it went underneath it, it knocked the brick work out from under the boilers. That put her out of commission. We had to get a hold of her and tow her on back to Honolulu.
You mentioned you were a Rad/Safe Officer.
I was a Rad/Safe Officer, yes.
What was your rank?
Chief Warrent Officer.
I made W3 just before I retired.
When you were at Operation Castle were you a Rad/Safe Officer too?
Yeah, I was on both of them, that was my secondary job. My primary was the Engineering Officer.
Do you remember the USS Bellgrove being out there?
Yeah, I remember it being out there and I think they got in some serious trouble. I think, if I remember right, that first blast, there was that Japanese fishing boat, they got covered with quite a bit of ash, the Bellegrove, I think she was kinda careless and they got into quite a bit of fallout, chunks all over the deck, I heard this, and don't really know.
Castle Identification Card
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II was pretty viscious, when I had that job, I had it set up for the people who had to work the tow lines. And when they had on protective gear, soon as they got hooked up, they came in through the port afterdoor by the washroom, took off all their clothes and go through the shower. It took us a couple of hours to get them all through the showers. They would be in and out, back and forth, checking them out. We wouldn't let them go down into their compartment with dirty clothes or until after the shower. And it paid off. |
Did that Geiger counter that you had, did it just measure gamma radiation?
Yes, thats all I could measure was gamma. We didn't have anything for alpha or beta.
What I worried about, because the crew that was outside was the same ones, for how many months were we out there, for every shot the same crew would go out there and pick that stuff up, when they were alongside the AGO, picking her up, man you'd get a reading. I'd take my counter and put it up against the bulkhead inside of the tug, it would just go off the peg. They would come back in and then go help wash the AGO down. God, I'd like to know what.. I'd like to see a list of their names, so I could see what they got. All I had was a dosemeter and the little film badge.
Did you keep records of any of that stuff?
No. We didn't have records of each guy or any thing like that.
If they were too hot, you just made them wash it off?
Yeah, washdown, change clothes, full uniform.
I saw a picture in a magazine a while back, guys on a carrier, scrubbing down, and they had their shirt sleeves rolled up and their hats on the back of their head. Thats something else I found out, the hands and hair is the worst place to pick up radiation.
We were pretty lucky, we kept our clothes clean, and we didn't have much inside the boat. We did have a constant background of, I forget, 6 or 7 m/r most of the time, even after the washdown. It got so that you forgot about it. You would just be careful, after the blast, so that the fallout wouldn't get into the living compartments, and it paid off for us.
How low were you supposed to try to keep people at (dose)? You say they were getting more than 3 or 4 rems?
Oh yeah, definitely. If you could get a hold of the log of the Molala, you'd know how many hours we were exposed, and how many ships we made up alongside. I never did keep a diary on anything.
Did you see shot Bravo go off?
Oh yes, I saw everyone of them that you could see.
Did you have goggles?
Yes, we had the goggles, they were heavier than the welders goggles. Real thick and heavy.
Could you see the sun through them?
No, just maybe, you could see a little light.
What happened when they detonated the weapon?
We were on topside and were watching it, we turned our backs to it till after the flash, then we turned around and watched it. It was something I'll tell you. The crown of it, it's just like you see pictures of, just like the crown kings would wear. It's a light.. I don't know what you'd call it.
(Joe finds the words he was looking for in his letter to me that accompanied his photos. Ed.)
We watched it for quite a while. Then we went to work. As soon as we got done with the shot, we'd find out where the AGO was and where it was tied down, pick it up on the radar then go lash up to it, drag her back in and wash her off.
Did the ship you were on have a wash down system?
Yes. The first one wasn't too good, and they tried a second one. We had a washdown system, but it was a farse, because you'd turn on the washdown system, and you'd go through a patch of water that was contaminated, all you did was put the contamination back on the boat. You'd be going along in a patch of clear water, next thing you'd be in a patch of water that was really contaminated.
What would you do about it?
You couldn't do anything about it. You just didn't use it anymore.
You'd just have to turn it off?
Yeah, then every thing up there was electrical and it would short out.
How many of the shots did you see go off, out there?
Well, I think I saw most of them. There were six, I guess. I don't think we missed any.
Those were all great big ones, they were all thermonuclear.
We even towed the barge around, had to move it around one time, they called us in and we hooked on to the barge that had the bomb on it, took it out and anchored it up.
And then got the heck out of there?
Well we went to our station, they'd put us in a different place each time. We lucked out.
What did the explosions sound like?
I didn't here any.. I figured I was going to hear a big boom but I didn't hear that much.
Never heard it huh.
Oh, I heard a whoosh when the sound wave went by.
Joe, what do you do now?
Well, I got out of the Navy in 57, went back to sea. I worked on cranes and barges for Upper Columbia River, then I worked for Crowley Maritime, got my Chief Engineers licence, I had to go get my AB ticket, and a lifeboat ticket, ended up getting a skippers ticket for tug boats of certain size, to go anyplace with them, all kinds of things, worked up in Alaska, then I retired from tugboats.
How old are you now Joe?
I'm 80 now. I worked right up till I was 69 years old before I retired.
Well, your a guy who worked on the water all those years and now you live in Coos Bay, which is a real pretty place.
I was born in this country, down here. Just about 6 miles above Reedsport.
Well, how are you doing with your health?
Except for my knees giving out on me I been alright. Thats from climbing up and down so many ladders.
Joe, I appreciate your sharing some time with me, I'll type up your story and put it up on our website. I'll be putting the videos of Castle and Wigwam in the mail this afternoon.
Ok.
Thanks again.
Bye now.
Joseph A. Waggoner
764 N. 10th St.
Coos Bay, OR 97420-1901
Keith Whittle
April 1, 1998
[ Operation Castle ]
