Operation Ivy
US Atomic Veterans
Jim Walraven
Jim Walraven sent email about his duty during Operation Ivy.
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1999
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
From: Jim oakknight@pobox.com
Subject: Walker AFB / Kwaj tour
Enlisted in the Air Force in October 1949. After basic I was sent to a
technical school in Champaign/Urbana. (Chanute AFB) From there I was
assigned to the 509th Air Refueling Squadron (ARS) at Walker Air Force
Base. After a short stay with the ARS they consolidated all aircraft
maintenance type into the 509th Periodic Maintenance Squadron which
eventually became the Field Maintenance Squadron (FMS)
I worked with all of the aircraft of the 509th including the 393rd, the
715th, the 830th and of course, the ARS. We originally had the model KB29
(M) air refueling tankers and later got the "P" models. We eventually had a
mix of B29 and B50(D) bombers.
In the Fall of 1952 we flew by tanker along with others to the Marshall
Islands and landed at Kwajalein. As aircraft maintenance people our primary
effort was to keepum' flyin'! On occasion, I volunteered to fly as scanner
on one of the tankers.
Life on Kwaj was kinda' mundane until the morning of Mike shot. We lived in
12 man squad tents. The base was run by the Navy and I never quite got use
to having steak and beans for breakfast at the messhall. The island wasn't
very big so you could walk from one end to the other in a short time. The
tropical squalls would blow through and get you soaking wet but by the time
you got to where you were going you were dry again.
There was a coral shelf that was above low tide. It had a swimming hole
that I understand was blasted out during WWII. We made "Hawaiian Slings"
for spear fishing. (a barbed 6ft steel shaft, a piece of two X four and
surgical rubber and a large barn door type hinge) Some of the natives on
the neighboring islands use to go after the brown sand sharks with nothing
more than a knife. Use to think they were nuts.
They were dredging on one side of the island and filling on the other side.
After they ceased operations for the day we would walk through the freshly
dredged up sand and collect red coral and "cats eyes" and other shells we
had never seen before.
Evenings were boring. About the only thing you could do was go up to the
club and drink beer. I set up a poker game in the tent area. As the tents
were side by side we raised the tent flaps that normally hung down so that
they overlapped. A two by four between the frames of the tents supported
the tent flaps. We then threw an extension cord over the two by four,
screwed a light bulb through the bung of a pith helmet into the light
socket of the extension cord and we had lights. An old cable reel was
turned on it's side and a GI blanket was used to cover that. Packing
crates, etc were used for chairs. I also supplied sandwiches, smokes, beer,
sodas, new decks of cards and for that I took a rakeoff of each pot. Didn't
get rich off the game but I did win an ole' boys "Harley Hydroglide"
motorcycle in a head to head blackjack game.
The night before Mike shot we were on standby alert. Other than the usual
hustle just before a mission, everything went as expected. Everyone was a
little concerned as guys like us in the trenches didn't really know what
this thing was going to do. After the shot I went with a bunch of
"eggheads" (scientists) to Roi Namur where equipment had been setup to
monitor the shot. At the time there was a fighter strip on the little
island and we flew up in a "gooney bird" (C-47 / DC-3) We loaded it all up
and brought all back to Kwaj.
Attached are a couple of pictures I still had. My first marriage got rid of
most of them. The pic of the crew by the tanker was when we were en-route
to Kwaj. The one with the guy looking through the top blister of the tanker
was taken at that time too. The one of me in front of the tent was during
the tour. That was home, gambling casino, etc. Also is a photo of my best
friend Bill Haseman and myself in front of his bird we use to fly out of
Roswell airport. Bill was in the 509th Base Band and was about 6'5''.
August 10, 1999--Jim sent four photos taken during Operation Ivy, we put them in his Photo Album
Best Regards,
Jim Walraven
Email: oakknight@pobox.com
Keith Whittle
August 10, 1999
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