RONGERIK

Part 2.

We settled in our seats and then began the fun of taking off in a sea plane. Not being able to lock the brakes and preform engine run-up and pre-flight checks like planes on solid land, the sea planes have to do that while boating up and down the lagoon. The pilot looked like he was in a rowing contest. When the plane's nose crested a wave, to keep the tail from swamping, he'd push the yoke forward, also, to make sure the nose & prop tips didn't swamp he'd pull back on the yoke when the nose pitched downward towards the trough. When the plane gained speed, the pushing/pulling became somewhat frantic. All the time the pilot was doing this the co-pilot was switching mags on each engine and testing the control systems. When all was satisfactory we started our take-off, and when the plane had picked up enough speed where the waves were just lightly tapping the bottom of the plane, the pilot opened the Jato bottles and we were all plastered back in our seats as the plane went into a steep climb. Looking down it appeared as if we were laying down a huge white smokescreen. The pilot & co-pilot tried to see if they could hit the reef with the jettisoned Jato bottles. You could hear the BANG over the engine noise when thc bottles hit, sometimes looking as if they bounced a hundred feet into the air after impact. When we landed at Wetok, we made a beeline for the showers. Talk about scrubbing ourselves raw!

Trip after trip we went through the same routine, sometimes the launch time varied upon the availability of the airplane and/or the crew to fly it. One tme the SA-16 wasn't available and the Navy hauled us over and back in their seaplane, a grey colored version of the SA-16. It was decided that too much air time was being used by aircraft needed for emergency rescue service, so the Navy was approached to provide help. The Commander of the submarine they were going to put us on raised a lot of fuss, maintaining we were too tall, and there was not enough depth in the lagoon for him to submerge in case there was another accidental fall-out. We had been taken out to the carrier Bairoko, where we were awaiting transport to Rongerik. Talk about relieved, I didn't want my 6' 3" frame on a submarine and I didn't want to go through that raft business all over again! While we were on the Bairoko, where the Joint Task Group Commander was based, we had some unbelievable chow! Roast beef, chicken, ham, real mashed potatoes & gravy, awesome breakfasts, you name it! Then we had to leave. We were taken aboard the PC-1546, a patrol craft, which was smaller than a destroyer with a crew compliment of 72 men. This ship was given the duty of taking us to Rongerik and staying "on station" until we were recalled, being selected because it had scrubbers" which would pump salt water over the entire ship in case it was hit by fallout. Added to that, the ship didn't draw much water so it could easily slip in and out of the lagoon. We were given the same instructions by the ship's commander that the pilots gave us. There was a row boat they could set in the water and a seaman would row us ashore, return to the ship, then come back for us when we finished the run. No more rubber rafts! They also had it fixed up so we could shower on deck after we returned from the island.

We were cautioned that if a cloud of fallout headed our way, they would sound the ship's Klaxon three times and we better be ready to go because the ship was going to "up anchor," turn on the scrubbers, and get out of the lagoon! In other words, get on board or find shelter ashore because they were not going to put in harms way 72 men vs. three men! Since the ship had a full crew aboard, before leaving Kwajalein they had acquired three cots which they tied to stainless steel china cabinets in the galley. Our first night aboard was a sleepless one. Each time the ship pitched and rolled, the china banged against the sides of the cabinets. On top of that noise. the following morning at 4:30 AM, the ships cook started banging pots and pans around, grouching about being invaded by Airedales.'' You tend to get your butt out of an area quickly when there's a pissed off grouch waving a meat cleaver around. I thought Cox & this guy were going to go after it a couple of times after heated exchanges. I stepped in and reminded them both that none of us had asked for this. To say we had an uneasy peace is an understatement.

As promised, when we arrived at Rongerik, we were ferried ashore and left to do our job. We had some DDT bombs with us that we stashed outside the RAWIN shack for use on the flies. When the "Island Flyer" (the name we gave our 10 m.p.h. vehicle) got us to the shack, I'd go inside, turn on the equipment, charge the batteries for the instrument, use a nail to punch a hole in the DDT can, close up the shack and go out to where the guys were filling the balloon. Upon reentering the shack we would open it up, use a long handled brush to brush the flies off the equipment, then sweep them into a pile with a push broom, put the instrument together, tie it to the balloon, and start our run. When we were finished we'd ride up to the PSP and wait for our ride back to the ship. When we got hack to the ship, we would shed our working clothes on deck, get hosed down by the sailors, soap up as best we could, then the sailors would hose us off. There were some painful moments during this process if'you can let your imagination work on this a bit sailors hosing down air force guys you get the picture. Thankfully the ship's Chief Petty Officer stepped in and fixed it so that we each hosed down ourselves. We earned some respect from the crew because we never griped. just endured it.

There was an old rusted out amphibious duck on the island and we wondered if that thing could run more than 10 m.p.h.. the top speed of our "Island Flyer." I told the ship's Captain about this and he had our guy who rowed us out and back to check it out. It seems this guy was a master mechanic and could fix anything. That man got the duck going! It was amazing! But it wasn't much faster than the other vehicle, just one big lumbering bath tub. However, it was another new experience for us and we were determined to learn how to operate it because if the ship's Klaxon sounded, now we could go straight from the RAWIN shack to the ship without waiting to be picked up. I still don't know much about those things except for the fact that going straight in the water was no problem. It was when you tried to turn it the trouble started. The prop was engaged separately from the engine/transmission/rear axle set up some way. Who knows? I just learned how to start it and steer it. The guy who fixed it drove us in to the shore where we would jump in the "Flyer" and go do our job. Then we would be picked up as before and ferried back to the ship. The Captain went along with this for a couple ot days, then I got called up to the bridge. The Captain explained that it was a big help not to have to swing the row boat over the side anymore because the duck was always tied alongside against the bumpers. He was of the opinion that we had watched enough of the duck's operation and it was time for us to take over the ferrying operation, since he had some mechanical problems with the ship that needed work, our 'duck skipper'' couldn't be used for hauling us back and forth. I told the Chief Petty Otficer about this and he said he'd help us any way he could. Now, the Captain had a habit of spreading his legs, folding his arms, glancing at the sun's position, and issuing orders out of the corner of his mouth, Captain Queeg tough-guy style. One morning when a lot of the crew were on deck, you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity, I imitated all the Captain's actions and barked out of the corner of my mouth. CAST OFF THE LINE FORE AND AFT!!

The crew went into fits of convulsive laughter!!

Chapters
|| The Assignment || Eniwetok || The B-29 Drone Modification ||
|| The Hydrogen Bomb Test] ||
|| Rongerik part 1 || Rongerik part 2 || Rongerik part 3 ||
|| Mystery and Reflections ||

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