his miraculous man made horror so we could see for one teeny tiny part of a second what went on during ignition. The longer we could delay the full vitality of implosion the better. Perhaps the reinforced concrete would give us another fractional second.

The day of the shot I was in a ship nine miles from ground zero. We all wore high-density goggles, which were actually black and you could not see your hand in front of your face. This was to protect us from eye damage from the flash at the time of the shot. The ship loud speakers gave us the countdown. Of course we heard nothing but we saw the horizon cover

I am 73. I have witnessed as a military professional nearly every peacetime Atomic Bomb test and the very first Hydrogen bomb made. I probably never would have written about this experience, except for the worry that I may see another before I die. So let me tell you a bit about these destructive monsters and perhaps it will help if people pass the word to our leaders that we are afraid. I have always said if we could exhibit an atomic explosion so all peoples of the world could bear witness, there would be no more thought of using them, except by the insane. There really isn't a way for your mind to absorb the awesome obliterating power of this devilish instrument, without actually being there, however I will do my best.

The Pacific Island was a small city. Actually a tent city with one huge permanent building three or four stories tall, perhaps more. Oh there were others. There were shopping places and barbershops, eating halls, bars, etc. however we all knew nothing would be left after the shot. We were building the first Hydrogen Bomb. After looking at the rather large building that was the focal point of the island it is hard to imagine it’s main instrument would someday fit into the stomach of a plane. There were two bombs in this building. One was the Atomic Bomb, with which we had become rather familiar, and then there was the Hydrogen Device, which we did not know if it would even work. You see, other than the sun there was no heat intense enough to trigger a Hydrogen Device. Ah, but we now had a device other than the sun to do just that. The Atomic Bomb which we had just invented, so not being satisfied with killing hundreds of thousands, we had to make something which would kill millions. To add to that in some corners of the world there were educated people who thought we might just explode the whole world with this test. I mean, who knew? I mean who really knew? So was that decision to make this instrument of destruction reckless? Well someone made it, so it is now a moot point.

A spy gave our Atomic Bomb secret to the Russians, so I suppose the decision to make something more fierce was partially based upon our fear of Russia. One of our problems was how to keep the Atomic Bomb trigger from blowing apart the Hydrogen device before it had a chance to do its own destruction thus the reason for the large building to house the concrete and steel holding the two devices together. Also we had a view into to the guts of this miraculous man made horror so we could see for one teeny tiny part of a second what went on during ignition. The longer we could delay the full vitality of implosion the better. Perhaps the reinforced concrete would give us another fractional second.

The day of the shot I was in a ship nine miles from ground zero. We all wore high-density goggles, which were actually black and you could not see your hand in front of your face. This was to protect us from eye damage from the flash at the time of the shot. The ship loud speakers gave us the countdown. Of course we heard nothing but we saw the horizon covere

awesome obliterating power of this devilish instrument, without actually being there, however I will do my best.

The Pacific Island was a small city. Actually a tent city with one huge permanent building three or four stories tall, perhaps more. Oh there were others. There were shopping places and barbershops, eating halls, bars, etc. however we all knew nothing would be left after the shot. We were building the first Hydrogen Bomb. After looking at the rather large building that was the focal point of the island it is hard to imagine it’s main instrument would someday fit into the stomach of a plane. There were two bombs in this building. One was the Atomic Bomb, with which we had become rather familiar, and then there was the Hydrogen Device, which we did not know if it would even work. You see, other than the sun there was no heat intense enough to trigger a Hydrogen Device. Ah, but we now had a device other than the sun to do just that. The Atomic Bomb which we had just invented, so not being satisfied with killing hundreds of thousands, we had to make something which would kill millions. To add to that in some corners of the world there were educated people who thought we might just explode the whole world with this test. I mean, who knew? I mean who really knew? So was that decision to make this instrument of destruction reckless? Well someone made it, so it is now a moot point.

A spy gave our Atomic Bomb secret to the Russians, so I suppose the decision to make something more fierce was partially based upon our fear of Russia. One of our problems was how to keep the Atomic Bomb trigger from blowing apart the Hydrogen device before it had a chance to do its own destruction thus the reason for the large building to house the concrete and steel holding the two devices together. Also we had a view into to the guts of this miraculous man made horror so we could see for one teeny tiny part of a second what went on during ignition. The longer we could delay the full vitality of implosion the better. Perhaps the reinforced concrete would give us another fractional second.

The day of the shot I was in a ship nine miles from ground zero. We all wore high-density goggles, which were actually black and you could not see your hand in front of your face. This was to protect us from eye damage from the flash at the time of the shot. The ship loud speakers gave us the countdown. Of course we heard nothing but we saw the horizon cover

ere two bombs in this building. One was the Atomic Bomb, with which we had become rather familiar, and then there was the Hydrogen Device, which we did not know if it would even work. You see, other than the sun there was no heat intense enough to trigger a Hydrogen Device. Ah, but we now had a device other than the sun to do just that. The Atomic Bomb which we had just invented, so not being satisfied with killing hundreds of thousands, we had to make something which would kill millions. To add to that in some corners of the world there were educated people who thought we might just explode the whole world with this test. I mean, who knew? I mean who really knew? So was that decision to make this instrument of destruction reckless? Well someone made it, so it is now a moot point.

A spy gave our Atomic Bomb secret to the Russians, so I suppose the decision to make something more fierce was partially based upon our fear of Russia. One of our problems was how to keep the Atomic Bomb trigger from blowing apart the Hydrogen device before it had a chance to do its own destruction thus the reason for the large building to house the concrete and steel holding the two devices together. Also we had a view into to the guts of this miraculous man made horror so we could see for one teeny tiny part of a second what went on during ignition. The longer we could delay the full vitality of implosion the better. Perhaps the reinforced concrete would give us another fractional second.

The day of the shot I was in a ship nine miles from ground zero. We all wore high-density goggles, which were actually black and you could not see your hand in front of your face. This was to protect us from eye damage from the flash at the time of the shot. The ship loud speakers gave us the countdown. Of course we heard nothing but we saw the horizon cover

his test. I mean, who knew? I mean who really knew? So was that decision to make this instrument of destruction reckless? Well someone made it, so it is now a moot point.

A spy gave our Atomic Bomb secret to the Russians, so I suppose the decision to make something more fierce was partially based upon our fear of Russia. One of our problems was how to keep the Atomic Bomb trigger from blowing apart the Hydrogen device before it had a chance to do its own destruction thus the reason for the large building to house the concrete and steel holding the two devices together. Also we had a view into to the guts of this miraculous man made horror so we could see for one teeny tiny part of a second what went on during ignition. The longer we could delay the full vitality of implosion the better. Perhaps the reinforced concrete would give us another fractional second.

The day of the shot I was in a ship nine miles from ground zero. We all wore high-density goggles, which were actually black and you could not see your hand in front of your face. This was to protect us from eye damage from the flash at the time of the shot. The ship loud speakers gave us the countdown. Of course we heard nothing but we saw the horizon cover

his miraculous man made horror so we could see for one teeny tiny part of a second what went on during ignition. The longer we could delay the full vitality of implosion the better. Perhaps the reinforced concrete would give us another fractional second.

The day of the shot I was in a ship nine miles from ground zero. We all wore high-density goggles, which were actually black and you could not see your hand in front of your face. This was to protect us from eye damage from the flash at the time of the shot. The ship loud speakers gave us the countdown. Of course we heard nothing but we saw the horizon covered with what might be likened to a gigantic half moon rising. This was half of the fireball, which would rise sucking up behind it the debris as a result of the vacuum created by its rapid rise. The fireball eventually becomes the head of the so-called mushroom and the stem of the mushroom is the dust from the debris following the fireball. Shortly after the detonation we could remove our goggles. We had yet to hear the explosion. We all wondered if it would damage our ears however we had no earplugs so someone must have known it would not. Then I saw the ocean smooth out and become darker as the shock wave came toward us at the speed of sound. Yes at that speed I could still see the shock wave coming as it mashed down the whitecaps in the sea and made the water as smooth as a lake. The kind Captain had turned the side of the ship to face the blast rather than the bow, so more of us could line the handrail and witness a major mark in history. I heard later that he was criticized for this as some ship damage occurred with buckling the ships plates, however I do not know this to be true. Yes the blast was loud, but tolerable. The shock-wave knocked us around a bit and the wind with it was very strong, then gone.

Later, when the radioactivity subsided enough we flew over the former island. It was now a hole. The clear waters of the pacific allow views of depth not normally possible. The hole was reported to be a mile across and a half-mile deep. Later we flew back to Eniwetok. We took a chopper from the ship to an old Japanese runway used in WWII. The lone single fire truck guarding the old runway was gone due to the tidal wave that had swept the island. It was that way up and down the chain of islands. It is difficult to visually understand the true destructive power of the Hydrogen Device due to the nature of our surroundings. Palm trees on six-foot high islands all bare of civilization. Actually the damage was one island gone and the rest all swept cleaner than they have been since birth perhaps. However we had instruments all around and the damage relayed by the instruments and transposed upon a civilized city would be too massive to comprehend. Surely it would be worse than one hundred nine-elevens.

The point of this epistle is to give credibility to my ability to judge the damage that could be done to us by mere terrorists just fooling around. We need to be more than afraid. We are too complacent as Americans. You wake up from