Monthly Archives: February 2020
One Woman’s Contribution – Elaine Ooley
Happy birthday, Elaine! Weldon Spring woman turns 106
“I don’t want to grow old. So I don’t act like I’m old. I refuse to do that,” Elaine Ooely said
WELDON SPRING, Mo. — We want to wish a happy birthday to Elaine Ooley from Weldon Spring. She recently turned 106 !!
Elaine Ooley is the definition of resilient. Here’s a short version of her amazing life story. She weighed just one pound when she was born and wasn’t expected to survive.
When she was just 4 years old, she survived the 1918 influenza pandemic in America. She went on to graduate high school during the Great Depression. And after that, she served as an aircraft dispatcher in the women’s Army Corps.
Air Force veteran Elaine Ooley, looks up toward a bomb addressed to Hitler, and asked for a picture of it, inside of the World War II B-17 bomber on display at the Greater Kankakee Airport during the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom tour. Ooley, was an aircraft dispatcher for B-17 planes stationed at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1944.
She said living long is thanks to good genes and an even better attitude.
“My long life is due to the fact that I’m positive in my attitude,” she said. “I don’t want to give up. I don’t want to grow old. So, I don’t act like I’m old. I refuse to do that. And I keep up with all the news so I can converse and am a people person. So, I believe in keeping busy, not feeling sorry for yourself, not worrying about your condition, cope with it, do what you can, and go.”
She didn’t have children but has tons of friends who all lined up to wish her happy birthday at the Breeze Park Senior Living Community in Weldon Spring. She calls the people at Breeze Park her family.
Ms. Ooley takes shelter in a B-25 to get out of the rain on her 103rd Birthday.
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Military Humor – HOME FRONT “Saturday Evening Post” style
“WHAT THE HECK DID WE DO EVERY NIGHT BEFORE THE WAR?”
“Why so polite all of a sudden? Are you hearing Peace rumors?”
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Farewell Salutes –
Ena Andrews – Richamond, CA; Civilian, WWII, Shipyard welder
Robert Griffith – Berwyn, IL; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Wilma Gregory – MN; US Army WAC, WWII, nurse
James “Hollie” Hollingsworth – Hephzibah, GA; USMC, Vietnam, !st Sgt. (Ret.)
Mary Horne – Fall River, MA; Civilian, Newport Naval Base, WWII
Katherine Johnson (101) – Civilian, NASA, Mathematician rocket trajectory expert
Betty Romesberg – Columbus, OH; US Army WAC; WWII, PTO, nurse
Peggy Simmons – Jonesville, NC; FBI, WWII
Morella Staggs – Gardenea, CA; US Coast Guard SPARS, WWII, radio
Edmund Torry – NYC, NY; USMC, 2nd Marine Division
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Restoring WWII with accuracy
TSF BP 382P HQ
Jeep of the Military Police, Theater Service Forces with complete unit markings. This photograph is most likely a post-war photograph taken during occupation duty.
I’ve created this post to help out a reader now restoring an authentic WWII 1942 Ford GPW. I needed help myself – Matt Underwood, past Editor of “The Voice of the Angels” newspaper of the 11th Airborne Division Association – and I’m proud to say – my friend, came to my rescue.
The only drawback to the Army Manual was that Airborne Divisions had not really developed at the time the text of this book was written, and therefore, the examples of actual vehicle markings on jeeps, etc., of Airborne Divisions are not among the samples/examples in the manual itself. Armies, Corps, and Infantry Divisions, Armored Divisions, and Cavalry Divisions are covered, and all smaller units, but no Airborne Divisions. Everything else about Airborne jeeps are the same as the rest of the Army, with the exception of distinguishing between, say, the 11th Armored Division and 11th Airborne Division. Other than being in two different theaters of war, they are almost the same.
The world of military vehicles, especially American WWII stuff, is a growing field, as old junkers are discovered in barns, landfills, junkyards, and out in the woods, and collectors are buying them and restoring them. When they get their special treasure all completed, they want total accuracy in these unique unit markings to add the final tough of authenticity. So the number of websites featuring vehicle markings has grown rapidly over the past 10 years.
28-103E HQ-4
A jeep from the 103rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 28th Infantry Division photographed on a bridge somewhere in Europe. The unit bumper markings are applied according to regulations and designate the 4th vehicle of the Headquarters of 103rd Engineers, 28th Infantry Division. The windshield carries the addition marking “T4 Cole” in white.
http://www.classicjeeps.co.uk/american-vehicle-markings/
https://blog.kaiserwillys.com/military-jeep-markings
http://www.lonesentry.com/panzer/jeep-markings.html
http://www.kingtigerebooks.co.uk/p/world-war-ii.html
Now back to the last part of the problem. The 11th Airborne Division, like other Airborne Divisions from 1942 to 1944, followed the Army’s Table of Organization & Equipment No. 71, dated 17 Feb 1942. The A/B units in Europe and the States updated this TO&E in Dec 44, but not the 11th or 503rd…not till the early summer of ’45. So almost all of the time the 11th was in combat, it had the same set-up for everything that it always had—at least on paper. I do have a substitute source for part of the data, however, and here’s what I believe your reader will need to know.
11th A/B Div. repairs a truck in Japan
I think that for most of the War, MOST of the 11th Airborne’s jeeps and trucks bore vehicle markings like your sepia-colored photo of the jeep from the 188th. Its bumper markings are important in solving this puzzle:
11AB..188-I…………SV8 = 11th Airborne, 188th Infantry, Service Company, 8th Vehicle
No one unit in a WWII airborne division would have such a high number of jeeps unless they were all numbered in a regiment-wide motor pool.
I have some proof that the 511th—being a Parachute Infantry Regiment—had probably all of its vehicles marked for its Service Company, as the motor pool for the whole regiment, which had 3 Parachute Inf. Battalions. It is probable that the 187th and 188th, being Glider Infantry Regiments with only 2 Glider Inf. Battalions each, probably also had all its vehicles marked for its respective Service Cos., which had charge of the motor pool for the whole regiment.
The vehicle allowance for the motor pool of the 511th PIR, seems to TOTAL out as follows: (1) Sedan; (2) Ambulances; (13) 1/4-ton Trucks (which are what Jeeps were usually referred to in official tables); (15) 3/4-ton Trucks; (16) 2-1/2 ton Trucks; and (14) 1-ton Trailers. These totals are for the whole Regiment, but are internally divided between the Service Company’s “HQ Co. Squad”, its “1st Bn. Squad” and 2nd & 3rd Bn. Squads as well, and its own “Transportation Platoon”—-which would be maybe what we would think of as a vehicle “reserve”, or were the vehicles under current repair. It probably allowed a flexibility that couldn’t be had otherwise. What this tells me is that when Col. Haugen needed his staff car, his adjutant called the “motor pool” (the Service Company’s Transportation Platoon) and said “Bring around the Colonel’s staff car.” Then the Colonel’s driver, a NCO from the Transportation Platoon’s “HQ Co. Squad” pulled his staff car up to the Colonel’s CP (command post) and waited. Same with the Colonel’s jeep, etc. When Lt.Col. John Strong, CO of 3rd Bn., needed his jeep, he or his adjutant called up the motor pool and ordered his jeep—-then a driver from the Transp. Platoon’s “3rd Bn. Squad” brought his jeep to Lt.Col. Strong’s CP and waited. When I say “his jeep” it was likely the same one every time, but could be a substitute on any given occasion if the main jeep was getting repaired or cleaned, etc. The pooling of all vehicles into the Service Company may have simply been the best idea to allow flexibility whenever a vehicle was needed on short notice.
From late 1940 to February 1945, markings were to be made in blue-drab. This type of color scheme would prevent enemy intelligence from gathering and identifying military markings as the two colors were hard to distinguish from one another when viewed in black and white photographs. The official color of these markings was changed to flat white in February 1945, but the reserves of blue-drab paint were used until exhausted.
In other words, ALL the jeeps and other vehicles would have Service Co. marks on the bumpers, regardless of who in the Regiment was using them. Therefore, the 511th would have a fleet of jeeps marked SV1 through SV13. I am GUESSING (for now) that the 187th and 188th had similar systems, which would explain your photo of a 188th jeep marked SV8. I am guessing that if the system holds, the 188th was only allotted 9 jeeps total.
Anyway, I will get back to you on that.
As to 11th Division HQ, I’m not sure yet as to its markings. Probably they had their own vehicles, but unsure as yet. If so, Gen. Swing’s jeep would probably have been bumper marked like this:
11ABX………………..HQ1 = 11th Airborne Division, HQ Company, 1st Vehicle
As always, these are 3″ tall letters, and the center of the bumper may or may not have a star painted on—it is the US star for all vehicles, found all over most other big surfaces. The bumpers often had them to start with, and as paint wore off and was repainted, sometimes the bumper stars were skipped, leading to the frequent blank space in the center where a star once was.
MATTHEW UNDERWOOD
Bookbinder/Conservator, Boyce Centennial Library,
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary;
Editor Emeritus, Voice of the Angels,
11th Airborne Division Association
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The 11th Airborne uniform examples
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Military Humor –
Uuh… guys…?
11th A/B Div. repairs a truck in Japan
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Farewell Salutes –
Dominic “Mickey” Bria – Smithers, SC; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT ‘Rakkasans’
William Conklin – Stony Point, NY; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
George D’Arcy – Liverpool, ENG; British Army, WWII, ETO, CBI & Africa, 2/South Lancashire Regiment
Homer Godair – Griffithville, AR; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Scott Humbird – Brentwood, CA; US Army, WWII, PTO, Malaria Control Unit
Charles Pittman Sr. – Pensacola, FL; USMC, Vietnam, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Lt.General (Ret. 40 y.)
William Sartain – Mineral Wells, TX; US Merchant Marines, WWII, PTO
Mary Sweeney – Nanticoke, PA; US Army Air Corps WAC; WWII, Medical/Surgical Tech.
William Taylor – Grant, AL; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT “Rakkasans’
William Whiteman – Hood River, OR; US Navy, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Lt. Commander (Ret. 27 y.)
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Home Front / Bomb Testing / conclusion
Later improvements consisted of a 5,000-foot airstrip, an upgraded sewer system, dozens of semi-permanent buildings, including Quonset-and Butler-type steel buildings, over 500 concrete tent pads, and trailers for housing, administration, storage, and other uses. There were chapels, an open-air-theater with wooden bleachers and an elevated stage, a barber shop, and a beer tent. The open-air theater hosted entertainers from Las Vegas who came to Camp Desert Rock to perform for the troops. The camp had its own telephone system nicknamed the “Camp Desert Rock Telephone Company.” By the time Exercise Desert Rock VI had started in 1954, the camp had grown to 133 semi-permanent buildings and more than 500 framed squad tents. Large prefabricated buildings were built to serve as Signal and Quartermaster warehouses. The ordnance yard gained a pair of prefabricated storage buildings.
A helicopter landing area next to the airstrip was added for storing, maintaining, and refueling helicopters prior to exercises. Many of these later improvements to Camp Desert Rock were carried out by the Shore Battalion, 369th Engineer Amphibious Support Regiment, 95th Engineer Construction, 412th Engineer Construction, and 314th Signal Construction Battalions.
In October 1951, as part of Operation Buster-Jangle, the Army and the AEC prepared to test the ability of men and machines to move through ground zero within minutes after the detonation of an atomic bomb. The first shot did not involve live troops. Instead, various types of military equipment including Jeeps, trucks, tanks, personnel carriers, and half-tracks were to be used. Some were buried to various depths at distances ranging from two hundred yards to three miles from ground zero, while others were completely exposed. Heat, blast, and radiation sensors monitored the effects on each vehicle.
Soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division’s 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 127th Engineer Battalion, and the 546th Field Artillery Battalion observe a nuclear detonation called Buster Dog during Operation Buster- Jangle, six miles from ground zero at NTS, October 1951
In addition to observing nuclear detonations, troops received training in radiation and nuclear weapons effects. Personnel assigned to the camp were provided booklets that explained the importance of secrecy. They were prohibited from discussing nuclear tests, military maneuvers, or any effects they felt from the tests. They were also warned about the dangers of poisonous snakes and insects found in the Nevada desert, but the more deadly danger of radiation was rarely discussed. One training film said that radiation was “the least important effect” and that it was fatal only within a mile of a nuclear detonation. The men were taught that they could “live through an atomic attack and live to fight another day” and that a nuclear explosion “is one of the most beautiful sights ever seen by man.”
Exercise Desert Rock operations were staffed and administered by the Sixth Army’s III Corps. Exercise troops were assigned to Camp Desert Rock for periods lasting several weeks to participate in a particular military training program. Operation Buster-Jangle, comprised of seven nuclear detonations in late 1951, was the first nuclear test series during which a large number of troops assigned to Camp Desert Rock received realistic training in the tactical aspects of nuclear warfare. Over 6,500 troops, including those from the Army’s Atomic Maneuver Battalion, took part in the operation. Additional tests that took place over the years measured the blast and radiation effects on buildings, vehicles, various weapon systems, and animals.
188th/11th Airborne Division patch
Original plans called for the Army to dismantle Camp Desert Rock following Buster-Jangle and return all support units to their home stations. Instead, the Army ultimately chose to keep the camp open as a permanent installation to support additional nuclear tests. Immediately after Operation Plumbbob’s Galileo shot on 7 October 1957, the camp reverted to standby status, with a small caretaker staff remaining at the post. After the suspension of above-ground testing in 1957, the camp ceased operation as an Army sub installation effective 18 June 1964. Many of the camp’s structures were moved to other parts of the NTS.
The AEC resurfaced and enlarged the Desert Rock airstrip in 1969, extending the runway to a length of 7,500 feet. Although this airstrip was originally built to serve the NTS, it is currently an emergency landing site for any aircraft. Later additions included a National Weather Service facility and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) station.
A number of troops assigned to Camp Desert Rock received realistic training in the tactical aspects of nuclear warfare. Over 6,500 troops, including those from the Army’s Atomic Maneuver Battalion, took part in the operation. Additional tests that took place over the years measured the blast and radiation effects on buildings, vehicles, various weapon systems, and animals.
In August 2010, the NTS was renamed the Nevada National Security Site. Most of the remaining Camp Desert Rock facilities except the airstrip were dismantled and salvaged for scrap. Today, the camp’s remains are located on Department of Energy property.
National Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas, NV
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Shout Out >>>>>
I think it is wonderful so many readers responded to our last Shout Out. Isn’t it great to show one the Greatest Generation how much we think of them? We now have a veteran who served in the US Navy, Pacific Theater turning 99-years old on 23 March 2020. How about a birthday card folks?!!!
Arthur Hashagen
211 Persimmon Circle West
Dover, DE 19901
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Murlen Berry – Weatherford, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. E/187/11th Airborne Division
Ray Catan – brn: ITA; US Navy, WWII, ETO
Frederick Dempsey – Lexington, KY; US Army, WWII & Korea
Claude Horne – Bleckley County, GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, fighter pilot / West Point flight instructor
Gordon Jenke – Murray Valley, AUS; RAAF # 48753
John McDonald – Hollister, CA; USMC, WWII, CBI, 2nd Lt., & Korea
Joseph Pallotto – Wallingsford, CT; US Navy, WWII, USS Lake Champlain
Elwood Scheib – Berrysberg, PA; US Army, 188/11th Airborne Division, atomic test witness
Samuel Shields – Meridian, ID; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, SSgt., 874th Airborne Engineers
Royce R. Wood – Gadsden, AL; US Army, Vietnam, helicopter gunner, 1st Cavalry
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Home Front / Bomb Testing / part two
On 18 December 1950, President Harry S. Truman gave his approval to use a portion of the U.S. Air Force’s Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range in southeastern Nevada for atomic tests. Construction of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), originally known as the Nevada Proving Ground (NPG), began in January 1951. Construction of what became known as Camp Desert Rock did not start until September 1951. The camp was named for Exercise Desert Rock, a series of atmospheric nuclear tests first conducted at NTS in 1951. This site included Yucca and Frenchman Flats, Paiute and Rainer Mesas, and the Camp Desert Rock area, which was used by the Sixth Army in the 1950’s to house troops participating in atmospheric tests at the site.
Designed as a military support facility for NTS, Camp Desert Rock began as a temporary camp originally part of NPG. It was located twenty-three miles west of Indian Springs, Nevada, in Nye County on Highway 95 and assigned to Sixth Army effective 12 September 1951. Headquarters, III Corps, Sixth Army, chose an area just outside NTS about two miles southwest of the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Camp Mercury. The site, in the center of Mercury Valley, was bordered by the Spring Mountains and the Spotted Range towards the north and east and the Specter Range to the west. The Army acquired 23,058 acres for Camp Desert Rock from the Department of the Interior on 5 September 1951.
The Army established Camp Desert Rock to stage and house troops involved in training exercises associated with nuclear weapons testing by the AEC. Personnel from all four services were deployed to observe the detonations from trenches, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. After the completion of exercises, the camp adhered to radiological safety measures throughout its use. In 1951, the Army, working closely with the AEC, carried out the Desert Rock exercises to “dispel much of the fear and uncertainty surrounding atomic radiation and the effects of gamma and x-rays.”
188th/11th Airborne Division at Desert Rock
The initial construction for Camp Desert Rock was accomplished by the 231st Engineer Combat Battalion, a North Dakota Army National Guard unit mobilized in September 1950 for the Korean War and based out of Fort Lewis, Washington. The battalion’s mission was to establish, build, and maintain the camp, and construct field fortifications at the atomic test sites. The 90th Engineer Water Supply Company handled the camp’s water supply, to include running water from a 190,000 gallon water tank, and several permanent type latrines with showers, flush toilets, and wash bowls. Temporary sumps for garbage disposal were built by the 597th Engineer Light Equipment Company.
Within the first six months of existence, Camp Desert Rock had grown from a few tents to a relatively comfortable, semi-permanent tent camp with many modern amenities. It had two permanent buildings for mess halls, each of which could accommodate 500 soldiers, electricity to all parts of the camp from nearby AEC Camp Mercury, and telephone, telegraph, and teletype facilities. A sewage system ran throughout the permanent part of the camp. In addition, the camp featured a permanent training auditorium with seating for 400, a post exchange housed in a Quonset hut, and framed and floored tents to house soldiers.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Shout Out >>>>
Major White walks passed some of the 140,000 Valentine cards he received.
Those of you who were kind enough to send Major White, 104-year old veteran and oldest living U.S. Marine, a Valentines card – here is the story and end result!!
https://www.kcra.com/article/feeling-the-love-stockton-vet-gets-140k-valentines-day-cards/30936477#
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Military Humor –
“Now is when we need a Plan B”
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Cox Jr. – Guston, KY; US Army, WWII, ETO
Armando Groccia – Providence, RI; US Army, WWII
Last Flight
Ned Johnson – Vincennes, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Brandon T. Kimball – Central Point, OR; US Army, Afghanistan, Spc., 3/10/10/10th mountain Division, KIA
Frank Losonsky – Detroit, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, 23rd Fighter Group/14th Air Force “Flying Tigers”, pilot
Matthew Morgan – Paladine, IL; US Army, SSgt., dive instructor
Glenn Neal – Konawa, OK; US Army, WWII, PTO
John “Donnie” Pullo Jr. – Boston, MA; US Army, WWII, ETO,Sgt., 82nd Airborne Division
Winsbury “Jim” Robinson – Kohimarama, NZ; RNZ Air Force / RAF # 413125, WWII, 485th Squadron, Spitfire pilot
Irvin Sullivan – Wichita, KS; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Lt. Commander, PBY Squadron VP 12 “Black Cat Raiders”, pilot-navigator
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Home Front / Bomb Testing / part one
Desert Rock Camp
This is the first of a 3-part series about the nuclear bomb testing done on U.S. soil. This part is the basic overview, the next 2 posts will cover more in detail.
Operation Buster–Jangle was a series of seven (six atmospheric, one cratering) nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in late 1951 at the Nevada Test Site, Desert Rock Camp. Buster-Jangle was the first joint test program between the DOD (Operation Buster) and Los Alamos National Laboratories (Operation Jangle). As part of Operation Buster, 6,500 troops were involved in the Operation Desert Rock I, II, and III exercises in conjunction with the tests.
Desert Rock I, II, III
Observer programs were conducted at shots Dog, Sugar, and Uncle. Tactical maneuvers were conducted after shot Dog. Damage effects tests were conducted at shots Dog, Sugar, and Uncle to determine the effects of a nuclear detonation on military equipment and field fortifications.
Desert Rock IV
Observer programs were conducted at shots Charlie, Dog, Fox, and George. Tactical maneuvers were conducted after shots Charlie, Dog, and George. Psychological tests were conducted at shots Charlie, Fox, and George to determine the troops’ reactions to witnessing a nuclear detonation.
Desert Rock V
Exercise Desert Rock V included troop orientation and training, a volunteer officer observer program, tactical troop maneuvers, operational helicopter tests, and damage effects evaluation.
A bomb named Buster
Desert Rock VI
Observer programs were conducted at shots Wasp, Moth, Tesla, Turk, Bee, Ess, Apple 1, and Apple 2. Tactical maneuvers were conducted after shots Bee and Apple 2. Technical studies were conducted at shots Wasp, Moth, Tesla, Turk, Bee, Ess, Apple 1, Wasp Prime, Met, and Apple 2.
A test of an armored task force, RAZOR, was conducted at shot Apple 2 to demonstrate the capability of a reinforced tank battalion to seize an objective immediately after a nuclear detonation.
Desert Rock VII, VIII
Tactical maneuvers were conducted after shots Hood, Smoky, and Galileo. At shot Hood, the Marine Corps conducted a maneuver involving the use of a helicopter airlift and tactical air support. At shot Smoky, Army troops conducted an airlift assault, and at shot Galileo, Army troops were tested to determine their psychological reactions to witnessing a nuclear detonation.
The last two tests, Operation Jangle, evaluated the cratering effects of low-yield nuclear devices. This series preceded Operation Tumbler-Snapper and followed by Operation Greenhouse.
11th A/B shoulder patch
Four U.S. Army units took part in the Operation Buster–Jangle “Dog” test for combat maneuvers after the detonation of a nuclear weapon took place. These 11th Airborne units consisted of:
- 1st Battalion 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment/11th Airborne Division
- 3rd Medical Platoon /188th Airborne Medical Company
- Platoon Company A/12th Engineering Battalion
- Battery C /546th Field Artillery Battalion
Personnel were instructed to create foxholes, construct gun emplacements and bunkers in a defensive position 11 km south of the detonation area. After the nuclear bomb was detonated, the troops were ordered to move forward towards the affected area. While traveling closer to ground zero, troops witnessed the nuclear weapon’s effects on the fortifications that were placed in the location in preparation for the tests. The ground troops got as close as 900 meters from ground zero before they were instructed to move out of the area. The Human Resources Research Office was tasked with gathering data on the psychological experiences of the troops after witnessing such a detonation and moving closer towards the affected area.
For the Operation Buster–Jangle series of tests, the Atomic Energy Commission created a set of criteria that must be followed if exposing armed forces, or civilians to the harmful effects of ionizing radiation.
to be continued……
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
George “Chip” Chiappetta – Morgan Hill, CA; US Air Force, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, (Ret. 36 y.)
Harold Drews – USA; US Army, Korea, MSgt., K Co./3/31/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Hungnam)
Javier Guttierrez – San Antonio, TX; US Army, Afghanistan, Sgt., 3/7th Special Forces Group, KIA
Mike “Mad Mike” Hoare (100) – brn: Calcutta, IND; Royal Army, WWII, CBI, 2nd Recon Regiment, Major
Warren Kirsch – New Orleans, LA; US Army, WWII / USMC, Korea
Edward Nalazek – IL; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc., KIA (Tarawa)
Antonio Rodriguez – Las Cruces, NM; US Army, Afghanistan, Sgt., 3/7th Special Forces Group, KIA
Frank Stevens – Cordova, TN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 radar specialist
Clarence Wells – Denver, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 803rd Aviation Engineer Battalion
Martin D. Young – Louisville, KY; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Oklahoma, fireman 2nd Class, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
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The Marshall Islands & the Bomb
Marshall Islands
Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs on, in and above the Marshall Islands — vaporizing whole islands, carving craters into its shallow lagoons and exiling hundreds of people from their homes.
Operation Crossroads
The first testing series in the Marshall Islands occurred under Operation Crossroads. The purpose of Operation Crossroads was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval warships. Testing in the islands began at Bikini Atoll with the Shot Able test, on July 1, 1946. After Shot Able, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists confirmed the power of these weapons. They determined that soldiers on ships up to a mile away from this explosion would be instantly be killed.
The U.S. then conducted the Shot Baker test on July 25.
From the Youtube video on Operation Crossroads
These tests were the first time that the U.S. tested nuclear weapons since the Trinity Test in 1945. These were also the first U.S. nuclear detonations since the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” bombs dropped over Japan. Operation Crossroads ended on August 10, 1946, due to concerns over radiation, especially to the soldiers involved. In 1969, the U.S. began a long term project to decontaminate Bikini Atoll.
IVY
Operations Greenhouse and Ivy
In January of 1950, President Truman made the decision to increase U.S. research into thermonuclear weapons, which would lead to further U.S. nuclear testing. Operation Greenhouse, was a series of nuclear tests conducted at Eniwetok Atoll in 1951. These were done to test design principles that would later become pivotal in the development of the hydrogen bomb. The tests aimed to reduce the overall size of nuclear weapons, including the necessary amount of fissile material, while increasing their destructive power.
The U.S. conducted its first series of thermonuclear tests, Operation Ivy, at Eniwetok Atoll, in November of 1952. Shot Mike was the first successful hydrogen bomb test. Then, on November 16, the U.S. conducted the King Shot.
Marshall Is. test sites
Castle Bravo
The U.S. conducted its largest nuclear detonation ever, Castle Bravo, at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. This was part of Operation Castle, a series of thermonuclear tests. Bravo was over 1,000 more times powerful than “Little Boy.” Bravo used a device called “Shrimp” which used lithium deuteride as its fuel. Bravo was the first test of a deliverable hydrogen bomb.
Bravo fallout pattern
Despite potential risks, Major General Percy Clarkson and scientific director Dr. Alvin C. Graves ordered the test to continue as planned. Due to Castle Bravo radioactive debris was released into the atmosphere, and to surrounding atolls. The test was more powerful than scientists predicted. Ocean currents, weather conditions, and wind patterns contributed to this spread of fallout and debris. The fallout was composed of pulverized coral, water, and radioactive particles, and it fell into the atmosphere appearing as ashy snowflakes. This affected nearby atolls and U.S. servicemen. Traces of radioactive material were later found in parts of Japan, India, Australia, Europe, and the United States. This was the worst radiological disaster in U.S. history and caused worldwide backlash against atmospheric nuclear testing.
Bikini Is. relocation
Relocation of the Marshallese
In 1946, Navy Commodore Ben Wyatt met with the 167 people living on Bikini Atoll. Wyatt asked the Marshallese to relocate, and for use of their atoll “for the good of mankind.” He explained that they were a chosen people and that perfecting atomic weapons could prevent future wars. The residents were promised they could return one day, but realistically they had no choice in this matter. Immediately following this speech, the U.S military began preparations to relocate the residents to Rongerik Atoll, an uninhabited island with limited resources 125 miles away. Residents of Bikini Atoll resettled in 1969, but then evacuated in 1978, after radiation levels were determined to be excessive.
A month later, the Marshallese filed a complaint with the UN, but this did not prevent U.S. nuclear testing. In 1948, the U.S. government forced residents of Eniwetok Atoll to evacuate due to expanded nuclear testing with Operation Sandstone.
Now and Then
Timeline:
7/1/1946: Testing begins at the Marshall Islands, with Shot Able.
7/25/1946: Shot Baker is conducted, under Operation Crossroads.
4/30/1948: Shot Yoke, under Operation Sandstone, is conducted. This was the first fission weapon to use a levitated core design.
4/20/1951: Shot Easy nuclear test is conducted at Eniwetok Atoll, under Operation Greenhouse. The Easy test was meant to test a new, lighter implosion bomb.
5/1951: Operation Greenhouse testing occurred at Eniwetok Atoll.
11/1/1952: The Mike Shot is conducted at Eniwetok, under Operation Ivy. This was the first U.S. thermonuclear test.
6/28/1958: The Oak test is conducted, at Eniwetok Atoll, under the Operation Hardtack I series. This was the 6th largest U.S. nuclear test. Hardtack I included 35 total tests. Hardtack I was the last testing series conducted on the Marshall Islands.
Clean up is still going on today.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Joseph Bullock – Sarasota, FL; US Air Force / FHP Trooper
Kirk Douglas (Issur Danielovitch) 103 – Amsterdam, NY; US Navy, WWII / actor
Gus Elias – Cannonsburg, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, APO, antiaircraft
Paul Farnes – Hampshire, ENG; RAF, WWII, ETO, 501st Squadron & 229th Wing Commander (Ret. 20 y.)
Oscar E. Koskela – Detroit, MI; USMC, PTO, Cpl., HQ Co./29/2 Marine Division, KIA (Saipan)
John McGlohon – Asheboro, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, ATO & PTO, Sgt., aerial photographer (only one to take pictures of the Hiroshima blast)
Harold Rafferty – Louisville, KY; US Army, WWII, PTO
Dan E. Reagan – USA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Oklahoma, fireman 1st Class, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Frank Wasniewski (100) – Jersey City, NJ; US Army, WWII, PTO, 98th Coast Artillery
Sophie Yazzie (105) – Canyon de Chilly, AZ; US Army Air Corps WAC, (a member of the Navajo Nation)
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The 4th Spy at Los Alamos – conclusion
Los Alamos and the Seborers
The new documents show that Mr. Seborer worked at the heart of the implosion effort. The unit that employed him, known as X-5, devised the firing circuits for the bomb’s 32 detonators, which ringed the device. To lessen the odds of electrical failures, each detonator was fitted with not just one but two firing cables, bringing the total to 64. Each conveyed a stiff jolt of electricity.
A major challenge for the wartime designers was that the 32 firings had to be nearly simultaneous. If not, the crushing wave of spherical compression would be uneven and the bomb a dud. According to an official Los Alamos history, the designers learned belatedly of the need for a high “degree of simultaneity.”
David Greenglass, Los Alamos spy
Possible clues of Mr. Seborer’s espionage lurk in declassified Russian archives, Mr. Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute said in an interview. The documents show that Soviet scientists “spent a lot of time looking into the detonator-circuitry issue,” he said, and include a firing-circuit diagram that appears to have derived from spying.
Greenglass implosion diagram
The diagram shows an implosion bomb. Several labels of the schematic diagram appear first in English, then Russian. In a 2012 analysis, Mr. Wellerstein described the order as “betraying their obvious roots in espionage.” The English labels include “Power Supply” and “Fusing Unit.” In a follow-up analysis, Mr. Wellerstein concluded that Igor Kurchatov, the head of the Soviet bomb project, drew the schematic for Lavrenty Beria, the head of Stalin’s secret police.
The Soviet diagram was dated June 1946, four months after Mr. Seborer left Los Alamos. It shows pairs of wires running from an electrical controller to detonators on the bomb’s exterior — a clear echo of the American reliance on redundant firing circuits.
The main appeal of implosion was that it drastically reduced the amount of bomb fuel needed. The dense metals were hard to obtain and far more valuable than gold. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were roughly equal in destructiveness — but fuel for the Nagasaki bomb weighed just 14 pounds — one-tenth the weight of the fuel for the Hiroshima bomb. The secret of implosion thus represented the future of atomic weaponry.
Slowly, nuclear experts say, bomb designers cut the plutonium fuel requirement from 14 pounds to about two pounds — a metal ball roughly the size of an orange. These tiny atomic bombs became enormously important in the Cold War, because their fiery blasts served as atomic matches to ignite the thermonuclear fuel of hydrogen bombs.
The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed some 80,000 people. But hydrogen bombs can pack 1,000 times the destructive energy — a terrifying fact of atomic life that generated widespread fear of mutual annihilation. A single SS-18 missile, the Cold War’s deadliest Soviet weapon — Western intelligence agencies called it Satan — could easily fire 10 or more hydrogen warheads halfway around the globe.
If the 1956 documents shed light on Mr. Seborer’s crime, they do little to explain why the United States kept the nature of his job and likely espionage secret for 64 years.
One possibility was domestic politics. Several atomic spy scandals shook the nation in the early 1950s, staring with the arrest of the first Los Alamos spy. His testimony led to the capture of the second, and to the execution of the Rosenbergs. The anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954. President Dwight Eisenhower, who had put himself above the fray, began to fight back with information leaks and administrative fiats.
Morris and Jack Childs, 1954
The story of Oscar Seborer’s atomic espionage is found in a few dozen easily overlooked pages scattered among tens of thousands of pages of FBI files released in 2011. The rest comes from partially released FBI files on Oscar and Stuart that document Operation SOLO, the codename for the FBI’s recruitment and direction of two communist brothers, Morris and Jack Childs, as informants inside the senior leadership of the Communist Party, USA, (CPUSA) from 1952 until 1980.
Mr. Klehr of Emory said it was late 1955 when the F.B.I. first uncovered firm evidence that Mr. Seborer had been a Soviet spy, prompting the inquiry that led to the Los Alamos correspondence of Sept. 1956. A presidential campaign was then underway, and the last thing President Eisenhower needed was another spy scandal. The same held true in 1960, when Mr. Eisenhower’s vice president, Richard Nixon, fought John F. Kennedy for the White House.
He noted, too, that much F.B.I. information about the Seborers had come from a hugely successful undercover operation known as Solo, which had infiltrated the American Communist Party in the 1950s and continued the monitoring as late as 1977. Most likely, the bureau wanted to do nothing that might risk revealing the identities of its informants.
While the F.B.I. remains tight-lipped, the C.I.A. has shown considerable pride in helping publicly unmask the fourth spy at wartime Los Alamos, perhaps in part because more than seven decades have now passed since Mr. Seborer first entered the secretive site in the New Mexico wilderness.
On Jan. 24, the intelligence agency gave Mr. Klehr and Mr. Haynes an award at C.I.A. headquarters in Virginia for an outstanding contribution to the literature of intelligence. Mr. Klehr, 74, said he and his colleague were delighted with the official recognition of their work. Even so, he said the two men foresaw a need for more research, despite having stumbled on the Seborers seven years ago and having already done much to unveil the hidden drama.
“There’s still a lot to learn,” he said.
This article was condensed from the records of the CIA.
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Military Humor –
WAS KILROY A SPY TOO?!!!
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Farewell Salutes –
Kathleen Condliffe – Waipukurau, NZ; WAAF # 82629
Donald Emmons Sr. – Bay Minette, AL; US Navy, WWII
Paul Gualtieri – Prairie Village, KS; US Army Air Corps, WWII, SSgt., 58th Bomber Wing, radar
John Kildow – Post Falls, ID; US Navy, WWII / US Air Force, Korea
Betty McAdams – Albion, PA; US Navy WAVE, WWII
George T. Millson – Snobomish, WA; USMC, WWII, Korea / US Air Force, Vietnam
Dewey Partin – MIddleboro, KY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI
Dorothy Romer – Mindin, NE; US Army WAC, WWII, nurse
Ronald E. Shay – King City, OR; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 674th Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Miguel Villalon – Brownsville, TX; US Army, combat engineer, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
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Research for Stefaan….. click on images to enlarge.
Camp MacKall
New Guinea
I heard back from one contact, Matt Underwood, last night – here is an excerpt from that letter…..
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The 4th Spy at Los Alamos – part 1 / Cindy Bruchmann book review
Last fall, a pair of historians revealed that yet another Soviet spy, code named Godsend, had infiltrated the Los Alamos laboratory where the world’s first atom bomb was built. But they were unable to discern the secrets he gave Moscow or the nature of his work.
However, the lab recently declassified and released documents detailing the spy’s highly specialized employment and likely atomic thefts, potentially recasting a mundane espionage case as one of history’s most damaging.
It turns out that the spy, whose real name was Oscar Seborer, had an intimate understanding of the bomb’s inner workings. His knowledge most likely surpassed that of the three previously known Soviet spies at Los Alamos, and played a crucial role in Moscow’s ability to quickly replicate the complex device. In 1949, the Soviets detonated a knockoff, abruptly ending Washington’s monopoly on nuclear weapons.
Stuart Seborer
The documents from Los Alamos show that Mr. Seborer helped devise the bomb’s explosive trigger — in particular, the firing circuits for its detonators. The successful development of the daunting technology let Los Alamos significantly reduce the amount of costly fuel needed for atomic bombs and began a long trend of weapon miniaturization. The technology dominated the nuclear age, especially the design of small, lightweight missile warheads of enormous power.
Mr. Seborer’s inner knowledge stands in contrast to the known espionage. The first Los Alamos spy gave the Soviets a bomb overview. So did the second and third.
Mr. Klehr, an emeritus professor of politics and history at Emory University, said the new information cast light on a furtive boast about the crime. Last fall, in the scholarly paper, the two historians noted that Mr. Seborer fled the United States in 1951 and defected to the Soviet bloc with his older brother Stuart, his brother’s wife and his mother-in-law.
Ship manifest
The paper also noted that an F.B.I. informant learned that a communist acquaintance of the Seborers eventually visited them. The family lived in Moscow and had assumed the surname Smith. The visitor reported back that Oscar and Stuart had said they would be executed for “what they did” if the brothers ever returned to the United States.
Last fall, the historians described the Seborers as a Jewish family from Poland that, in New York, became “part of a network of people connected to Soviet intelligence.” Both Oscar and Stuart attended City College, “a hotbed of communist activism,” the historians wrote.
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Stuart took a math class there in 1934 with Julius Rosenberg, they reported. In a notorious Cold War spy case, Mr. Rosenberg and his wife, Ethel, were convicted of giving the Soviets atomic secrets. In 1953 they were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y., orphaning their two sons, ages 6 and 10.
The scholarly paper, written with John Earl Haynes, a former historian at the Library of Congress, appeared in the September issue of Studies in Intelligence. The journal, a C.I.A. quarterly, is published for the nation’s intelligence agencies as well as academic and independent scholars.
The Times’s article ran on Nov. 23, a Saturday. Four days later, a reporter sent the scholarly paper to Los Alamos and asked if the lab’s archive had any photos of Mr. Seborer or relevant documents.
Two weeks later, on Dec. 10, the lab emailed 10 pages of newly declassified documents from 1956. The material consists mainly of a correspondence between a top security official at Los Alamos and the lab’s branch of the Atomic Energy Commission, a federal agency that oversaw the weapons development site. The letters discussed an F.B.I. investigation of Mr. Seborer’s espionage but gave no specifics on what he may have delivered to Moscow. Instead, the exchange dwelled on the secrets available to him.
The documents include pages from a 1945 Los Alamos telephone directory as a way of confirming the suspect’s lab employment.
All three previously known Los Alamos spies told the Soviets of a secret bomb-detonation method known as implosion. The technique produced a bomb far more sophisticated than the crude one dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. A prototype of the implosion device was tested successfully in the New Mexican desert in July 1945, and a bomb of similar design was dropped on Nagasaki weeks later, on Aug. 9. Four years later, the Soviets successfully tested an implosion device.
The early bombs relied on two kinds of metallic fuel, uranium and plutonium. The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima worked by firing one cylinder of uranium fuel into a second one, to form a critical mass. Atoms then split apart in furious chain reactions, releasing huge bursts of energy.
In contrast, the implosion bomb started with a ball of plutonium surrounded by a large sphere of conventional explosives. By design, their detonation produced waves of pressure that were highly focused and concentrated. The waves crushed inward with such gargantuan force that the dense ball of plutonium metal was compressed into a much denser state, triggering the atomic blast.
To be continued………..
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Book Review – “Inside The Gold Plated Pistol” by: Cindy Bruchmann
I am not adept at doing book reviews and I rarely do one for a fiction piece, but our fellow blogger and U.S. Navy Veteran, Cindy Bruchmann, has created a very unique volume.
Inside the Gold Plated Pistol, Cynthia Bruchmann
As characters are being introduced, you are following the plot through the eyes of that person. With each view, the story-line progresses. Early on you will discover what is Inside the Gold Plated Pistol, but you will need to continue reading to see what becomes of the people surrounding the mystery.
I enjoyed Cindy’s insistence on researching 1928 and on into the 1930’s era. The Native American relationship with the white man (or woman). Her use of detail only enhances the tale. I was amazed to learn that Hershey’s Kisses were around that long ago, what the movie industry was like or that Bob’s Big Boy diners started back then – who knew?
I don’t think I should continue any further, lest I give huge spoilers away – and that is not my intent. But I do hope I piqued your interest!!
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Military spy Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
John T. Avella – brn: Solopaca, ITA/Tom’s River, NJ; US Army, WWII, ETO, 405th Infantry, Bronze Star
George Correia Sr. – Tiverton, RI; US Navy, WWII
Verne Hinkle – Jackson, MI; US Army, WWII, infantry
Andrew Klein – Forest Grove, OR; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Lt. JG, USS Sanborn, navigator
Ruth McVaden (100) – MS; US Army WAC, WWII, ETO, Specialist, nurse
John J. Murphy – Chicago, IL; US Air Force, Vietnam, jet engine mechanic
Ryan S. Phaneuf – Hudson, NH; US Air Force, Afghanistan, Captain, 37th Bomb Squadron, KIA (E-11 crash)
Charles Ruggles – Tucson, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII,PTO, Co. I/511/11th Airborne Division
Lester Sanders – San Augustine, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, Bronze Star
Ryan K. Voss – Yigo, Guam; US Air Force Afghanistan, Lt. Col., HQ Air Control Command, KIA (E-11 crash)
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Pacific Paratrooper 