Friday, February 17, 2023 – The Bay Room at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco was packed for the all-day Writing for Hollywood Summit at the annual San Francisco Writers Conference. I was there on scholarship thanks to the Napa Valley branch of the California Writers Club. The audience was a mix of creatives. Some hadn’t…
ON 1 JULY 1946 BY THE BIKINI CALENDAR (30 June in New York), millions of people around the world waited anxiously by their radios for the results of the first postwar atomic bomb test. No one knew what to expect. Bill McGee was one of the 42,000 servicemen, scientists, and civilians at the Bikini…
A little bit of news… but not too much. May is Military Appreciation Month Military Appreciation Month takes place every year throughout the month of May to pay tribute to present and past military veterans and their families. Throughout the month are several specific military holidays including Loyalty Day, VE Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Armed…
A little bit of news… but not too much. This month the spotlight shines on two young men with new books just released and stories to tell… Clear! by DENNIS R. BLOCKER II is the riveting story of the author’s 23 years working in Emergency Medical Services. Dennis reveals what…
A little bit of news… but not too much.
A little bit of news… but not too much. “Love the book you’re writing because you’ll read it a hundred times.” – Posted in the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Facebook Group Shameless Promotion In this year of the 75th Anniversary of Operation Crossroads, the first postwar atomic bomb tests at Bikini in 1946, the series…
In 1951, the glamorous singer/dancer Marilu Norden registered at the Pyramid Lake Ranch to wait out her six weeks for a “quickie” divorce. The Pyramid Lake was 34 miles north of Reno in Sutcliffe, a location that was remote then and still is today. Other notables who stayed on the Pyramid Lake for a…
A little bit of news… but not too much. A Favorite Quote Shameless Promotion: 75 Years Ago At Bikini Read Excerpts from Bill McGee’s Atomic Memoir Watch Archival Film Footage Listen NBC Radio Live from Bikini, Test Baker, 25 July 1946 Once Upon a Time in RENO: The Marilu Norden Story In 1951, the…
A little bit of news… but not too much. Lists – To Do or Not To Do A mentor in my life (you know who you are) has been nudging me to go paperless. So far, I’ve conceded to using Excel for my to-do lists and, I have to admit, I do like the…
In 1994, Bill and I travelled to Normandy for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day, the landing of the Allies on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Here is an excerpt from the upcoming Arthur, Publisher, Marketing Man. – Sandra Montreal, May 23 – Bill was invited to sail to Normandy for the…
It’s just an old tin ashtray, but the stories it could tell… When fellow Reno divorce ranch history buff, Jerry Garrity, spotted this old tin ashtray from the Del Monte Dude and Guest Ranch in an antiques bazaar in Reno, he knew if anyone would love to have it, that would be me. Indeed, just…
A little bit of news… but not too much. My Word of the Month Recently, someone in a Zoom meeting used a word new to me: “meh”. Defined as an expression of indifference or boredom, “meh” must be spoken with a shrug of the shoulders. The word can be traced back to the 1928…
Shot on location at Bikini in 1946, three declassified films of Operation Crossroads and the Test Able and Test Baker atomic bomb tests. British Movietone Moment – Bikini Atom Bomb (4:03) OPERATION CROSSROADS – Able and Baker Day Tests 1946 (26:36) Project Crossroads – Nuclear Test Film 1946 (42:33) Related Posts…
75 YEARS AGO AT BIKINI In July 1946, the United States conducted their first postwar atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Code named: Operation CROSSROADS. This year is the 75th Anniversary of Operation Crossroads. To commemorate the date, this is the first of 22 excerpts from the book, Operation Crossroads, Lest…
Subic Bay, Philippines, 9 Aug 1945 – I’ll never forget the first time I heard the words: atomic bomb. It was the evening of 9 August 1945. I was a Gunner’s Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy, stationed at the Naval Station in Subic Bay, the Philippines. Thousands of military personnel were also there staging for Operation…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Hampton Roads, Virginia, 31 Jan 1946 – When the war ended in August 1945, I still had thirteen months left to serve on my four-year hitch in the U.S. Navy. My discharge would be 30 September 1946, the day I turned twenty-one. My XO (Executive Officer) asked if I…
At sea aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), 2 Feb 1946 – On January 31, the USS Fall River departed Hampton Roads, Virginia for its new assignment with the Pacific Fleet. Rumors were circulating aboard ship that a new crewmember had been smuggled aboard. The full story came out in the ship’s bi-weekly newspaper,…
Aboard the USS Fall River, Limón Bay, Panama Canal Zone, 5–8 Feb 1946 – The six days from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to the Panama Canal Zone were drills, drills, drills. I was awarded Shore Patrol duty in the liberty town of Cristóbal. There were plenty of bars and nightclubs for the sailors of the world,…
USS Fall River (CA-131), Port of Los Angeles, 16 Feb 1946 – The eight days at sea from the Panama Canal Zone to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro Bay, California, were drills, drills, drills. Everyone was looking forward to liberty with Hollywood a cab ride away. For guys who had never been…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Pearl Harbor, Mar/Apr 1946 – On 12 March 1946, the USS Fall River pulled into Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. (Hawaii would become the 50th state in 1959.) The Fall River had departed Hampton Roads, Virginia on 31 January and Pearl Harbor was the third stop on the heavy cruiser’s…
A little bit of news… but not too much. My Mantra of the Moment This mantra has been serving me so well, I’m repeating it for this month. In February, a friend gifted me with a little book, Empowering Mantras for Awesome Women, and the lipstick mantra spoke to me (surprise, surprise). The book is…
Here’s how one bluejacket described the shipboard routines on the USS Fall River en route to Bikini in April 1946… Dear Ma, I joined the Navy because I admired the way the ships were kept so clean and tidy. This week, I learned who keeps them so clean and tidy. – Love, Junior The Navy…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), International Date Line, 24 May 1946 – On 21 May, the USS Fall River (CA-131) weighed anchor in Pearl Harbor and set sail for its final destination some 2,100 miles southwest of Hawaii: Operation Crossroads at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. When the Fall River crossed the…
Aboard the USS Fall River, (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 27 May 1946 – On 27 May at 0626 Bikini Island showed on the radar. Finally, we had arrived. As soon as we were granted liberty, a dozen Sixth Division gunner’s mates and I went ashore. We wanted to explore this place chosen for such an ominous…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, Queen Day Rehearsal, 24 Jun 1946 – Seven days before the Test Able atomic bomb test on 1 July, there was a full dress rehearsal, code named Queen Day. For the rehearsal, Commander M.E. Dennett issued these instructions: Face away from Bikini Sit on Deck Close eyes…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 29 Jun 1946, Test Able Minus 2 – Two days before Test Able, the U.S. Navy issued Fall River officers and crew Operation Crossroads stationery – with the not so subtle suggestion we write a letter home, maybe our last. I wrote to my mother and sister Doris…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 30 Jun 1946, Test Able Minus 1 – One day to go to the big day, Test Able on 1 July, an atomic bomb detonated in the air. There was a lot of activity in the lagoon. The USS Fall River (CA-131), under the command of Rear…
Aboard the USS Fall River, Bikini Lagoon, 1 Jul 1946, Test Able – Finally, the big day arrived, 1 July 1946 by the Bikini calendar (30 June in New York). Millions of people around the world waited anxiously by their radios for the results of Test Able. No one knew what to expect, At 0540…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 5 Jul 1946 – Given the serious nature of the atomic bomb test on 1 July, there were no Fourth of July fireworks on the Fall River. However, the radio room was abuzz with news about a different type of explosion. On 5 July in Paris, the…
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Lagoon, Jul 1946 – Tradition was if you signed a shipmate’s Short Snorter and met up with them later on in civilian life, if they couldn’t produce the Short Snorter you had signed, they owed you a drink. Aboard the Fall River, our Short Snorters looked like a…
