Lest we forget 73 years ago today… 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 Test Able, the first postwar atomic bomb test at Operation CROSSROADS, Bikini. A bomb nicknamed “Gilda” (for the 1946…
On 29 June 1946, I was anxiously awaiting the first postwar atomic bomb test code-named Test Able scheduled for 1 July. I was one of the 42,000 military, scientists, and civilian personnel stationed at Bikini in the Marshall Islands for Operation CROSSROADS. The Navy issued my shipmates and me special Operation Crossroads stationery with the suggestion…
On 29 June 1946, I was one of 42,000 military, scientists, and civilian personnel stationed in or around the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. We were anxiously awaiting Test Able on 1 July 1946, the first postwar atomic bomb test. Men doing duty on the support ships were issued special stationery with the not-so-subtle suggestion…
Guadalcanal, June 1943. The U.S. Navy Task Unit 32.4.4 was anchored off Guadalcanal. The convoy was made up of four Liberty ships and three escorts. Gunner Bill McGee, fresh out of Boot Camp and on his first wartime sea voyage, was stationed aboard the Liberty, SS Nathaniel Currier. Suddenly, on 16 June at 1350 (1:50 p.m.), Condition “Very” Red was…
You don’t have to be a celebrity to write your naval military memoirs. Preserving one’s memories and stories about his or her military service is a wonderful gift to give your family. Bill, a Pacific war veteran of World War II and a postwar atomic veteran of Operation Crossroads in 1946, has researched and written…
Screenshot of the manuscript cover page…
