Operation Crossroads - Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account, Bikini Atomic Bomb Tests 1946
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Operation Crossroads at 75
July 2021 marks the 75th anniversary of the dawning of the nuclear age
On 1 July 1946, millions of people around the world waited anxiously by their radios for the results of the first postwar atomic bomb test, code name Operation CROSSROADS. No one knew what to expect.
Less than a year earlier, in August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), thus effectively ending World War II in the Pacific. Now the U.S. military wanted to test the effects of this powerful nuclear weapon on vessels, equipment, and material. Two tests were planned in the summer of 1946: Test Able from the air on 1 July and Test Baker from underwater on 25 July. The location chosen for the tests was the remote Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
William L. McGee, USN, was one of 42,000 military, scientists, and civilian personnel assembled at Bikini for Operation Crossroads. He had a front row seat for the tests from aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Flagship for the Target Fleet, responsible for positioning the 90-plus target vessels in the Bikini Lagoon.
The author adds to his eyewitness observation of Crossroads entries from the Fall River ship log, interviews with shipmates and other Crossroads participants, and the later opinions of the military, the media, and Crossroads experts.
In the author's words: "Operation Crossroads in 1946 was one of the most important events of the twentieth century. I wrote this book to help preserve a part of history few know about today—the dawning of the nuclear age."
Award-winning Pacific war historian William L. McGee is a World War II and atomic veteran. His book, Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II, is on the Marine Corps Commandant's Professional Reading List. Another book, The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, won the Silver Medal for History from the Military Writers Society of America.
Foreword by F. Lincoln Grahlfs, Ph.D., author Voices From Ground Zero
134 pp, 52 B&W photographs & illustrations
BMC Publications (2016)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this brief firsthand account, McGee revisits the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests, the first such tests administered after WWII. McGee served on the USS Fall River, a U.S. Navy cruiser that was present as the flagship of the supporting task force during the detonation of two atomic bombs in July 1946. Using his own and his shipmates' recollections, supplemented by ship's logs, he recreates his day-to-day experiences as one of over 40,000 U.S. military personnel who lived and worked for months within a 15-mile radius of the Able and Baker detonations, both of which were bigger than those that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The most startling revelation that McGee relates is the absolute ignorance of the military and civilian leaders of the dangers of nuclear radiation poisoning. After the blasts, sailors and scientist went about routine duties for weeks in a highly contaminated environment with virtually no extra precautions. McGee points out that this tragedy was largely the result of ignorance, compounded by the more egregious actions of the Veterans Administration, which in subsequent years denied veterans the health care necessary to treat their radiation-related illnesses. Though slight, McGee's work offers a good introduction to the subject. (BookLife)
