Newspaper Page Text
♦ SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2007
6A
STORY
From page tA
Activities and people
involved were spread over
several Atolls of the chain
called Ralik (Sunset) Chain
of the Marshall Islands.
He does remember some
of the atolls’ history and he
was a part of the evacua
tion of natives from some of
the islands in the Marshall
groups, to an atoll called
Ujelang Atoll some 200 miles
south of the Eniwetok and
Bikini Atolls. This was the
responsibility of the Joint
Task Force 7 that Roberts
was a part of.
Operation Hardtack, on
the other hand, began at
Eniwetok and Bikini in May
1958. There were 32 tests.
In August 1958, the last
nuclear detonation brought
to 66 the total of nuclear
weapons tests at Bikini and
Eniwetok. The operation
used devices with names
like. Yucca, Fir, Wahoo, KOA,
Holly and Prisona - to name
the warheads, which were as
small as .02 kt to as large as
9,300 kt.
Much of that information
was not available, to him,
he added, as mail going out
of the station was censored.
Mail coming in, however,
was not. In fact, he said, a
lot of information was open
source, so his wife Anna
could write back and tell
him what was going on.
“What I remember was
some of the small shots,” he
said, “some clean some dirty
(a reference to the radiologi
cal capacity). But we suited
up for all of them.
“Most of the time we wore
summer khakis, mostly san
dals on our feet and then we
would see the tower beacon
turn white. No loud sirens,
just a light. It would be white.
At that point we started to
fill extra sandbags, then got
the ropes ready.
“From that point we
would hurry to the Quonset
hut and put on three more
uniforms and long pants.
Then returning to our sand
bags and ropes we got down
behind the sandbags and tie
ourselves to the sandbags.
“You got goggles if you
had won the lottery. If not
you had to be sure to cover
your face as you lay in the
sand. When the beacon light
turned red it was time for
the flights that measured
the blasts to take off and it
was time for us to lay low.
“The blast would happen.
First there is no sound. (I’m)
not sure why, there just was
none there on Eniwetok.
Next the pressure came in.
We knew to open our mouths
- sand and all - and let the
pressure wash over us.
“Then came the heat, like
you had never felt ... when
you thought it could not get
any hotter it did. There were
times I thought I could see
the bones in my hands as I
lay face down in the sand.”
Next, he said, the plates
that covered the Quonset hut
would start flapping, almost
like they would take off. It
wasn’t all clear though, he
added, because then came
another flash.
“There were lots of multi
blasts,” he said. “You just
had to watch it. We wore a
film strip on our uniform.
But no one ever read the
strip or even asked for it.
The fellows in the aircraft
had a different kind of
meter. It was intense work
for anyone; this was the
place where even the sci
entists were learning what
happened when a detonation
glowed through the layers of
the atmosphere.”
Roberts was there for
several types of blasts - to
include aerial, surface and
underwater blasts. Each one
brought a different punish
ment to the beach and to the
atmosphere above. One such
blast was heard seven times,
he said, as it crossed each of
the atmospheric layers.
Roberts remembers an
underwater blast of about
5 kt that went as usual only
this time, he said the water
from the atolls lagoon emp
tied out.
“What the scientists had
not figured on,” he said, “is
that when the lagoon emp
ties the water has to come
back some where. When it
did, it came in the form of a
tidal wave of about four to
JournaJ/Nancy Hawk
The Roberts family, from left to right, Glenn Roberts,
Austin Roberts and Anna Roberts, at their home in
Warner Robins.
five feet.
“It took about 30 minutes
for it to come back,” he said.
“Some of the locals ran to
the lagoon to pick up shells.
They were lucky. When the
water returned it swept sev
eral men out to sea. They
were rescued but we were all
sure surprised.”
Roberts, during his tenure,
also went to Ujelang atoll to
assist with tech equipment
and Johnson Island to help
with the Rocket Balloon.
The Rocket Balloon rose up
to 100,000 feet. In doing so,
he said, it scared everyone
in Hawaii who thought that
another nuclear explosion
had happened.
Eventually he was able
finally to rejoin his family,
who had been waiting in the
states for him. After a short
time, he was off to Japan.
During this tour he became
head of the Maintenance
group still working on
Navigational aids - crucial
as the war in Vietnam began
to heat up.
Working a stint at NASA
later, he met the astronauts
from the Apollo I.
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His wife was also with
him in Japan and remem
bers he often did tours and
Temporary Duty in Vietnam
and Korea. She also remem
bers that during that time,
1968, Japan was still healing
from the war.
She never had any trou
ble, she said - everyone was
always friendly - but she did
remember that late at night
Japanese children who still
suffered from wounds were
brought in to the hospital
at night.
“It always was kind of sad
for me,” she said. “To see
the children who hurt.”
She was a mother of three
young children then.
Robert’s 20 plus years
in the Air Force eventually
brought him to Robins Air
Force Base, with his last
assignment with the sth
MOB.
He retired there and then
signed on as a police offi
cer for the city of Warner
Robins. Working 16 years
with the city, he earned sev
eral recognition certificates,
to include his work with the
kids of Warner Robins.
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Roberts is shown during his years with the Warner Robins police force.
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