Marshall Islands
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MARSHALL ISLANDS COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Anthony J. Perna 1946 Kwajalein Bomb Tests, U.S. Air For e Samuel B. Thomsen 1987-1990 Ambassador, Marshall Islands )illiam Bodde, Jr. 1990-1992 Ambassador, Marshall Islands Joan M. Plaisted 1996-2000 Ambassador, Marshall Island and Kiribati Greta N. Morris 2003-2006 Ambassador, Marshall Islands ANTHONY J. PERNA Kwajalein Bom Tests: Marshall Island U.S. Air Force (194,- Anthony J. Perna was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1918. He attended Syracuse for two years and then decided to join the Air Force in 19 0. He served in the Air Force for twenty years and was involved with the nuclear weapons tests on the Bikini Atoll. In 1960 he was sent to Paris and given the Strategic Air Command post with NAT,. He also served with the National -ar College in -ashington D.C. Mr. Perna was interviewed by Francine D. Haughey in 1990. P.R,A0 The war ended in Au1ust 246, the war ended in Au1ust 243 when they dropped the bomb on 5iroshima and Na1asa6i. In January 1946, a ouple months later, I joined the unit that had dropped the bomb, and I be ame 7eputy of the 309th Composite Bomb )in1. )e or1ani:ed a pro1ram to 1o to an island alled Kwajalein in the Pa ifi in the Marshall Islands where we set up the Bi6ini bomb test. The Bi6ini bomb test was alled Operations Crossroads. This was a pro1ram to detonate a nu lear weapon under s ientifi ally ontrolled and test ondition. The ones we had detonated heretofore was the test one in )hite Sands (the first one that went off), and then the se ond one was the one we dropped on 5iroshima, and the third one was dropped on Na1asa6i. There was no test data to spea6 of, so we set up this test pro1ram and dropped one from an airplane onto a tar1et ship, the Nevada. )e had a whole fleet of navy vessels, a whole bun h of army buildin1s, and army materiel, in ludin1 1uns and tan6s, et ... Q0 To be destroyed1 P.R,A0 .verythin1 to be tested, to see what happened when you dropped a nu lear weapon. )e dropped from 30,000 feet. I did not fly the airplane that dropped it. I was flyin1 an airplane around the tar1et site and I had what we all blast 1au1es in my airplane. )hen we ame down to the point that they were 1oin1 to release the bomb, I released these blast 1au1es. Other pilots with other bombers li6e mine released blast 1au1es and with telemeterin1 equipment and radio transmission they were able to re ord the blast and the data s ientifi ally so that they ould find out at various altitudes how mu h intensity you had from the burst of the bomb. Q0 How far away were you from the blast1 P.R,A0 I was eleven miles slant ran1e. )hen the bomb went off here and I was eleven miles at 28,000 feet. )e wore 1o11les for fear of retina dama1e to the eyes. )hen the sho 6 wave hit us the whole airplane jer6ed. It felt li6e someone too6 a tremendous plan6 and slammed it a1ainst the airplane, and this was at 11 miles. )ell, we stayed out there for the se ond shot whi h was where we put a weapon on a tower a1ain up at the Bi6ini la1oon and we set it off on a tower about 200 feet above the 1round. Q0 This was how much later1 P.R,A0 This was just a matter of wee6s, a month later. )e did a test in April and May, and then we ame home in the summer. )e had to produ e all the s ientifi data and re ordin1 material that we had. )e had a tremendous array of instrumentation from Aos Alamos and from all the s ientifi ommunity in Ameri a, in ludin1 some of the s ientifi olle1es. These people were under ontra t to the )ar 7epartment and re ordin1 the data to see what would happen. )e had animals, we had materiel, we had stru tures, we had medi ines, we had everythin1 you an thin6 of that somebody wanted to see what were the effe ts of a nu lear detonation. This was a very impressive moment in my life and I was onvin ed when I saw the thin1 1o off that you ould never use these. Then I spent the rest of my life haulin1 them around as part of the deterrent a1ainst the Russians. But I was onvin ed when I saw that one 1o off that this was not the answer for man6ind. But we used the threat of them as a su essful deterrent. This Kwajalein BCrossroadsB duty with the 309th lasted until the summer when we 1ot our data to1ether, then pa 6ed up and ame ba 6 to Roswell, ,.M. and )ashin1ton and turned in our report. I delivered the Air For e report alled BThe employment of nu lear weapons by the US Air For eB to the Air For e headquarters. This was Top Se ret in those days. A lot of servi e politi s were involved and interestin1 at the time. The weapons had lar1e eCplosive har1es put in a asin1, they alled them BFatman.B The Fatman was probably 3 or 6 feet hi1h, probably 8 or 10 feet lon1. In the ore of it was where the uranium went. This was the material that aused the fission, but to ma6e it detonate you had to have an implosion of all the hi1h eCplosives. )hen it eCploded inward, it made the U233 1o riti al, and you aused the fission phenomena. The in1redients U233 apsule that went inside was ontrolled by the ,avy. )e had a Navy Admiral on board our Air For e airplane, Admiral Parsons, who was the man who had inserted it on the fli1ht to 5iroshima. So the Air For e did not have ontrol of the whole thin1, the Navy had ontrol of the riti al in1redients of the bomb, and he had to wait until we too6 off, and when we 1ot in fli1ht ... Q0 It was inserted in flight1 P.R,A0 It was inserted in fli1ht, when you were at low altitude and didn2t need oCy1en to 1et in the bomb bay to put the thin1 in. This was a very interestin1 period. )e had everybody in the world out there loo6in1 at the test. Q0 -hat do you mean by that1 P.R,A0 )ell, all 6inds of forei1n diplomats, allies but there were no Russians there, but we had lots of the s ientifi ommunity. Q0 This was for Bikini1 P.R,A0 This was for Bi6ini. )e had lots of Asians, and all of our .uropean allies were there. As a 7eputy of the Composite Bomb )in1 that was doin1 it, we were deeply involved in meetin1 all of these people, and helpin1. It was an interestin1 time to rub shoulders with the hi1hest level of the s ientifi ommunity in Ameri a who were all out there. Teller, and you name any of them, they all went out to see the shot, and see it themselves. SAMUEL B. THOMSEN Am assador Marshall Islands (19.701991- Samuel B. Thomsen was born in Minnesota in 1921. After serving in the 3S Army from 19505195 he received his bachelor6s degree at the 3niversity of California 7os Angeles in 1956. During his career he had positions in 8ietnam, Laos, -ashington D.C., Botswana, Nigeria, and an ambassadorship to the Marshall Islands. Mr. Thomsen was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy in August 1996. :: [You were] on the Marshall Islands from when to when1 T5OMS.,0 July 287 to July 290. :: -hen you went out there did you have an agenda of things that having dealt with this and other aspects, that you wanted to deal with during the time you there, before things sort of happened. T5OMS.,0 Dou 6now when an ambassador 1oes out he 1ets a letter of instru tion from the Se retary. And what happens really, or it should happen, in my ase I wrote that letter. It was essentially an a1enda for the system to approve, and havin1 approved it by 1ettin1 appropriate learan e it was sent to me as an instru tion. The instru tion was to 1uarantee our a ess to Kwajalein, and to implement the ompa t. That is, to ma6e the ompa t wor6. To have the ompa t establish a stru ture of relations whi h were attra tive to the Marshallese, and whi h advan ed all our broader national interests. Inte1ral to su ess was the whole issue of Kwajalein, but the basi on ern was to advan e their apability of bein1 sustainable e onomi ally. Before I went out, and a1ain this is somethin1 that ambassadors an do before they 1o out, I brou1ht to1ether a 1roup of a ademi ians and entrepreneurs under I,R ae1is. )e had an all day session at AFSA. )e mainly loo6ed for ways in whi h we ould enhan e their e onomy. Marine resour es be ame the 6ey from our point of view. Tourism was a possibility. But we really saw the o ean as the sour e of their e onomi sustainability, and tuna bein1 the primary resour e. So what I tried to advan e while I was out there was to develop a tuna industry, in ludin1 obtainin1 Ameri an style trawlers, developin1 Majuro as a base for all Ameri an tuna vessels, and to try to 1et some sort of tuna pro essin1 out there.