The desert air is cool; my field jacket feels comfortably warm on this early morning of July 5th, 1957. The Mojave Desert in Nevada is where I find myself along with fellow United States Marines of the 5th Regiment all currently based at Camp Pendleton, California.
We have just witnessed the largest and only thermo nuclear hydrogen bomb blast detonated in the continental United States. We are at this moment marching through a swirling storm of dust and sand in the direction of ground zero. This sand storm is the aftermath of that thermo nuclear explosion. Wearing only cotton utility clothes and a gas mask I continue to march forward. I use my bare hands to shelter my face from the driving sand that is biting at my exposed skin; when suddenly I gaze down. Lying on the desert floor I notice a small brown tortoise shell. I kneel in the shifting sand and pick up the small scorched tortoise; I tuck it securely into my field jacket pocket. Fifty four years slip by, and on my office shelf the small scorched tortoise shell remains. Other than an occasional trip to school with my daughter’s for “show and tell” it has remained there as a reminder to me of that horrific Day in the Sun.
A small boney parched skeleton resides hidden within the shell. Its haunting hollow eye sockets seem to peer out, and query as to what may have happened those many years ago on that beautiful summer morning on Frenchman’s Flat? The small tortoise began this morning as he began all others; with an early morning stroll in quest of a juicy morsel of cactus. This particular morning was significantly different than others as the small tortoise was suddenly seared to death, frozen in time, and flawlessly preserved in an instant by an explosive flash, the result of a thermo nuclear bomb explosion. This nuclear explosion came from the atomic test titled “Shot Hood,” and was reported after the explosion to have been a Hydrogen Bomb. Shot Hood, was first scheduled to be an Atomic Bomb, which would probably not have made a significant difference to the small tortoise. The exploding of this Hydrogen bomb had never been authorized to be detonated within the continental United States. This order of course made little difference in the decision that the Atomic Energy Commission would make. This hydrogen bomb explosion measured 74kt, (1 kiloton is an explosive force equivalent to that of 1,000 metric tons of TNT) and this bomb was measured to have been five times larger than the atomic bombs dropped on both Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Shot Hood was, and still remains the largest most powerful and devastating thermo nuclear device ever detonated at the Nevada Atomic Test Site.
This unquestionably explains why the small tortoise, along with every living creature exposed to the direct flash, that encompassed an area with approximately a two mile radius form ground zero of Shot Hood, suffered a similar fate.
As we Marines marched along in the swirling driving radioactive sand we could observe the wood communications poles that led in the direction of ground zero. The poles remained scorched and smoldering charcoal on the side facing toward grund zero. The wooden communication poles had been ignited instantly by the radiant heat from the blast which was 100 times brighter than the sun. On the opposite side from the intense flash the communication poles cast shadows that remained eerily and permanently etched in the sand. The sand protected by the shadow of the poles remained granular; the sand surrounding the shadows glistened in the early morning sun having been melted, and transformed into a thin translucent sheet of glass, appearing much like sleet on snow after an ice storm.
Had the small tortoise been fortunate enough to have been sheltered by a rock, or an object as fragile as a cactus it might possibly have survived, and crawled off on the newly formed glass surface. Not so fortunate was this small tortoise, its diminutive soul left its body in an instant that July morning.
Along with the tortoise shell as a reminder of that day in the sun, I also possess a small green manual given to me when attending on of the few nuclear instructional classes; the book title is, “Atomic Tests in Nevada.” This book was printed for the Atomic Energy commission by the United States Government with the intent of acquainting us Marines with the atomic testing experience. This information was given by the atomic scientists, with what little knowledge they themselves knew at the time.
I am certain the atomic scientists were as ill informed of the possible consequences of radiation contamination as were the doctors’ ill informed who were trying to save President George Washington’s life. George went riding his horse at his Mount Vernon home a couple of days before he died. It was a cold snowy December day, which caused him to apparently come down with a bad cold and a sore throat. His doctors trying to cure him of this sore throat and cold bled him four times. When this remedy did not seem to work they then tried to soothe his sore swollen throat by applying a poultice of dried cantharide beetles. This did not seem to work either so they used Spanish flies, to stimulate swelling. To calm the burning sensation in his throat the doctors made-up a gargle of vinegar, butter, and molasses. This mixture was concocted to soothe Georg’s inflamed throat, but actually almost strangled the life out of the now very week former president.
This not seeming to work the doctors now decided to flush poor George’s intestinal tract to clean the toxins form his system. For this diagnosis George was given a very toxic laxative made of the same ingredients that had killed Napoleon. This laxative was so toxic it caused George to experience a very dehydrating diarrhea.