Operation Crossroads - Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account, Bikini Atomic Bomb Tests 1946 by William L. McGeeMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
The atomic bombs have been dropped, and Japan has surrendered. World War II is over, but not for William “Bill” L. McGee, author of Operation Crossroads: Lest We Forget! He puts in his request for postwar duty with the Atlantic Fleet for a chance to see Europe. However, the Navy has other plans for him—duty aboard USS Fall River, a heavy cruiser destined for Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands and Operation Crossroads.
Operation Crossroads (1946) involved the first postwar atomic bomb tests. Politicians, engineers, the military, and scientists all wanted to learn more about the weapon they had unleashed. Their tests were focused on determining its effects on warships, humans, animals, and the environment. McGee’s eyewitness account, and in particular the quoted information he includes of the testing at Bikini, is sobering.
The author pastes a great deal of outside and technical information from other sources in his chronicle. However, he uses a much lighter tone to relate experiences involving his shipmates, daily ship life, and adventures while on liberty. The account is full of old photographs, personal mementos, statistics, copies of routine schedules, ship’s orders, logs, newspaper articles, other eyewitness accounts, and writings from the experts in the field.
The Navy originally planned three nuclear tests for Operation Crossroads. They postponed the third test largely due to their inability to decontaminate the target ships, and the unexpected effects of radiation from the second test. Because no one yet knew much about the adverse impact of radiation, almost no precautions were taken. Personnel who worked on the cleanup, gathered information, and retrieved the test animals on the target ships wore little in the way of protective clothing. Not long after the tests, serious safety concerns regarding the radiation generated began to surface. Sadly, many of the participants of Operation Crossroads experienced and are experiencing health issues.
Despite some visual and editing errors, this book preserves the legacy of those who participated in this operation. It is a fitting gift to the author’s descendants of his personal experiences during the war. In the post-World War II era, this event and its lessons should be remembered, and warnings heeded. As J. Robert Oppenheimer stated after the Trinity test in New Mexico in July 1945, “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Review by Sandi Cowper (March 2019)
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