Evening star., 1946-03-15

and the Naval Air Transport Serv-'
ice to warn those ahead to look out
for Very Important Persons. The
original use of this tag must have
been for Congressman, but it now
has come to be applied to humble
newspapermen, and the accurate
translation, I am told, is VIPERS.
Being VIPERS, we were met at
Kwajalein by Commodore B. H.
Wyatt, atoll commander, who drove
us to his quarters while the plane
was being refuelled for the hop to
Guam, and he fed us scrambled eggs
and talked of his coming respon-
sibilities in connection with the
crossroads" atom-bomb test. He
was somewhat concerned. Thou
sands of soldiers and specialists
soon will descend on Kwajalein.
The water supply there comes from
sea-water distillation plant and
the Seabees who installed the ma
chinery were in such a hurry to.get
home they didn't do a thorough
job. The plant wasn't working
right and nobody knew how to fix
it. Where was he going to get
water?
Persuaded Natives to Move.
The day before - Sunday - the
Commodore had gone to Bikini
Atoll, the island and lagoon where
the atom bomb test will be held, and
had persuaded the natives to move
to another island. Diplomacy was
required. The natives had been
assembled by their chief, Juda, and
they sat in a circle on the sand
under the coconut palms, bending
in the breeze, while the Commodore
explained the matter. The United
States, he said, had developed
this great instrument. The United
States wanted to use it in the in
terests of mankind, not merely for
destruction. But it was necessary
to find out first what it would do
to ships, and would the people of
Bikini, under the leadership of their
great chief. Juda, mind moving off
the island and thus help to develop
a great force which would be used
to benefit the children of man?
There was nodding and talking
and the plan was agreed to. The Is
houses on the island would be pu;-
chased by the United States, and
so would the wells and the 13 rain
water cistsrns and the eoconut trees.
A new atoll had been explored by
Juda and the II heads of fam
lilies who compose his council, and
the 167 men, women and children
Of Bikini would be moved to the new
atoll, Rongerik, fine place of many
coconut trees where the waters were
full of fish and the climate superior
to that of Southern California.
The Commodore was pleased by
The way the natives had accepted
his little speech. made with much
feeling and dignity They are good
people, he said, of the Congrega-
tionalist persuasion. They have no
laws against such crimes as murder
and robbery, for these crimes are
unknown to them. Their combined
1S7 men, women and
children who live on Bikini-is abou..
"a 800 year, which tney derive from
the sale of copra and handicraft,
for they are skilled weavers of pan
damus fiber. Their great misfortune
is clothes They we're taught by
early missionaries to wear clothes,
and clothes they wear, rain Or shine,
night and day, and they suffer from
diseases which the doc
tors attribute to wet garments.
The telephone rang. The plane
was ready to leave. So We bade
good-by to the Commodore and re-
sumed our journey.
X X X
Visited Battleship Nagato.
A few days later we stepped into
a barge from the U. S. s. Iowa, flag