Evening star., 1951-06-14

times greater than Hiroshima
which destroyed that city, and the
blast which witnessed was even
greater than that.
Here's another way to explain
the power.
Suppose ordinary sticks of dyna-
mite. as used in a hand grenade.
are stacked one on top the other,
they would incase the outside of
a History Office building on a
city square of ground.
BY arithmetical deduction, a
bomb. for example, 21a times
10000 tons, would mean 100 mil
lion pounds of dynamite or TINT.
And measured according to the
building yardstick which I have
described it would represent ap-
proximately 60-story building on
four squares Of city ground.
And again the blast which I
witnessed at Enitewok was greater
than this.
1t certainly must now become
apparent how difficult 1t is to fully
grasp the potential of such an ex-
plosion to fully comprehend its
destructive capacity.
Heat Greater Than Sun.
1t was calculated to generate
heat greater than that which man
believes to be in the center of
the sun.
Whether or not it was to be a
success was strictly a matter of
conjecture-and hope.
Perhaps to the scientific mind
the atom bomb can be understood
and its full meaning Of millionth-
of-a-second measurement grasped
but certainly not to a lay mind
like myself. 1t was all beyond
my comprehension.
I kept recalling a story which
! had heard when I was a student
at Jesuits. 1t was told during the
course of retreat by learned
Jesuit priest who was attempting
to make our young minds realize
and grasp the significance and
the understanding of what etern-
ity really meant.
Suppose tiny sparrow would
take one drop of water from the
Atlantic Ocean," he explained,
land cross the continent with that
drop of water and deposit it in the
Pacific Ocean. Then suppose the
sparrow would return to the At
lantic Ocean and get another drop
of water and again fly across the
continent and deposit that in the
Pacific Ocean until the Atlantic
Ocean had been emptied into the
Pacific Ocean, then eternity would
only be beginning" AS eternity
def1es full understanding and
comprehension, so does the full
import and significance of an
atom bomb defy understanding
and comprehension.
The moment of detonation of an
atom bomb is the result of the
cooperation and physical en-
deavor and output of thousands
of men multiplying that many
more man hours.
The day of the "shot" comes
only after months and months of
preparation.
Started Long Time Ago.
The experiment started many
years ago when the mind of man
first conceived the idea of split
ting the atom. Eniwetok itself
started a long. long time ago in
scientific minds, was then trans
lated to the laboratory and now
brought into full-scale expert
mental force.
I frankly didn't know what to
expect when I arrived at Eniwetok
I had no idea or conception of
what it would be like.
Those in the official party of
observers and they were limited
departed from Washington early
one morning. We were in Cali
fornia approximately 10 hours
later. The next morning we left
for Hawaii and were there just
before the sun went down. Next
morning we winged out over the
Pacific and landed at Eniwetok
shortly before dusk after flying
over Bikini, the site of the first
postwar atomic experiment after
Nagasaki.
1t. Gen. Elwood r. (Pete)
Quesada and his staff met us or
arrival and escorted us to the LSU
which was to take us from Eni.
wetok Island to the island where
Gen. Quesada's headquarters as
commander of Joint Task Force
are located.
Operation Greenhouse"
To grasp the magnitude and ex
panse of Operation Greenhouse,
which is the official title for thesl
atomic experiments. it is neces
sary to visualize it's location.
Contrary to popular conception
Except to those veterans VIII
captured the atoll from the ia
panese), Einewetok Atoll does no
consist of one little island in tn
Pacific. but of countless small is