Evening star., 1952-04-23

With the thick glasses over the
eyes there is nearly complete dark
ness. One can see the bright sun
| by looking straight into it. Sud-
denly there is binding flash be-
fore our shielded eyes. Just an
instant later a hot wind burns
through the clothing like a wind
from inside blast furnace.
| Now it is safe to look at the sky
where the bomb has burst, the
sight. experienced atom bomb
observers say, is by far the loveliest
they have seen at any tests.
Perhaps it is like mushroom.
It looks more like an upside down
white rose blossom. Underneath it
is red like a columbine and a
curious pale yellow. 1t rises slowly
up to $4,000 feet. The pink and
yellow colors fade. A coating of
ice forms over the top of the
cloud. Now it is like a great
vanilla ice cream cone. About
miles up in the sky. the cloud be-
gins to disperse. It is meeting
strong winds up there. The white
fades. The cloud becomes amber
brown with yellow edges. 1t loses
it's bolsSom shade.
Below on the sand lake, clouds
of dust arise. They grow from
Army cars about to proceed into
radiation contaminated area. The
infantrymen and the high Army
brass who have gone with them
into the forbidden land are wait
ing to get out of their 4-foot-deep
foxholes. Soldiers. privateS and
general alike have experienced an
atomic bomb explosion up close.
as it would be under combat con-
ditions, for first time in history.
None of them were hurt. A
great dust cloud rose and swirled
around them for a few minutes.
They were hit by shock wave far
greater than anything experienced
ion this rockpile, several thousands
more yards away. They expected
lit and were braced to take it..
They were hit as. if by high
breaker on beach, Now planes
are circling around it and go over
| it and under.
Monitors Out In Sand.
Then monitors are out in the
sand lake now. They are deter
mining when it will be safe for
the infantry to advance over the
poisoned land through the poi
soned air. There will be a long
wait still for the paratroopers.
For everybody on the rockpile
this was a spectacle. 1t was little
mere for the soldiers down below
for most of the important things
happened far faster than the
human eye can register. Some OF
the most important things for the
designers of atom bombs hap
pened in about a millionth of a
second. All this, however. was re-
corded by the brains of the set
up with its incredibly complex
mechanism, many of them in un-
derground bunkers protected by
feet of concrete. Much of the
building of this metal brain has
been the work of a group of about
so technicians from the Naval Re-
search Laboratory at Anacostia
They have been in these cold hills
flor nearly three months and have
seen several explosions.
Some of the more delicate
mechanisms of the brain" must
be removed after each blast but
majority of them are permanent
the Washington technicianS say
Helicopter Drops Down.
j A helicopter drops down onto
the lake. It will pick up 1t. Gen
Joseph M. Swing. commander OF
the United States 9th Army who
was in a foxhole with the in
| fantry. 1t is almost an hour after
the blast and the technical OBJ
servers, with special protective
clothing, are going into the area,
Now reports are coming in from
all around. Trained observers saw
the bomb light 430 miles away
The sound was heard so miles
away. A shock wave also hit Las
Vegas but not hard enough to
knock out any windows or dis
arrange any of the 10000 slot ma
chimes in gambling halls. The first
bomb fired here did.
Gen. Swing steps out Of the
helicopter. He has maneuvereo
I2,1O0 soldiers over a 4,000-yarC
front. Some of them including
himself have been closer to ar
atomic bomb explosion thar
humans ever have been before
!, so the general says-and lived.
He talked to 40 or so enlisted
men just after the blasts.
Relief Reaction After Ordeal.
'They were laughing and crack
! ing jokes" he said. Il think this
was pretty much a relief reaction
after the ordeal. One fellow SAID
I don't see why the hell you
brought me here anywhere.
don't know any more than I die
before"
The general went into the
military philosophy of atomic war
5 concerning which there has beer
misunderstanding.
j. THE bomb" he said. "is just
one more item of fire power. The
ball of fire itself is just a piece
of fire power. Fire power must be
i controlled. We learned back in
World War I that infantry must
,ollow the right distance behind
artillery barrage for it to do any
!ood. Otherwise the enemy would
| ecoVer, It's the same here.