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WORK IN PROGRESS
The displacement of indigenous people is a contemporary, on-going issue of global importance. As a clinical psychologist and anthropologist, I want to understand the affects of Operation Crossroads on the people of Bikini Atoll and to document in writing and photography the theme of displacement of indigenous people and the disregard for their human rights.
I am also drawn to this chapter of history by my family’s connection to it. In 1959, my father died from cancer. Doctors suspected that his cancer may have resulted from extreme radiation exposure during the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, July 1946.
Winter 2018, I opened the boxes that contained my father’s Bikini memorabilia. I peered at his image and the photographs he made of the explosions. I touched his daily journal, read the newspaper clippings and his letters to me when I was six. I found three reels of 16m film and the news reel he projected during his public presentations after he returned. I began to organize and photograph my father’s Bikini material.
I have learned 167 individuals lived on Bikini Island at the time of Operation Crossroads. Believing they could return to their homes after the detonations, the Bikini Islanders ”voluntarily” agreed to leave their island “for the good of mankind and to end all wars.” On March 7, 1946, they were evacuated to Rongerik Atoll. Near starvation and suffering from health problems, they were relocated 5 times in a search for a home.
Twenty-nine of the original Bikini inhabitants are alive today. I would like to locate these people and interview and photograph them as a case study in the humanitarian consequences of displacement.
Click below to read more about the Bikini Project and the vignettes:
The Bikini Project is a personal endeavor about my father’s participation in Operation Crossroads at Bikini Island in 1946. I recently discovered the six-month daily journal my father kept while a civilian participant in the nuclear testing that occurred at Bikini. Excerpts from his journal and his photographs are included in the “Bikini” gallery of this webpage under “Works in Progress”. Gradually, I am learning more about this period of our history as well as my father’s legacy. I will continue to post blogs as the project progresses.
Photograph by Carl Mydans, “Chief Juda and his family, Bikini Island.” 2005.0228.096
King Juda and his beautiful famil y sit under palm trees and look directly into the camera of Carl Mydans, Life Magazine photographer. The two younger children are unclad, while the older ones are casually dressed. Juda’s wife is young and attractive. She wears a loose fitting cotton shift and a scarf tossed around her neck. Juda wears a simple white shirt and pants. He is proud of his family. In March, 1946, before Operation Crossroads and the testing of atomic bombs at Bikini, the island was beautiful with white beaches, turquoise blue waters, and natural resources sufficiently rich to provide life’s necessities. Although the way of life was simple, the Bikini Islanders were skilled outrigger canoe builders and some of the world’s best navigators who found their direction from ripples in the waves, the sun and the stars. They prepared copra from coconut for the production of coconut oil. The Bikini Islanders were communal and generous in their attitude towards others. They cherished their culture and lived according to the life values of reciprocity and kindness: kan drikdrik kong yokwe, “We share what little we have with love”, and Jiban don, “We help each other.” In March,1946, 167 people, from 11 family groups, lived on Bikini Island, and King Juda was their leader. These gentle and kind people became the victims of one of the United States’ greatest follies. Embroiled in the conflicts of the cold war, the United States decided that Bikini Island, because of its isolation and protected harbor, would be the ideal location for the testing of nuclear bombs. Speaking through an interpreter to King Juda, United States Commodore Ben H. Wyatt requested that the Islanders make the ultimate sacrifice of their sacred home “for the good of humanity and to prevent all future wars.” On March 8th, the people of Bikini were evacuated from their island and relocated to Rongerik Atoll in preparation for atomic bomb testing. They believed they would be able to return to their home after the experiments were completed. This was not the case.
Will Whitmore and his beautiful family celebrate Easter, April 21, 1946 in Manhasset, New York. A neighbor operates the movie camera. It is the day before Will leaves for Bikini to participate as a civilian in Operation Crossroads. I am five years old, a little girl wearing a light yellow coat and a straw hat. My frilly white socks are tucked neatly into black patent leather Maryjanes. My little sister, Jean, is 18 months old. She is adorable in her matching blue coat and wide brimmed bonnet. Allene, Will’s wife and my mother, looks beautiful in a bright red jacket over a black dress. A veil falls from her straw hat. Will wears a three piece brown suit and tie, a boutonniere in his button hole and a fedora atop his head. He is proud of his family.
We were a typical American suburban family. Each weekday Will boarded the 7:42 a.m. commuter train for New York City where he worked as an advertising Manager for the Western Electric Company. He returned home in the evenings to his wife and two daughters. Undoubtedly, Allene would have prepared a healthy dinner for the family. They would settle down at the kitchen table to eat while Will talked about business, Allene told him about her day and Jane reported on her Kindergarten class and the activities of her friends. This was their daily routine. Now that the war was over, there were no more ration lines at the grocery stores, and life felt predictable and safe. However, Like King Juda and his family, the members of this family also became victims of one of the United States’ greatest follies.
April 22, 1946, Will’s journal documents that Allene, Jane and Jean drove him to Laguardia Airport to catch his American Airlines plane to Washington, D. C. He states it was “a gray day with wispy fog and clouds”. In D. C. Will reported for duty, received his orders, his inoculations and his identification card, # 551. Then, Will left for Bikini Island to participate in Operation Crossroads and the testing of atomic bombs. He believed he was embarking on a great adventure, and he believed he was making a contribution to the “good of humanity and to the prevention of all future wars”. This was not the case.
Will and Juda mostly likely never met, although they became human faces of the nuclear age. Their lives and the lives of their families would be forever impacted by the testing of atomic bombs at Bikini and the United States’ careless disregard for human life and health.Rongerik Island was known to be a “bad place” once inhabited by the evil spirit, Libokra, who poisoned fish and vegetation and turned the water brackish. Nevertheless, Rongerik Island was chosen to be the new home of the displaced Bikini Islanders and their leader, King Juda.
In March 1946, Juda directed his people to pack their personal belongings and to dismantle their homes in preparation for relocation to Rongerik Island. They visited the burials of their ancestors and decorated their graves with flowers and palm fronds. They prayed for them and said goodbye. On March 7, weeping and singing farewells, 167 Bikini people boarded the US Navy Landing Ship 0018 and were transported to Rongerik, an uninhabited island 1/6th the size of Bikini and 125 miles away. Twenty-six prefabricated tent structures with canvas coverings, situated along an “L” shaped path became their new homes. The evacuation of the Bikini Islanders is photographed by Carl Mydans for Life Magazine 3/1946
Leaving Bikini Island
Leaving Bikini on US Navy landing ship 0018
Will Whitmore left San Francisco May 06, 1946, on the USS Avery Island-AG76, the official Navy electronics instrumentation ship of the Joint Task Force One. He was one of the 40,000 Americans who participated in Operation Crossroads, the first two of 67 nuclear tests on the Marshall Islands.
USS Avery Island – AG 76 Leaving San Francisco, Photographed by Will Whitmore May 06, 1946
On June 1, 1946 Will’s ship reached Bikini Island. He writes in his journal “…Reduced speed all morning and then about 1430 a faint smudge on the horizon, more ships faintly seen. Looking through glasses. A low strip of green against the sky, a line of white underneath. Sure, it’s an island and those are palm trees. …Finally inside the lagoon. … The anchor goes down.”
Will Whitmore arrives at Bikini Island, June 1, 1946
As a member of Code 980, Will prepared technical reports, wrote manuscripts, coordinated press releases and kept the official and public channels informed of activities. He describes whole days spent writing reports and planning meetings for visitors such as US Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico and members of President Harry Truman’s Evaluation Commission. Although Will worked diligently, there was time to visit the island, swim, collect shells and drink beer at the Club. He states he was moved by “the beauty of Bikini with its multi colored sunsets and beautiful nighttime skies.” While Will and the other participants in Operation Crossroads were preparing for the detonation of Able on July 1, the Bikini people were struggling to adjust to their new home on Rongerik Island. They had been given sufficient military provisions to last a few weeks. However, as the rations ran out and they had to turn to the island’s resources for subsistence, it became obvious that the resources on Rongerik were inadequate to support them. The fish from the lagoon were poor, and some of the fish they had eaten on Bikini were toxic in the waters of Rongerik. The coconuts were smaller and less productive. They became dispirited and confused, Juda, who had become their leader only shortly before they were evacuated, was overwhelmed and doubted his ability to lead and care for his people. Will and Operation Crossroads became increasingly more involved in the technical aspects of the detonations, and the welfare of the 167 Bikini people on Rongerik Island were of minor significance. I am disheartened that the Bikini Islanders, an unsophisticated people when compared to Americans, were lied to and tricked into leaving their homes so that the United States could pursue its cold war objectives. I am disappointed that my father whom I admired so much as a child does not mention the Bikini people in his journal, nor does he acknowledge nor reflect upon the assault to their culture. These were real people like you and me with a cohesive way of life, compatible with the environment in which they lived. Ultimately their environment, their homes and their lives would be ravaged by United States nuclear testing and contamination from radiation.Opening the cover of my father’s journal for the first time, I felt as though I were removing the lid of his casket. My heart beat fast. I cupped my hands around my ears, and I thought I heard my father speak.
Able Day, Monday, 1 July 1946: ”We all got into life jackets about 15 minutes before HOW. The heat was insufferable, the sea and air almost dead calm. Sweat poured off me. … I had my camera held in my left hand with the hand grip and leather strap around my wrist. My hand was so sweaty, I could hardly hold on to it. … HOW minus 20 seconds. The seconds seemed like minutes. … There it was a small red ball of fire. I swung my camera to it. Around the small central ball of fire there formed another, it grew swiftly to tremendous height and width, … The great perpendicular tower of white cloud was forming fast and rising swiftly, the mushroom formed and above it … a flat sort of dish like gleaming white cloud. … My camera going all the time, shoot, rewind shoot. … ”My shirt and trousers completely wet with sweat. Hard to keep my head. … “just silence and the ever climbing cloud … about two minutes after the flash a low, almost inaudible rumble.” It was Operation Crossroads, and the fourth atomic bomb had just been detonated at the island of Bikini.
Baker Day, Thursday, 25 July 1946, the fifth atomic bomb is
about to be exploded. Will says, “I was on the bridge before 0800. Took movies of the whole show. As the voice of Abraham clicked off the minutes and then the seconds, five seconds, four seconds, three seconds, two seconds, one second and then the blast, … A great column of water went right straight up and a mist shot out laterally… . Up and up went the column of water, and a big white cloud seemed to form and sit atop the water. Then the column began to spill over from the top and a tremendous curtain of water hung in the air and then slowly descended. It seemed a minute or more before the the big booOOOooooMMMM came to us, and I felt it as well as heard it or at least though I felt pressure on my body. A mist hung over the lagoon for at least half and hour after it was over.”
about to be exploded. Will says, “I was on the bridge before 0800. Took movies of the whole show. As the voice of Abraham clicked off the minutes and then the seconds, five seconds, four seconds, three seconds, two seconds, one second and then the blast, … A great column of water went right straight up and a mist shot out laterally… . Up and up went the column of water, and a big white cloud seemed to form and sit atop the water. Then the column began to spill over from the top and a tremendous curtain of water hung in the air and then slowly descended. It seemed a minute or more before the the big booOOOooooMMMM came to us, and I felt it as well as heard it or at least though I felt pressure on my body. A mist hung over the lagoon for at least half and hour after it was over.”
Sunday, July 28, Will’s journal entries are ominous. Will says, ”At about four we left the lagoon and cruised in open water all night. The water had increased in radioactivity to the point where it was best to get out. We came back to our earlier berth Monday morning.” Thursday, August 1: “… Only six ships have been inspected. the rest are still too hot for men to board. Crews have spent today, Friday, washing them down with hoses and by scrubbing with lime but it doesn’t seem to do too much good.” I want to say, “Did you speculate the situation might be dire?”
Sunday, August 4, Will returned to Bikini and looked for coconuts in the center of the island. He had a few beers at the club knowing this would be his last visit to Bikini. Tuesday, August 6: The USS Avery Island pulled up anchor and left for San Francisco.
As Will reflected upon his experiences at Bikini, he says, “ we must all work to see that the bomb is never again used in anger against anyone.” If I could respond to that voice I heard when I opened his journal, I would tell my father, “I agree that we cannot use untold power and force against others. Peace is the goal, not war. The development of weapons of such magnitude only creates fear in the world and defensiveness. Others will pursue the bomb, and now that we have tested it and used it against humans at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the desire for power will only foster the danger of future wars.”
Meanwhile, the Bikini Islanders were pleading to return to their island. Their struggle for life on Rongerik was becoming more difficult, and they were frightened and depressed. In an effort to quell their dissatisfaction, the US military flew Juda to Bikini after the detonation of Able. While vessels had sustained considerable damage, Bikini itself, as Will had observed, appeared to be unscathed. Juda and his people did not understand the danger of radioactivity or why they could not return home as they had been promised. By August 1946, the palm trees on Rongerik had stopped producing, the fish made them sick and starvation was a real concern.
To continue the conversation with my father, I would tell him, “I believe the displacement of indigenous people and the destruction of their culture is a gross violation of human rights.” And, “the protection of the rights of all people is a greater goal than the development of a bomb to end all wars. I know you believed you were acting to benefit mankind, but your basic reasoning was fallacious.”
The Bikini Project is a personal endeavor regarding my father’s participation in Operation Crossroads at Bikini Island in 1946. I recently discovered the six-month daily journal in which he recorded his experiences while a civilian participant in the atomic bomb testing that occurred at Bikini.
A Bikini Vignette (4)
Juda, chief alab of the Bikini people, faced a responsibility far greater than any alab had ever encountered when he led his people from Bikini to Rongerik in 1946 in preparation for United States nuclear testing during Operation Crossroads.
Juda, Chief Alab of the Bikini People, Rogerik Island 1948 Photograph by Leonard Mason, Anthropologist
The Rongerik Settlement
Soon after Juda and the Bikini people arrived at Rogerik, it became clear that the resources on Rongerik had been greatly exaggerated. The small island, 1/6th the size of Bikini, did not have enough food for them to eat or water for them to drink. After they had lived on Rongerik for two months, the seriousness of their situation became evident, and Juda began the first of his many requests to return his people to Bikini. Despite Juda’s reports of the desperate conditions under which his people lived, the administration did little to rectify the situation of these displaced people.
A Bikini Family, Rogerik Settlement 1948 Photograph by Leonard Mason, Anthropologist
Only after two years had passed and it was indisputable that the Rongerik settlement had failed, did the Trust Territory administration begin a thorough investigation of the status of the Bikini Islanders on Rongerik.
When the anthropologist Leonard Mason arrived at Rongerik January 31, 1948 to conduct the investigation, he discovered the Bikini people were eating a gruel of flour and water, all resources from the store were depleted, the crops were failing and fish were scarce. The only drinkable water was rainwater doled out to each family one bucket per day. Mason also learned that in May 1947 a fire destroyed 1/5 of the island, further reducing the food supply. He concluded the Bikini people were in “an extreme state of impoverishment” and recommended immediate relocation.
The Kwajalein Settlement
The Bikini people were relocated from Rongerik on March 14, 1948 to Kwajalein Atoll where they lived in a tent camp beside the airstrip used by the American military. As the link between the Territorial Trust administration and the Bikini community on Kwajalein, Juda gained experience in working with Americans and greater respect within his own community as their leader.
The Kwajalein Settlement Photograph By Robert Kiste
Meeting of Bikini Men on Kwajalein, Photograph by Robert Kiste
The Kili Settlement
After eight months in temporary housing on Kwajalein, the Bikini people were relocated again, this time to Kili, an uninhabited island in the Southern Marshall Islands. Kili lacked a lagoon and a sheltered fishing area. Seas were rough with waves 10 to 20 feet high. In bad weather the Bikini people could not fish, and the Trust Territory ships that brought food supplies could not unload.
Despite these difficulties, the Bikini people obtained some success in growing crops on Kili and in achieving partial revitalization of their community. By continuing the communal governing council established at Rongerik under Juda’s direction, they approached work tasks more effectively as a community rather than individual family units. Demonstrating faith in Juda’s leadership, the administration invited Juda to represent the Bikini people at a conference of atoll magistrates in Majuro in 1949. The following year he was elected to the newly formed Marshall Islands Congress.
The Bikini People on Kili, Photographs by Robert Kiste
In the long run, however, the food the Bikini People were able to grow and the amount of fish they caught were not sufficient to sustain them. The redistribution of land into Bamli units was problematic and the Kili Development Project organized by the Trust Territory administration was a failure.
In 1957 and 1958, typhoons hit Kili hard and destroyed most of the crops they had planted. Eventually, the Bikini people became dependent on United States canned food for their survival, and their general dependence on the United States for assistance increased.
The United States Continued Nuclear Testing
While the Bikini people were struggling with these challenges, The United States continued its nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands including the detonation of 23 nuclear weapons on Bikini Atoll. March 1, 1954, the United States exploded the hydrogen bomb, Bravo, in the NW corner of Bikini Atoll. Bravo was the largest nuclear bomb the United States ever detonated, 1000 times more powerful than the bombs it dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Three islands were pulverized by the explosion and no longer exist. Radioactive debris rose more than 20 miles into the air and fallout spread over much of the Marshall Islands.
Assessment of Radiation Levels on Bikini Island
Throughout the years, the Bikini people’s attachment to their homeland remained in tact as well as the hope that they would be able to return to Bikini some day as they had been promised. Since the Kili settlement had not been successful and the Bikini people still wanted to return to their home, the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory persuaded officials in Washington, D.C. to investigate whether it would be safe for them to return to their island.
The Atomic Energy Commission conducted a study that resulted in the finding that “The exposures of radiation that would result from the repatriation of the Bikini people do not offer a significant threat to their health and safety.” June 1968 President Lynden B. Johnson stated that the 540 Bikini people living on Kili would be able to return to their island.
Death of Juda, 1968
Juda died in 1968 a few months before the announcement that Bikini was safe for habitation. He had led his people through all of their relocations, petitioned for their welfare and sought retribution for damage to Bikini and the hardships his people endured.
Return to Bikini
At the time of President Johnson’s statement, Bikini was not the island the people remembered. Debris and equipment from the nuclear tests cluttered the land. Three islands in the atoll had disappeared, most coconut palms had been destroyed and the island was covered with scrub vegetation.
The immense effort to prepare Bikini for habitation that began in 1969 involved the removal of debris and the replanting of the island. After the cleanup phase was completed, the Atomic Energy Commission stated, ”There’s virtually no radiation left and we can find no discernible effect on either plant or animal life.”
During the second phase, however, investigators discovered that coconut crab shells contained high levels of radioactivity. Alarmed by this information, the Bikini council delayed the schedule for return. However, by this time, three extended families had already moved into the cement structures constructed for them.
Bikini Islanders Evacuated Once Again
In 1975 during routine monitoring of radioactivity levels on Bikini, radioactivity levels were discovered to be high, and the United States Department of Interior stated, ”Bikini appears to be hotter or questionable as to safety.” Additional reports indicated water from the wells was too contaminated to drink and the local foods such as pandanus and breadfruit, were too contaminated to eat. Continued investigations confirmed that Bikini was too radioactive to support life, and in September 1978, Trust Territory officials once again evacuated the Bikini Islanders.
References:
Barker, Holly M. 2004. Bravo for the Marshallese: Regaining Control in a Post-Nuclear, Post Colonial World. Thompson and Wadsworth.
Kiste, Robert C. 1974. The Bikinians: A Study in Forced Migration. Cummings Publishing Company.
Mason, Leonard. 1948. Rongerik Report: Summary Findings and Recommendations. Office of the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Niedenthal, Jack. 2001. For the Good of Mankind, A History of the People of Bikini and Their Islands. Bravo Publishers Majuro, Marshall Islands.
The Bikini Project is a personal endeavor regarding my father’s participation in Operation Crossroads at Bikini Island in 1946. I recently discovered the six-month daily journal in which he recorded his experiences while a civilian participant in the atomic bomb testing that occurred at Bikini.
A Bikini Vignette (5)
Operation Crossroads ended prematurely August 10, 1946. The detonation of the third scheduled atomic test, “Charlie,” was deemed too dangerous. High radiation levels and concern for the sailors’ safety were the main reasons for the cancellation. In addition, there were further concerns about the inability of the geiger counters to register plutonium.
The detonation of two atomic bombs at Bikini during Operation Crossroads created high levels of radiation
Will Whitmore reported in his journal that some of the men involved in the cleanup had to take “as many as six showers to rid themselves of fission products.” Will himself boarded the target ships soon after the detonations. He was hosed down afterwards, but that was not sufficient to rid him of radiation.
Wednesday, August 7, 1946 was “Getaway Day.” Will stated, “ The Captain called muster right after breakfast,” and the USS Avery Island “weighed anchor,” headed straight for the channel and passed Enyu Island on the way. Will describes languishing long days on board when he lay in the sun, read and loafed.
Will Leaves Bikini
August 21, 1946, The USS Avery Island slipped under the Golden Gate Bridge and docked in San Francisco harbor. Will states I… “got my orders signed and finished packing and left the Avery Island for good. When we pulled away from it I thought I should have some emotions about leaving the ship for good but there was nothing.”
I am surprised that Will felt nothing. Does he reflect on his experiences. Does he wonder about the magnitude of the nuclear weapons he helped to proliferate. Does he think about the dangers of radiation? Does he even wonder how the Bikini people fared as displaced people on a small island. Did he wonder whether they had enough food to eat. Most likely none of the 40,000 participants in Operation Crossroads ever thought again about the Bikini people who left their home island “for the good of mankind.”
Will Returns to Manhasset New York
From San Francisco, Will flew to Chicago where he me Jane, Jean and Allene. They traveled together to Manhasset, New York where Will lived in a three bedroom home with a lovely garden. While it was not an elaborate home, It was comfortable and secure. He did not want for anything. Having enough food to eat was never a concern.
At the time Will was arriving home, Chief Juda and the Bikini people were starving on Rongerik. They were pleading with the U.S. Navy administration to relocate them to an island that had sufficient food or return them to Bikini which was uninhabitable due to radiation levels. They were heartbroken over the loss of their home and frightened.
Will Learns to Sail
The Bikini seas, the sunsets, the night skies seduced Will. He had grown up landlocked in Texas, and at Bikini he learned to love the sea. He was fascinated by the outrigger canoes the Bikini people built. They were the largest and some of the most seaworthy outriggers in the Marshall Islands. He was astounded by the ability of the Bikini people to navigate their craft in all kinds of weather by reading the ripples in the sea.
Bikini Outrigger Canoe Carl Mydans Photograph, 1946 For Life Magazine
After Will left Bikini he too wanted to sail. Fortunately for Will, Manhasset was located on a protected bay that emptied into Long Island Sound and from there, flowed into the ocean at Shelter Island. The Sound offered entry to many ports, rivers as well as the ocean.
Will’s first sailboat was small, and I don’t remember it well since I was still quite young when he bought it. He named his second sail boat Bikini. It was a Mount Desert Island craft built in a small workshop in Maine. Of his three sailboats, Bikini was my favorite. She was fast and heeled to the wind at acute angles, sails filled full. Our family spent almost every summer weekend sailing together.
Will’s Sail Boat, Bikini About 1956 Unknown Photographer
Will’s passion for the sea grew, and he became determined to find the builder of his beloved Bikini. We found him in a small workshop in Maine hunched over the hull he was shaping. I remember an excited meeting between Will and the builder.
A few years later Will felt a desire to sail farther from land and to remain at sea for extended periods of time. He dreamed that some day he might sail across the Atlantic ocean alone. He dragged his “mostly willing” family with him to boat show and exhibits to see those sail boats that had successfully completed the journey. His book shelves were stacked with tomes about sailing and navigational adventures. He admired Joshua Slocum.
We were all crew members with our individual responsibilities. I was the navigator. Will taught me how to read charts, plot courses and hold the tiller to the compass. In the winter, the family worked on Bikini while she was in dry dock. We sanded and varnished, painted the hull and repaired lines and hardware. We took the sails to a small shop in Port Washington for mending.
The Death of Will Whitmore and Chief Juda of the Bikini People
Will’s life seemed secure, filled with good family times and a lot of fun sailing. However, unknown to him or us, radiation, the invisible enemy, was slowly taking a toll on his body. It would be several years before the extent of the devastation was apparent. Will Whitmore died of cancer October 20, 1959 at the age of 57. His doctors believed the cancer was caused by exposure to excessive levels of radiation at Bikini during Operation Crossroads. The image of Will sailing Bikini is, I am sure, how he would like to be remembered. It is also how I would like to remember him. Juda outlived Will by nine years. The cause of Juda’s death is unknown.
Will Whitmore Sailing “Bikini” about 1956 Photograph by Gene (Jean) Whitmore Marsh