1/19: Today's #AASaturdayStory begins with President Truman and the Cold War. Amidst a national frenzy of the possibility of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, Truman kept the 82nd out of Korea as a strategic reserve. In the event of war with USSR, the 82nd could jump in.
2/19: Truman (& Ike) were more afraid of the Russians than the Chinese. The (now declassified) war plans called for us to jump into either Finland, Norway, or Sweden & move across potentially nuclear-devastated battlefields to the Soviet Union.
3/19: The most likely scenario was a winter war in Europe. To prepare for this, in winter of 1952, we trained in the Adirondacks, jumping in freezing conditions, in snow w/ cold weather boots on, cold weather jackets on, snow shoes carried.
4/19: But cold weather was only one problem we had to be ready for. We also had to be prepared to jump into the aftermath of an American atomic bomb fired at the Soviet Union.
Between 1945 and 1951, the US conducted 24 atomic bomb tests within the US.
5/19: On April 22 '52, The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project would conduct the country's 25th weapons test: Op. Big Shot at Nevada Proving Ground. This would be the largest explosion in US to date (more than 2 x size of Hiroshima), an A-bomb that could devastate all of Texas.
6/19: Operation Big Shot had a few more firsts: this was the 1st time a nuclear weapons test would be "open to the public" (in fact, access was more restricted than the DoD let on) and the first time airborne troops would conduct an airborne operations into a contaminated area.
7/19: Truman wanted to generate public confidence in our ability to react to a nuclear war with the USSR. The op. would be broadcast live. 2nd Battalion, 504th was selected for the mission. A B-50 bomber would deliver the nuclear device on the Yucca Flats (cross in this map).
8/19: Our ~300 Paratroopers first conducted a mock-nuclear war exercise (w/o any bombs) in Ft. Hood, TX in early April '52. From there they arrived at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada (shown here) on April 16th. Upon arrival, they were only told they would jump into the Nevada desert.
9/19: One day prior, the men were told they would observe the blast from trenches & then jump in after the site was clear of radioactivity.
The day came. They observed the blast from trenches 3 miles away. When the blast hit: "we felt the heat holding us down in the trench."
10/19: Within 40 minutes of the blast, trucks arrived. "Get in, you're going to load the aircraft." The men put on all their combat gear. 1 of the men, Sergeant Ed Nelson asked "where do we get our protective suits?" The reply: "You don't. Let's go."
11/19: They were in the air. 14 C-46s. Within 20 minutes the doors open. Some can see the blast remnants from the plane. Green light, they exit. Corporal Al Tseu is the 3rd man, 2nd plane. His chute doesn't open. Jumping into a nuclear fallout is bad enough. Now this.
12/19: His main was all tangled up. He opened (& threw forward) his reserve for the 1st time in his life (what a time to find out if that thing works) & then climbs to untangle his main. He lands safely, w/ 2 full chutes, almost on top of the photographer who took this photo.
13/19: Some of the men landed within 200 meters of "ground zero." Most were ~ 700 meters away. ~ A dozen somehow exited late & were dropped 13 kilometers away from the drop zone. 5 Troopers were injured on landing & had to be evacuated out, but other than that, a good jump.
14/19: On the drop zone, the men see pigs, horses, and sheep in penned in areas. Some were dead, some had red streaks, others appeared just fine. The Paratroopers ran off the drop zone until they see men in protective suits with Geiger counters (used for measuring radiation).
15/19: Keep in mind, our Paratroopers were NOT in protective suits.
Staff Sgt. Mike Norris notices that the Geiger counter is buzzing as it touches the Paratroopers' uniforms. "Why is the needle on that device going up so high?" Man in protective suit: "Don't worry about it."
16/19: The next day the test is on the front page of the NY Times. The article quotes a US Atomic Energy Commission official stating a test of radiation intensity was taken b/f the Paratroopers jumped in. If that did occur, the results were never published & it's not documented
17/19: 14 years go by. Most of the ~ 300 leave the Army. In 1966, the men receive a health questionnaire from the Atomic Energy Commission. In the 1970s they begin receiving regular VA health inspections for the effects of radiation.
18/19: As the country became more aware of the risks of radiation, some of the men became bitter. They felt as though they had been treated like guinea pigs & were not carried for or given sufficient information about treatment of their skin and uniforms after the operation.
19/19: These men are a part of our legacy. We cannot let them be lost to history. They knowingly jumped into the most dangerous drop zone possible outside of actual combat. They did it because they knew that if the Nation called them to nuclear war, they had to be ready.
CORRECTION: On Tweet 5/19:We state that Operation Big Shot could have destroyed the State of Texas, extracted from a statement from the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project before the exercise in 1952. That is not the case. OBS was 43-KT bomb (by comparison, Hiroshima was 15).
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