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04416 |
145k |
USAT LST-618 at Rongelap Atoll, Marshall Islands, 29 June 1957,
On this date USAT LST-618 returned the Bikini Atoll Islanders to their home atoll.
In 1946 the US Navy had evacuated the Bikini Atoll Islanders prior to nuclear weapons tests. On 1 March 1954 the United States detonatated a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb (Castle Bravo test)
allegedly unaware that fallout will reach Rongelap. On 3 March 1954 the US evacuated the Rongelap inhabitants to Kwajalein Atoll. The Islanders had been vomiting and had diarrhea, skin burns,
and some later experienced hair loss. They were suffering from acute radiation syndrome. From 1955 tp 1957 the displaced Rongelapese inhabitants repeatedly requested permission from the US
Government to return to their atoll. In 1957 the Atomic Energy Commission declared Rongelap safe for re-habitation.
U.S. Navy Photos, from the Jack A. Tobin Photograph Collection. Ref. numbers 4416, 0431, 5046, 1493 and 1497. University of Hawaii at Manoa, LIbrary Digital Image Collections. Made publicly available for purposes
of research, education, and private study |
David Upton |
