Will Whitmore and His Family
Will Whitmore and his family celebrate Easter April 21, 1946 in Manhasset, New York. It is the day before Will leaves for Bikini to participate as a civilian in Operation Crossroads. Will is my father, and at the time of this photo, I am five years old. My sister, Jean, is 18 months old. Allene is Will’s wife and my mother.
We were a typical suburban American family. Will was an advertising Manager for the Western Electric Company. He commuted by train to New York City and returned home in the evenings in time for dinner with his family. This was his daily routine.
Will Leaves For Bikini
April 22, 1946, my mother, sister and I drove Will to Laguardia Airport to catch his American Airlines plane to Washington, D. C. Will reported for duty, received his orders, his inoculations and his identification card, # 551. Then, Will flew to San Francisco and left for Bikini Island on USS Avery Island. He was one of the 40,000 Americans who participated in Operation Crossroads and the first two of 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands.
As a member of Code 980, Will would prepare technical reports, write manuscripts, coordinate press releases and keep the official and public channels informed of activities. His journal indicates that he believed he was embarking on a great adventure, and that he was making a contribution to the prevention of future war.
Arrival at Bikini Island
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.”
The Detonation of Able
At last, the day Will was awaiting arrived, 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. Able followed an initial test at the Trinity Site in New Mexico and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II.
The Detonation of Baker
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 big booOOOooooMMMM came to us, … . A mist hung over the lagoon for at least half an hour after it was over.”
Sunday, July 28, Will’s journal entry is ominous. Will states, ”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.”
Termination of Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads ended prematurely August 10, 1946. The detonation of a 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 was concern for the inability of the geiger counters to register plutonium.
Nevertheless, the United States continued nuclear testing operations 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 northwest corner of Bikini Atoll. Bravo was the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated, 1000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. 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.
Weighing Anchor
Wednesday, August 7, 1946 was “Getaway Day.” Will states, “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. 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.”
The Seafaring Legacy
Although Will wrote in his journal that he had “no emotion” when he left the USS Avery Island, Bikini made a lasting impression on him. At Bikini, Will gained a love for the sea. He was fascinated by the outrigger canoes of Bikini, the largest and some of the most seaworthy outriggers in the Marshall Islands. He was impressed by the ability of the Bikini people to navigate their craft in all kinds of weather by reading the ripples in the sea.
After Will left Bikini, he too wanted to sail in open waters. Manhasset, New York where Will lived was located on a protected bay that emptied into Long Island Sound and from there, flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. The Sound offered entry to many ports, rivers and safe harbors.
Will named his sail boat “Bikini”. It was a Mount Desert Island craft built in a small workshop in Maine. Our family spent many summer weekends sailing together. Will’s book shelves were filled with tomes about sailing and navigational adventures.
The Death of Will Whitmore
Will’s life seemed secure, filled with good family times and the enjoyment of sailing. He and his family felt safe, and their way of life was reliable and predictable. However, unknown to Will or his family, radiation 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.
My Question
Browned and crisped, the pages of my father’s journal are stuck together inside a faded cover. I worry that traces of radiation are embedded in the journal. I worry that I will become contaminated as I carefully separate the pages. I have read and reread the journal many times searching for answers to my question: Why did my father, Will Whitmore, voluntarily participate in Operation Crossroads, a project that brought suffering to others and intensified the threat of nuclear war?
The journal does not provide clear answers. Although my father documents his experiences, he does not reflect upon his feelings, ponder his moral responsibility or consider the consequences of his participation in Operation Crossroads. I am left, instead, on my own to fit the pieces of the puzzle together unaided by his journal.
A Failure of Critical Thinking and Moral Responsibility
In searching for answers, I try to be fair despite my tendency to be critical. These were different times I tell myself. People didn’t think about the deeper issues. I remind myself that in 1946 ideas I take for granted now had not reached American consciousness. The peace and civil rights movements would not occur for another 20 years. Nevertheless, the horrors of the Second World War and the nuclear bombing of Japan, less than one year before Operation Crossroads, should have caused Will to pause. He was a mature adult capable of sound decision making if only he chose to think critically.
On August 6, 1945, the United States detonated the atomic bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima. Three days later it dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. It is estimated that 140,000 people died at Hiroshima and 74,000 died at Nagasaki. Thousands more died from radiation sickness and the longterm effects of radiation exposure in the days, weeks and years following the explosions.
The atomic bombing of Japan and the deaths of more than 200,000 people, 95 per cent of whom were civilians, was a horrific crime against humanity committed by the United States. Will knew the United States had created and used a monster of mass destruction and human suffering. Why did he choose to participate in Operation Crossroads?
Belief in the Deterrence of Future Wars
At the time of Operation Crossroads strong beliefs supported the continued testing of nuclear weapons by the United States. Will, undoubtedly, was influenced by these beliefs, one of which was that the testing, development and possession of nuclear weapons would deter other nations from instigating wars. This belief, prevalent in 1946 and during the cold war, was flawed.
During the last 75 years since Operation Crossroads, nuclear weapons have proliferated in a spiral of escalation. On September 23, 1949, Moscow Radio announced that the Soviet Union had developed an atomic bomb. Today nine nations possess nuclear weapons and together they have tested more than 2,000.
On February 24, 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. On February 27, 2022 Vladimir Putin announced to the world that he was putting Russia’s nuclear forces on alert. The threat of a nuclear disaster from intent or accident has become more, not less, real.
Belief in United States Exceptionalism
Another belief that Will undoubtedly accepted was that the United States was an exceptional, powerful and righteous country with an obligation to lead and protect other nations. The belief in United States exceptionalism is vividly portray in the documentary film, “Operation Crossroads, March 1946” (Please see below). In this film, the development of nuclear weapons is presented as a great accomplishment and a necessary choice for the United States.
Disregard for Indigenous People
Associated with the belief in American exceptionalism was the idea that indigenous people of non western countries were primitive and somehow inferior. In his journal, Will writes about beautiful sunsets, the night sky and fantasizes a simple and peaceful life on Bikini. However, he does not mention the Bikini people who sacrificed their island “For the Good of Mankind”. He does not reflect upon the demise of their homeland, their culture or their lives and health. Will focuses instead on the detonation of two nuclear bombs, Able and Baker. The welfare of the Bikinians, and ultimately the rest the world, was insignificant in comparison to the perceived importance of the United States’s mission at Operation Crossroads.
A Possible Answer to My Question
When my father died in 1959, most likely from radiation exposure during Operation Crossroads, I was 19. I criticized my father for his lack of careful thought and moral responsibility, his lack of attention to his health and his participation in such an unworthy project. Until I found his journal four years ago, I distance myself from my father’s memory by maintaining this negative attitude.
My father was not an evil person who intended to contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons or the suffering of others. He was an ordinary man susceptible to the propaganda that justified Operation Crossroads. He lacked a humanitarian perspective on human rights and most likely never thought about the consequences of Operation Crossroads for the world or the indigenous people whose homeland was devastated.
Contrary to my initial worries, I have not become contaminated by my father’s journal, and I have not been found complicit in an intergenerational crime against the Bikini people. Instead, reading my father’s journal has liberated me from an adolescent pattern of idealization and devaluation. My father was the most important person in my childhood. I have become more understanding and accepting of his flaws. We all have our flaws including me. Unfortunately, some are more consequential than others.
Will’s personal story and the Bikini Project in general illustrate the importance of critical thinking, reflection and moral responsibility regarding the longterm effects of our actions. I believe we have a duty to others, not to our country per se, but to our global community. And I believe we must be vigilant and discerning of the missions we choose to support.