British Nuclear Test Veterans Association
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Christmas Island As I Remember It
Vincent Prust
My first day there was the 1st April 1958 - an apt date. We were approaching a further major Test at the end of the month and the Island's inhabitants were increasing with the arrival of the aircrews directly involved with the 'drop', their back-up ground crew and scientists from Atomic Warfare Research Establishment Aldermaston.
Conditions were very primitive. We lived in tents, sanitation was basic and the food, whilst good, was usually ruined by the RAF cooks. The main off-duty recreations were lying in the sun once the heat had abated, writing letters, over-drinking and going to the open air cinema which showed recently released films. Two W.V.S. women, specially selected for their motherly plainness, ran the library, and were the only women on the island apart from the wives of Gilbert & Ellis Islanders, whose husbands were there for hard labouring.
The main hazards apart from the lingering nuclear contamination, about which we were told nothing, were our exposure to the sun, boredom, drunkeness and the occasional suicide following a 'Dear John' from the UK. This was usually done by 'running for the reef' a razor-sharp coral shelf that surrounded the island some 100 yd's out. Once over this, there was little chance of return due to the vast undertow and no escape from the sharks attracted by the blood.
On the 28th April, things changed. The RAF was encouraged to have an early breakfast. The Army was marched to breakfast and then to the trucks. We all assembled some 10 miles from 'Burst Point' and given white overalls with a hood that made us look like the Klu Klux Klan. A voice on the Tannoy told us what was happening and after some hours we were told to squat down, our backs to the 'Blast', close and screw our knuckles into our eyes. The sound of the explosion was surprisingly soft. Then the flash was like a gigantic magnesium flare, giving a x-ray image of our fingers. 'Stay down, Stay Down' continued the Tannoy. Then the heat arrived. It passed through our bodies with a vicious intensity. 'Stay down, Stay down'. The blast wave hit us with a sound like a gigantic whiplash. 'You can get up now'. As we did, we saw massive palm trees lashing up and down like blades of grass. We could now look at the mushroom cloud - some of us had taken dark glasses. It rose over the sea and was awesome. At its centre the fire ball rose, yellow, brown, red. The sea boiled.
At this point the aircraft from the sampling squadron entered the cloud to obtain samples for research. The aircraft were later cleaned with soap and water by the decontamination squads, as were the aircrew, the ground crew and the decontamination squads themselves.
We were told that this had been the largest explosion known to Man.
The rest of the day was free. We could sit and watch the cloud rise until hours later; it was dispersed by the wind and air currents. For days the beaches were littered with dead fish.
Later that year there was three more H-bomb tests, which seemed smaller. The procedures were similar, except that this time there were no Klu Klux Klan suits and the only precaution was that we were standing on a landing craft to be evacuated by the ROYAL NAVY should anything go wrong. During this phase, there were also two atomic Bomb tests. We were approx 5 miles from 'Burst'. There was NO SECURITY. Although less potent than the H-bomb's (they were only used as trigger mechanisms) they were extremely dirty in fall out and contamination terms and the decontamination process was very long.
I left Christmas Island in late October.