Preparations for Atomic Bomb Test at Bikini Atoll – Displacement of Inhabitants and Religious Council
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- February 21, 1946
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FILE NUMBER 701993 RELEASED 21 FEBRUARY 1946
SCENES FROM ATOMIC BOMB TEST SITE ON BIKINI ATOLL IN MARSHALLS — A giant task force, moored in lagoon waters to serve as a naval target, will be gathered for the first peacetime test of the atomic bomb, to be held in early May near Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. A Joint Army and Navy undertaking, Vice Admiral W. H. P. Blandy is the overall commander of Joint Army-Navy Task Force One. The bomb, of the Nagasaki type, will be dropped from a B-29, fly five miles high, and the explosion will be in the nose. Bikini Atoll’s 161 native inhabitants will be evacuated. These JTF1 Task Force One photos show life in Bikini, and some forthcoming changes made necessary by the tests.
BIKINI ATOLL RELIGIOUS COUNCIL PLANS MOVE REQUIRED BY A-BOMB TESTS — Council House, where church and tribal leaders meet to conduct religious and educational discussions on Bikini Atoll, will be moved to a selected atoll in the Marshall Islands before the first peacetime tests of the atomic bomb are held there by the Joint Army and Navy Task Force One, in early May. The 14 men and six women members of the council meet weekly for sessions like the one shown here in first picture from the scene of the test of the atom bomb against naval targets.
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"JOINT ARMY – NAVY TASK FORCE ONE PHOTOGRAPH"