toe

,

ee

Toe wan Tp

4

a

~

eos

ah ets fides a

ee a

x

.

Tank-ICM Operations - Radsafe PartyNo. 6

.

ee

X-RAY=plus 3 the island and swimming beaches were cleared and by
X-RAY=plus 5 the drones were cleared for flight to Kwajalein.

No
By

awe

OA ap

Some slight fall-out vas observed about 2100 of X-RAY Day.
activity was observed in any of the salt or well water intakes,

.

The * ashing was completed by the morning of

spot

X RAY-plus 3.

x
tae A
eg.
Me
a ay
Aen Bi
;
eR

Washing down and deco-tamination of the drones was accomplished

by the air monitors,

a gs

dl

=

UNCLASSIFIED

The purpose of the Tank-IOM operation was to procure a soil sample

from the crater at the point of detonation of the atomic weapon,

A

Ly

tank revetment was built on each of the test islands located as far as

wel:

tank, brilliantly painted for easy visibility, was concealed at the time
of the test, It was equipped with remote controls,which permitted the

he
i

possible from the zero point.

In this revetment the chassis of a light

vehicle to move either right, left, or forward, It was also fitted with .
a scoop in front for the purpose of lifting up a sample of the soil.

When obtained this sample was divided into two parts, the smaller part
was taken to the laboratory on board the USS BATROKO, and the other to
Eniwetok where it was loaded on aircraft and flown to the Los Alamos
jJaboratories in the United States,

The tank was operated by remote control from a helicopter, after
_its operation had been checked by a ground operator, and it was guided
by this means to the crater and return, If, for any reason, the helicopter and its standby lost control, the tank operation could be taken
over by an auxillary set of control equipment in the LCM which brought

the party to the island, The I0M also carried an additional tank for
use if the first tank failed,
The monitors assigned to this mission on X-Ray Day were ICDR

Vandergrift and LT, Woy.

Dr. Bowman, who was in charge of the mission,

and Mr, Stanley, his assistant, remained behind on Eniwetok completing
the drone filter removal, as the Tank ICM took off for the test island.
The ICM picked up the monitors from the BAIROKO and beached at the
lower end of the island not far fram the Tank Revetment.

No damage had

been done to the tank by the blast other than loss of the antenna, This
was replaced, the tank was started and driven out of the revetment to
await the arrival of Dr. Bowman and Mr, StanLey by helicopter, Upon =~
his arrival at 1110, the tank controlling helicopter was called fram the
BATROKO, and Dr. Bowman accompanied by LCDR Vandergrift proceeded by
jeep to lay out the flag markers, beyond which it would be unsafe for

the tank controlling helicopter to fly.

The tank performed well, and made two runs with samples which were

considered too low in intensity, On the third attempt the tank was
stalled in the crater and could not be moved by remote control, The
reserve tank could not be used because it was now minus its radio
antenna which it had sacrificed for the first tank.
ow 2 o

aa

5001918.

UNCLAGSIFIED

ae

ee

Select target paragraph3