CHAPTER I, SECTION 1 (Neg. No. W-V-184-3) Figure No. 1-7. Weather Station and Native Village at Kusaie. of various missions into and out ofall islands and areas where future event participation was required, completion of partially completed facilities and stations, and the operation of support facilities and services. Marine and air support was much in demand,especially during the days before and after events. At Bikini Atoll a similar program was effected with the exception that the camp at Oboe’ was maintained in a livable status throughout the tests at the atoll. It was necessary to evacuate personnel to sea for only two events at Bikini Atoll; at Eniwetok Atoll evacuations at sea were not necessitated. Although personnel remained ashore during the majority of test events, the capability for emergency evacuation at all sites was maintained throughout. By 1 May 1958 processing of excess person- nel had begun and continued throughout the duration of the Operation. A procedure was established to ensure adequate numbers of certain skills being retained to offset losses occurring through normal attrition and possible exposure to radiation, and to provide sufficient personnel for all support activities. This procedure proved effective when late in the Operation seven additional afloat stations and two Ground Zero Stations were added to the program and completed on schedule. Equipment and property were returned from off-island sites and processed for storage as dictated by operational needs, and all salvage- able property was removed from danger areas. As information was furnished regardingfacilities excess to the Operation, these facilities were Page 26 rolled up and secured to a stand-by status for the interim period. With the exception of Truk and Ponape, the Weather and Rad-safety Stations were rolled up by 15 August 1958 and crews, property, and equipment were returned to Elmer. At Bikini the roll-up and mothballing of camp facilities were completed, and the atoll was abandoned on 19 August 1958. After the last event on Johnston Island, the service tower was dismantled and stored at Johnston Island, other facilities were rolled up, and the final shipload of equipment and supplies departed for Eniwetok on 19 September 1958. REPATRIATION OF RONGELAPESE. One of the significant accomplishments following Operation REDWING was the repatriation of the Rongelap natives after an absence of three years from their home atoll. This humanely interesting episode started 1 March 1954, when a thermonuclear device, (the BRAVO event), was detonated in Bikini Atoll during Operation CASTLE. As a result of shifting winds, radioactive particles carried toward the atolls of Rongelap, Rongerik, and Utirik. Temporarily 82 Rongelapese were housed in emergency quarters on Ebeye Island in Kwajalein ‘toll until a village could be constructed for them. Holmes & Narver was directed by the AEC one month later to prepare plans and estimates for the construction of a village on Ejit Island in Majuro Atoll. The construction was completed, and in June 1954 most of the Rongelapese were moved to this village, where they remained