Lt Col Gomes, DMA, and I arrived in Honolulu Friday night, Aug 23. breakfast the next morning we met with Mr. William Bonnet of the Honolulu Area Office to discuss the trip. At We also met Mr. Al Carter of the H & N Staff who was to assist us. We met Commissioner Norwood and other representatives of the Trust Territory Government and of the press at Majuro on Sunday, August 25. On Majuro we were briefed by WIDHIO: DAV: SVT | J?» " Mr. Norwood on the proposed itinerary and there was opportunity to meet the rest of members of his party. At this time Mr. Norwood indicated we would probably visit only the islands of Bikini and Eneu which meant there would be no opportunity for the engineering types to see the contaminated scrap areas first hand. We left Majuro Sunday afternoon on board the James Kili. On the way to Kili there wes opportunity to Williams, Seattle Times, about the 1964 AEC survey @ member. He had good recollection of what he had M. Cook bound for talk with Hill of which he was seen in the Atoll although not as much time was spent in the area in 1964 as we had spent in 1967. Prior to reaching Kili I was called aside by Mr. Norwood to talk about the meeting we would have with the Bikini people the next day. sald he anticipated questions on the safety aspects of returning the He people to Bikini and asked if I would be prepared to answer them. He stated that it was important that such questions be answered forthrigntly since any evasiveness on our part would be quickly detected. I agreed to help and stated that so far as possible I intended to use material developed by staff of EM and tne recommendations of the AD Hoe Committee to answer such questions. During the night we crossed the international date line so that the next day was Tuesday rather than Monday. At Kili we were given a warm welcome and were greeted with flowers and singing. The reception line must have contained every man, woman, and child on tne island. The meeting, initially indoors, was moved outdoors so more people could see and hear and better photographs could be taken. There were talks by the High Commissioner, by Mr. Heine the District Administrator, and by several members of the Bikini Council. WEMEHIO JV KVI Next there were questions on whether the islands were safe and whether the food was safe to eat. I told them the problem had been studied and that @ group of experts meeting in Washington had concluded the islands were safe for their return provided certain measures were taken. I summarized the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee report telling them that for the present, only the Bikini-Eneu complex is to be rehabilitated and that while they may go anywhere in the Atoll for such purposes as fishing and food collection, villages are to be built only on Bikini and Eneu. TI emphasized that the food from the lagoon would be safe to eat. Chutaro, the interpreter for Norwood's party told me later that the natives have some fear for returning