f\ Beg 4 fi Ee eb ee a ALT st wy it way LG fe tie, (Sditor's note: ‘ Cu va wr wy . James Vv. ve D ge Sc td MN gta: uhosew waii, ~Nf a7 Trust oa cer, accompanied the first group of Ena- ENIWETAK (MNS) -- When the MS Militobi arrived at Japtan Island on the morning of Harcn 15, with 55 Marshallese from ber 20, 1947, in a ilavel LST for Ujelang Atoll, 124 miles to tne southwest. On December 2, 1947, the United States government had notified the Security Council of the United Nations that Enewetak Atoll was to be closed to the world for security reasons in order that “necessary experiments relating to nuclear fissian" be conducted at the 30-square-mile atoll. The people of Enawetak moved te Ujelang based on an agreement which was to give wetak is dominated by a mighty 8,190-foot concrete runway which handled 75 bombers during World War II. The other half of the istand is crowded with anodized aluminum Butler buildings of every shape and size; warehouses, living quarters, messhallts and . clubs. Fuel tanks, water towers, a huge hangar, Saltwater conversien units, and concrete bunkers also dot the two and a half mile strip which lies between tne deep blue Pacific and the aqua tlue lagoon. A. Gilmer 5) 321 J | ° } nee ¥ hundred-foot wall of water generated by the hydrogen blast and is not considered thabitable for another thirty years. a What are the people of Enewetak finding upon their return? The main island of Ene- , | main northern island, was inundated by a them full land rights to the uninhabited years. woe, ~ several hundred years during their 29-year absence. . There are other changes too that they are well aware of. Traditionally the northern islands of the atol} were occupied by | the Enjebi people and the southern istands by the Enewetak people. Only the southern islands are considered inhabitable. Twa northern islands were vaporized during the tests: one during the explosion of the world's first hydrogen bomb in 1952, and the second six years later. Enjebi, the - back to the peopie who left here on Decem- not only be returning, but will also participate in the clean-up and rehabilitation program which may last as long as three | ‘time waro. Their old world will hava aged the forties, and the cold war and atomic testing of the fifties, is being turned The 56 Wwho-are now arriving will _ To those returning for the first time, they wili probably feel like science fic' tion space voyagers who passed thraugh a ‘ symbol of the war in the Pacific during for a $20 million clean-up program to get underway. - Militobi. Ujetang, it marked the beginning of the nd of the American era on Enewetak Atol). Enewetak, known to most*Americans as a missioner cf the Trust Territcry, Peter T. Coleman signed a series of agreements which would begin the return process and allow - | buildings, bunkers, communications sites, animal pens and other reminders of tne nu- | clear testing program. It is presently undergoing an intensive clean-up and rehabil- | jtation for the first arrivals. A !iawaiian Juau is scneduled upon the arrival of the weterxese to their home islands after 3 years of absence. Following is his storw) But the 136 Enewetakese becaine 450 by 1976, and Ujelang was no longer adequate. The U.S. had ended its atomic testing program in 1958, and its other scientific and technical programs were slowly being phased out. There was a growing sentiment emong ~ the Enewetak people to return to their ancestral home. On September 16, 1976, Acting High Com- : The island of Japtan, where the first returnees will Jive, has numerous Butler Territory #ign Commissioner's prass offi- atoll. AD Enos Abel eae na AP Spacer at ApeIe The island of Runit, near the line di- I viding the north and south, is contaminated | !by radio-active plutonium and is off limits {for the indefinite future. This poses a serious political question: — Despite frequent intermarriages, will the j Enjebt people wish to live on the islands which traditionally belong to the Enewetak peoole, or will they choose to remain on _Ujelang? ; |. And another question: What will become of: | the massive scientific, technological com— ‘plex on Enewetek Island, which once housed ! ' over 5,000 technicians, but 1s now a 2ist - Century ghost town situated amiast a timeless environment where the lazy tradewinds i swirl coral dust around the coconut palms? oO