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ERRED 10 YEARS AGO
ixini is anders Lose
Acain to Raclation
When the atomic bomb cropped, I
thought Bikini would disappear completely. It would have been better,
maybe, if it had... . Then we wouldn't haveall these troubles.
—~Nathan Note, scribe
of the Bikini pecple, 1978
BY JERRY BELCHER
Times Statt Writer
Andrew Jakeo and the othersliving
BIKINI, Marshail Islands--When
the Americans made him leave Bikini
on Bikini [sland are being sub'ected to
Lyndon B. Johnson assured him. his
Some younger Bikinians may live
to.see their homeland again. but Andrew Jakeo wul not. It may be 30
years before Bikini is fit for human
habitation.
Andrew Jakeo is bitter and angry,
although like most Marshallese he
veils his emotions from outsiders.
“The Americans told us in 1946
that they had come to test a bomb,”
he said not long ago. “They told us
they did not know how much the
bomb would hurt Bikini. They told us
that after they tested the bomb, and
Bikini 1s good again. they will bring
us back. They did not say howlongit
would be.”
But Andrew—Marshallese address
one anotherby first names and expect
outsiders to do the same—believed,
along with the 165 others the U.S.
Navy removed in 1U46, that they
, for the first time. m 1946. Andrew
Jakeo was 34 years old.
When, after using the fragile Pacific atoll for 23 nuctear test blasts, the
Americans in the person of President
fellow islanders and the rest of the
world that Bixini once again was safe
for humanlife, Andrew Jakeo was 56.
Now Andrew Jakeo 1s 66 and,
above all cise, he wants to live out
the days that remain to him cn this
tiny curve of coral, sand and coconut
palms with his family and friends.
te
The Bikinians must Jeave their ancestral home and its beautiful. fishteeming lagaon because the Americans, as they themselves now admit,
made a regrettable error 10 years ago:
Despite what the scientists and the
President said—despite an investment of $3.25 million for cleanup and
rebuilding—Bikini is not safe after all.
Then. when his time comes. he
wants to be buried here among his
ancestors.
But the old man will not be permitted to end his days where he wishes.
For one day next month—federal
officials say about Aug. 22. although
official plans dealing with this place
and these people seem to go awry
more often than not—the Americans
will remove Andrew Jakeo and the
140 others living on 449-acre Bikint
Istand, largest of the 26 islets that
make up Bikini Atoll.
They will be transported to “temporary’ quarters m Kull, a single island with a land area one-sixth that
of their 2.2-square-mule home atoll.
Kilt. without a lagoon, les neariy 500
Mics southeast ft is an island some
Bikinians hatiiually refer to as “the
Prison,”
unacceptably high doses of radiation
left hehind by atomie and hydrogen
bombblasts that seared the atoll during 12 yearsof tesung.
would be back within a year orso.
Meantime, he was convinced. the
Americans would provide for him and
the other people of Bikin.
Andrew finally came back about
eight years ago. He was among the
first to return. It was 24 vears after
the Navv had taxen him away, two
years after Prosment Jonnson’s announcement that Bikini was safe.
Please Turn to Page 3, Col. 4
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