sth et,
thas
snl ic
nliattnaing siniestagenar
atin
though he admitted it had many dis-
advantages, as the best available
olace to relocate the Bixinians.
In March, 1948, they were movedto
2 tent camp at Kwajalein. In Septem-
ber, the Bikinians voted to resettle on
Kili, and in November, they werefinally settled on Kili and began building a new and bigger village than
they had had on Bikini.
af MeeAbe
areneeae
et «ctl My ate?
Kili was without question better
than Rongerik. But it also was smail
and, worse yet, it had no lagoon. The
island was constantly pounded bytne
Pacific. Fishing was far more dificult
than at Bikin.. Supply ships could
neither land food nor take awaycopra
—dried coconut, the only cash crap—
for months at a time because of the
heavy surf. Sometimes six months
passed before a simp couid unload.
In an attempt to relieve the 1solation, the Navy turned over a 40-fcot
power whaleboat to the Sikimans. It
sank in high seas in 1951.
In the same year, the Navy turned
over administration of Micronesia—
*
and the proslems of the Bixinians—to
ane
"Nearer
mT POT Oe
oe
tt atthe
.
btn nti
the civilians. A high commissioner
was aDpointed by the President to
work with and through the U.S. De-
partmentofInterior.
exploded at Bikini with tragic results.
An unpredicted wind shift after the
blast had sent the 20-mile-high clou
beenestablished as part of the com-
of radioactive particies drifting in the
wrong direction, across Bikim Is!and
and teyond. The plume stretchectl
240 miles long and 40 miles wide.
over an area far outside the restricted
danger zone.
>
Rongelap. Rorgerik and Utirk
atolls, all inhabited by Marshallese
and U.S. military personnel, were in
the path of the faliout, which in some
places fluttered down like snowflakes.
projects and wrecked the Jaiuit colo-
shallese and~aithough it was not
known until sometime lJater—23
crewmen of the Jananese fisning buat
Fukurvu Maru (Lucky Dragon) were
seriously irrauiated. One crewman
died of complicauions. The rest spent
a year in hospitais.
Matters did not improve right
away. But under pressure from the
United Nauons, the high commuissioner pushed a community development
pian to improve agriculture on Kuli.
In addition, the Trust Territory
turned over a copra trade boat to pro-
vide a transportation link to Jalut
Atoll, where a colony of Bixinians had
munity development provect. At first
the scheme prospered. moraie improved and some thought the Eixinans might learn to adjust to Kuli.
Then, late in 1957, and early the
next vear, typhcons sank the copra
boat, destroyed the newagneultural
ny.
After that. according to Tobin. the
heart seemed to go outof the exiles
———
On Marca 1. 1954, test shoc Bravo.
an H-bomo 750 times more powertul
than the first atem:c bomb, had been
is ye
mee
ate
eh +
Twenty-eight Americans, 244 Mar-
The Americans and the Marshal-
lese, evacuated and treated in mulitary hospitals aimost immediately, did
not seem at the time to have suffered
permanent harm. No one seems to
know what happened to the AmenPlease Turn to Page 7, Col. 1
i erTPP
my
laletidoron
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