Upon return to Rongerik island, We made another pass at 250! during which instruments recorded activity of 340 mr/hr. Radio reception was poor at this low altitude so we climbed to 5000! in en attempt to establish contact with Fred tower or the USS Estes, direct. Neither attempt was suceessful, so further radio messages were relayed through Captain Hughes at Kwajalein. I was primarily concerned in getting an additional airplane - either a PEM or an SA-16 - in order to get the people off the island as quickly as possible. After about 30 minutes of intermittent and frequently garbled radio messages, I requested the pilot to return to Rongerik Island and prepare to evacuate as many as possible in our own aircraft, realizing that if other planes were not available, the Nevy UF would have to make two trips. Since it was already approaching noon, this entailed getting the first trip over with as quickly as possible in order to avoid an after dark take off ~ from the lagoon with the last load of evacuees. While making our descent, the pilot received a message requesting inforina~ tion on the radiological situation, I asked him to reply that the only readirig I had was 340 mr/br at 250' altitude over the island. This message was garbled during transmission and was apparently received at TG 7.4 as "340 MR at 250'® which meant little or nothing. At 1130 I landed on the island, and, after making a few readings at various places within the living areas, I briefed the men on what I knew of the situation and what was being done for them. It is appropriate here to remark that I consider the group to be an extremely well-disciplined one. There was no panic, nor apparent dismay, and all of the men were willing to do whatever was necessary to secure the island before evacuation and to do it in a much more cheerful than I expected. Commendation is due all of the men with special mention of Mr. Kapral and M/Sgt Pletsch for excellent leadership. Vay, 40 lossifled Declass Declassified pod DIR 5200.19 poD DIR 5200.10 GY 5f