At this time, about 1O15M, the ship was advised by the X.0. that the evacuation would commence about 1100 and a life raft was requested for use in shuttling the natives over the reef and through the surf to the boats standing off about 50 yards, At approximately 1040M the boat arrived with the raft and the evacuation commenced at 1050. By this time the ma- jority of the natives were gathered on the beach and ready to go. Women, children and old people were shuttled out to the boats first, with their possessions, followed by the men. Much cooperation and assistance were realized from the able native men whose alertness, willingness and ability to swim proved invaluable during the evacuation and reduced the number of ship's personnel required. At about 1200 the evacuation was about half completed but the wind was freshening, the tide was flooding and the surf was kicking up. The operation became increasingly hazardous and two raft loads of evacuees were very nearly upset in the surf. The coral was chew- ing up the suspension ropes and lattice work of the raft and in a radio consultation between the X.0. and C.0., serious consideration was given to ceasing the operation and trying again from the lagoon side, Since this would delay the operation several hours and also was fraught with danger as already indicated, and since we could see the end in sight, it was decided to continue. Most of the women, children and aged were already gone and no one had been hurt other than a few coral cuts. Another raft was dispatched and the pace was stepped up, though less people were loaded on each raft and extreme care was exercised. Ten LSIB loads of about 15 people each were required to complete the evacuation of the 154 natives. ‘the last raft load left the beach at about (1245 leaving as forlom a set of dogs as you have ever seen. At 1251M all the natives were on board and none too soon because the wind and surf continued to increase. The native chief named Compass, has been repeatedly asked how many natives were on the atoll and if we had them all. He was insistent that all were on Utirik Island, none were on other islands of tne atoll, and none were on Taka Atoll, 4&4 - 5 miles away. He first said there were 161 natives present and proudly brought out a card index file to prove it. Careful questioning however indicated that at least two infants had died a day or two before and that the ola boy didn't have this PALIT rec cris up to date. The next figure we got was 157 but further questioning indicated he was counting two or three imminent but as yet unbom babies. The last figure of 154 was arrived at after a count on board and was concurred in by the chief and Trust official. « breakdown was as follows: women 55, children under 16, boys and girls, 26 each. men 47, At about 1300M when rafts were secured and boats were hoisted, course was set for Kwajalein to arrive at dawn on the 5th. at about 345K we met tne DA. iunro (DE-422) coming up from Kwajalein to assist us but there was nothing further for her to do but fall in astern and retum to Kwajalei:. Declassified Declassified DOD DIR 5200.10 DOD DIR 520010. a F) MD ENCLOSURZ (1)