5 DOE ARCHIVES It was obvious that the Bikini leaders refused to accept the fact that they would not be allowed to return to Bikint some day and for that reason preferred to suffer the hardships of neighboring Rongerik to a new move, in hope of being able to return to their ancestral home. It was decide@ however, that the best interests of the Bikini people would be served by transferring them to Ujilang Atoll, the westernmost of the Marshalls. Ujllang belonged to the government, as heir to the Imperial Japanese government wnich had seized it from its former German owners, who had “purchased” the tiny atoll from its former chief. A group of Bikini men and Navy Seabees arrived at Ujilang in late November to prepare a village for another resettlement attempt. Shortly after their arrival, tnat the atoll of Enewetak, Ujilang, an annoucement was made west of Bikini, and north of would be commandeered as another testing ground for atomic weapons. It was then decided that the Enewetak inhabi- tants would be resettled on Ujilang. This left the ex-Bikini people right where they were six montns earlier, but undoubtedly with increased feelings of insecurity, frustration and general bewilderment. In January of 194% Anthropologist Leonard Mason ot the University or Hawaii, made a field investigation of the problen at the request of the Navy. He found among other things that tne relocated Bikinians were suffering serious hardships on Rongerik, and, despite a well-organized communal organizatic..