WEAPONS TESTING a ee

1964 continued
the missile range is the Army Ballistic

of Eniwetak (not to be confused with

Missile Defense program, which tests,
among others, the Minutemen, Titan, Polaris, Sprint, Spartan, Nike and Zeus

Enewetak Atoll), Omelek, Gellinam and
Legan.
On Ennylabegan, additional tel-

mediate Range Ballistic Missiles, and
Sea Launched Ballistic Missiles.

Rongelap: The Rongelap peoples' body

emetry equipment is installed and livmissiles. The range also supports Air
ing quarters built.
Force and Navy testing of ICBM's, Inter-

JULY 1 Kwajalein: Command of Kwajalein

is transferred from the Navy to the
Army, and the missile range is renamed
“Kwajalein Test Site." At this time
the range consists of facilities on
five islands: Kwajalein, Roi-Namur,
Eniwetak, Gugeegue and Ennylabegan.

Kwajalein: A new “impact area" for in-

coming Inter-Continentai Ballistic Mis-

Siles is established. The central twothirds of the lagoon, called the "“MidCorridor," is designated as the new

target area because it is surrounded by
islands with missile tracking and testing devices.
The 47 islands, many inhabited, that bound this part of the
lagoon are in the hazardous zone.
The

new target area provides a recovery
basin protected from. enemy patrols.

SEPTEMBER Kwajalein: President Lyndon

Johnson announces the U.S. has an operational system for shooting down Soviet
satellites, developed from tests called

“Project 437" begun in May 1963 at Kwa-

jalein.

1965 FEBRUARY Enewetak: The Air

Force assumes control of the missile
range at Fnewetak Atoll.

Kwajalein: To gather information on the

atmosphere re-entry of missiles fired
from Vandenberg Air Force Bise, a variety of instrumentation and tracking

facilities and helicopter landing pads
are built on the Mid-Corridor islands

levels of radiation, which jumped in
1958 after living one year on their contaminated islands, have remained at the
same level since then, according to

Brookhaven's 12 year report.

1966 JANUARY Rongelap: The U.S.Con-

gress approves an ex-gratia payment of
$950,000 (approximately $11,000 per capita) to the exposed Rongelap people
for injuries resulting from their exposure in 1954.

JUNE Rorigelap: Of the 29 children whow%

were under 10 years old in 1954 (includ-

ing 4 in utero during the fallout) 15,
or 524 have deyeloped thyroid abnormal.
ities.
oe

Rongelap: A Bookhaven medical report
shows little difference in radioacti-

vity levels between those exposed in
1954, and those who had not been there
in 1954, but moved back after 1957.

a

Moreover, the body levels of radioactivity of these previously unexposed

Rongelapese was 10 times greater than
that of Marshallese living on Kili Island in the southern Marshalls.

"One of the things that has
bothered us over the years is the
fact that the AEC doctors have
never bothered to explain our
Problems to us--instead they treat
us as if we were merely children
and we resent that."
Jirda Biton, Utirik Atoll.

1965 JULY The Congress of Micronesia, a territory-wide legislative body mod-

eled on the U. S.

Congress, holds its first session after being created by an

executive order of President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
MW ees

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