condition at Rongerik, left on the Navy UF-l amphibian from Kwajalein fa t 0800 on 2 March. The aircraft was over Rongerik at 0945 and took flydyv er measurements of the occupied island of the atoll and then the entire at altitudes of 500 feet (153 meters) R/hr at 500 feet (153 meters) oll The readings were 0.R 00 and below. and 0.350 R/hr at 25 feet (7.6 meters) (R ef- erence 16, p. K-7). The UF-1 then climbed to 5,000 feet (1.52 km) in an attempt to com municate directly with the Estes, then at Enewetak; the TG 7.4 radsafe officer wanted an additional amphibious airplane from Enewetak to aid evacuation. Some garbled and ineffective transmissions ensued, follow@d by a message denying permission for evacuation and then one permitting it. The radsafe officer had decided to evacuate the island on the basis of his own evaluation of the local situation; it is not clear whether any or <¢ ll of the Enewetak messages were received by the UF-l, which was descendi to land in the lagoon at 1130. On Rongerik, the radsafe officer quickly briefed the detachment per sonnel on what he knew, asked the warrant officer in charge to select 4 ight men for evacuation, and made a hasty radiological survey with the follc wing results (Reference 84): l. Inside the building where the men spent most of their time (the reading, however, was regarded as low because the building had been hosed down thoroughly early in the morning): 0.6 R/hr 2. Outside the same building at waist height as taken in front of the building on the pierced steel planking platform: 1.8 R/hr 3. Beside the same building at the sand surface: 4. Surface of a bed in a living tent: 2.4 R/hr 1.2 R/hr. At about 1230 the amphibian left the lagoon and arrived at Kwajalei at approximately 1400 with the eight evacuees and the three WREP representatives aboard. The men were taken in the alphabetic order of their last names. 226