UNCLASSIFIED
CONFIDENTIAL
=
It did not seem prudent to further move the natives around by dividing trum
up between th. two ships, inasmuch as no great overcrowding was evident.
The itunro had @ medical officer on board and cffered his services which
fortunateiy were not nevded.
It was comforting te know he was availavle
however, Snould any of the pregnant women fall duc and payable while on
board.
Reception and handling of the natives on board worked out fairly well
and generally as was expected, Eacn cone was monivored as they came on boar:
and readings were around 7 mr/hr which was substantiglly lower than the
average of 20 mr/nr readings on the beacn.
This indicated that wading cut
to the rafts had helped quite a bit in reducing presence of fall-out me-
terial on fest and clothing.
Some of the children were routed through tne
showers aS soon as they came cn board.
But it was decided to feed ail of
tnem before starting decontaminstion of adults.
Serving lines were set up
on the fantail using regular steam tacle trays of food and giving the natives
paper plates, cups, etc. The, didn't eat very well, pernops from the excitement or méybe they just don't like meat loaf. They did better on the
bread, mashec potatocs and oranges.
After lunch the Trust Territory official made some suggesticns for
changing ana imnroving our facilivies whicr: includea carefvl pertitioning
and ségregation of tne wornen's Side of the head end weshrcooms. Ye explained
that under conditions of excitoment and strange surroundings the women are
extremely modest. Then cernmenced decontamination measures and considerable
resistence was encountered. But by procding end cajoling we managed to
get all about 10% of them through the showers,
These were the aged, infirm
and sick, With no readings hiener than 7 mr/hr it was decided not prudent
to force the old people in the showers, Next the problem of clothing arose.
Ne had sufficient clean dungarecs for them ell 2.) p2.nied to run éli their
clothes through the laundry and give them back to pvt on before leaving tne
ship. But here again sviff resistence was encountered. We tried but they
couldn't scem to understand taking their cletnes away and the women wanted
no part of the dungarees.
Clothes were monitered and since they averagcd
only about 3-4 mr/hr it was decided tnat the situation did not call for such
drastic measures. All of these mattcrs were discussed with the Trust Terri-
tory official, and decisions were concurred in or made on his recommen-
dations. Careful observation of th. natives and questioning of the intcrpreter as to their mood, excitement and general morale convinced us thot
forcing the: to give up their clotnes would really shake them up.
By late aftemoon they were settled down on their mats and generally
quiet except for the kids, scme of whom took several showers. They were
bright-eyed anc cute as could be. Some fuw of the women, as is their wont,
talked quietly but steadily ell aftemocn from the time they came eboera.
PIED/DOE
Bt RC
CONFIDENTIAL
_
partnering
—
6
ern
case
UNCLASSIFIED
ENCLOSURL (1)