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ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION COMPLETION OF OPERATION IVY -- LETTER FROM GENERAL CLAR?C30N Note by the SecretarY 9 The attached letter from General Clarkson, Commander of Joint Task Force 132, is circulated for the information of Asst. Gen. Mgr. Mfg. 8 When separated from enclosures General Counsel 9 - 10 handle this document as ....... Santa Fe Operations 13
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HEADQUARTERS JOINT TASK FORCE 132 Office of the Commander San Francisco, Calif Or’nla Mr. Gordon Dean, Chairman The forward area operation?, of Joint Task Force 132 have been completed, and I expect t,> leave Eniwetok today. Upon my departure, a dispatch will be sent to you in which I reliquish authority as AEC rePresenLat:Lve at Eniwetok. The operations were most successful in every respect, and I cannot praise toc hi~hly the support given me by the AEC representatives and the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force in accomplishing the ml.ssion. There were many adjustments to be maie and ~nmplicat~.ons to be solved, some at the very last minute. There usually involved the complex Force . Through the cooperation and friendly Teel!ng among Burritt of the Army, Admiral Wilkins of the Navy, General Glantzberg of the Air Force, and the Scientific Director, Dr. Graves, we were able t> solve our difficulties and come out in the end all good fr:.ends singing each other’s praises. As soon as we can reproduce some color pictures, I will send you a preliminary pictorial booklet which will give you some first-hand impressions of KING Shot, along the lj.nes of the MIKE booklet. our personnel casualties for the operation were one F-84 fighter pilot wh~~ did n t make his airborne refueling contact, for reasons which are still being investigated.
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He almost made hts alternate landing field, Eniwetok Airstrip, but went into the ocean just about at the Atoll reef. I heard his last words on the radio which were: “I am bailing out”* However, no parachute appezred, and the Pilot and airplane were lost. We lost one sailor through drowning. Another sailor who was swimming with a snorkel and swim mask was overrun by an LCM. He was badly cut up and died later of injuries in Tripler General Hospital. above , we lost one RB-!O aircraft on the Eniwetok Airs(;ri~. It had landed, come to a full stop, and had turned arouna and was taxiing back up the strip when an explosion of undetermined origin ocsurrecl in the bomb bay. All crewmen escaped but the a:rcr’aft burned and was complete loss. Wflth respect to CA~TL!:, at an earlier conference in the forward area, attended by General Fields and Mr. Boyer, the scope was considerably increa:.ed over that which I had used fol, early plannin~ purposes. N~w, as a result Of further conference in the ?Lrward area with Ge~eral Fields and others from the AEC, the scoPe is still. further increased to include five (5) detonations, three (3) of which will be thermonuclear ~n nature and in the megaton yield My paper to the ZO!P.+ Chiefq of Staff dated 4 August 1952 indj.cated that as a rc::~Iltof experience gained in revised upward. The paper, as apprcovcd by the JCS for thermonuclear tests added ~ vihich were not considered when the paper for the JCS was prepared, I believe there can be no downward revisi>n in requirements. I believe, however, we can hold service ~eqluirements to approximately the same as they were for IVY. This has been an I.nterestinfla.? well az fascinating operation for me. It has require:d the best effort: on the part of all concerned, and I am clad to report that the spirit and cooper~.tian were all that could be expected. In freauent instance:, the personnel and units Performed in an-outstanding manner, well beyond call to duty. T expect to return to Washington early and will call on you at thnt time.