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Show Describes H-Bomb Tests Words Cannot Describe the H Bomb, ' Says Havynian Watching from Ship Krtitors Nolo Following is a description f '( Il-Konib ti-sts v Frank (Toilily) ltrown, son of Mr. and Sirs. V'rank ltrown, ho was stationed near tlio Marshall Islands on n 'uv,v ship and assisted assist-ed In preparation for the tests. May 21. 1P515 Today the mighty event took place. It seems funny that you should hear about it one day before I did. It was Monday morning here and Sunday afternoon after-noon there. On that day I would never have changed anyone places. You wanted me to write and toll you all about the explosion. I can't tell you all, not because of security, secur-ity, but rather because I don't have the words to describe it. If I had a 1 ' i I ' v! ! ' - " - - 1 i .3 picture and was there with a selection selec-tion of colors I might give you a small impression of it, but in a letter with no diagram it is impossible. im-possible. On the 20th of May we went aboard the ship. We brought our camp cots, mattresses and sheets and slept in the hanger deck with the helicopters. At 4:45 we were awakened and told to prepare to view the blast. We went up to the flight deck, and sat down to wait as they called off the time by 15 minutes. At 15 minutes to go they counted by 5( at 5 to go, they counted by 1. We were then put in radio contact with the navigator of the plane. He counted down in seconds. sec-onds. With one minute to go we were told to put on high density goggles. Those without goggle's were faced away from the shot, with eyes closed and their arms over their eyes. At minus one second sec-ond the plane dropped the H-bomb and detonation. We had to close our eyes for the initial flash, but even with my eyes closed and my goggles on and my arm over my eyes I could still see the light. After Af-ter a short time I apened my eyes. There was a cloud bank just above the horizon, behind it was a huge bright white light. As the cloud began to rise there was a long stem coming up from the ground to a ball of fire. When the fire ball was about half way to its peak, a pale lavender glow formed around it, which then turned into a deeper lavender and then started start-ed to flow over the outside of the fire ball like, purple water over "a red light bulb. Here I am at a loss for words. I can't describe or give that it was a great surprise from what I expected. We are very busy here now. We have started holding church services. ser-vices. There are three or four members. mem-bers. We have three investigators. Yesterday we held church in a tent, with a scotch-taped can top for a bread tray. I am 1st counselor and our member who had prepared a lesson wan on ship so since I presided I was caught unprepared to give the talk. We are really rushed with work now. Tell all helo. Frank Brown. Frank Brown credit to the beauty and awe-inspiring view which then transpired. ty tnis time the light started to fade as we viewed it through our glasses. Then cautiously I removed remov-ed my glasses. The ship was lighted light-ed up like mid day. We were told to be ready for the shock wave. There was a loud rumble noise, then the pressure came, not noticeable notice-able except our ears popped very suddenly. By- this time the cloud was at nearly its heighth. There was a large ice-cap forming over the fire ball. It was cone-shaped and very white, the whitest white I have ever seen. Now the cloud had stopped its ionization and the blue purple glow diminished, but still inside the fire ball it appeared appear-ed like looking into the middle of a chunk of red hot just poured steel. The outside was a grey white in chunky clouds and the inside a deep red. The fire ball changed to a pale pink color with the sun on it. The wind started to drift in and it began to lose its color. The stem I mentioned was estimated esti-mated to be ten miles across just ofter detonation. Approximately 2 minutes later it was estimated to be 25 miles across the stem only. As the stem grew larger it appeared appear-ed to have different layers of clouds. These formed at different condensing points. The light given off by the bomb was seven times as bright as the sun. We were 37 miles from ground zero. Of the report of the first helicopter heli-copter in after the blast I can't tell you, nor can I tell you what we found when we returned some five hours later, but I can say |