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Dated: July 1st 
Postmarked: Jul 1946

Monday Evening
July 1st  Bikini.

Dear Mom and Dad:

     Well, at 9 o'clock this morning we made some history.  I suppose you've 
already heard the whole chain of events that took place over the radio, but 
here's my viewpoint of what happened.  As you know, the light from the Bombs 
explosion will render a man looking at it with the naked eye, totally blind, but 
a few of us had goggles especially equipped as a protection against it.

     At 8:59 we heard the plane Rm.  Bombs away and everyone turned away from 
Bikini and covered his eyes.  We were 20 miles out and with the aid of a pair of 
binoculars one could see things quite clearly.  All of a sudden the bomb burst 
and a sight confronted us that was unbelievable.  A huge blood red ball of fire 
appeared and spread over Bikini and the surrounding area around the island.  
Then the island was covered completely by a solid envelope of milky white that 
blotted everything out, and the searing heat of the flash was scorching even at 
twenty miles.  Next the envelope, or huge bubble of white, burst and in one 
millionth of a second a huge column of white was climbing rapidly and in 2 min. 
4 sec. Was in the bank of clouds more than a mile & half high, while as it came 
above the clouds it started boiling wider at it's top until it looked gigantic 
mushroom or a big wad of cotton stuck on the end of some big white silver 
candlestick.

     As we watched it changed to a silvery sheen tinted with a beautiful yellow 
that glistened and sparkled and then again it changed to look like it was about 
to bust into flame turning to a bright peach colored hue with darting flickering 
tongues of flame in it's center.  By this time it had reached a height of about 
7 miles and there slowed down somewhat in it's rush to the heights.  After 
reaching the height of 60,000 feet it began to quiet down and disperse, and lost 
some of it's terrible color.  It took it nearly all day to completely go away.  
I am enclosing a copy of the damage reports for the target vessels.

     So long and I'll write as much as possible.  The next test is July 28th 
'46.  Bye

Charles H.