OPERATION CROSSROADS, ANOTHER SOMERTON MAN CANDIDATE?

 CROSSROADS, 'BAKER' TEST

July 1946 saw a series of A-Bomb Tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the Marshall Islands. Originally the intention was to explode 3 devices, ABLE, BAKER and CHARLIE. The aim was to test the effects of A Bombs on Naval Vessels. To that end, the US gathered a 'fleet' of redundant vessels form its own fleet and a number of captured German and Japanese vessels.

THE ABLE TEST

The ABLE test, which was a device dropped from an aircraft was described in numerous reports, here is from one US Army Observer:

'A report by an Army officer on the Able test, which exploded in mid-air above an array of warships, conveyed Army-Navy tensions: Noting that Admiral Blandy had painted a “very optimistic picture from the Navy point of view” of the damage done to the ships, “when we examined the target fleet through our field glasses [we saw] that even on the major capital ship, superstructures had been severely damaged.” “The target fleet had indeed suffered a staggering blow.”

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Evaluation Board noted in a message sent after the Baker test that because of the radioactive water the Baker test spewed upon the ships, the “contaminated ships became radioactive stoves, and would have burned all living things aboard with invisible and painless but deadly radiation.”

Essentially, this first test was a success, it was the second, BAKER, test that was to prove to be a disaster.

THE BAKER TEST

The BAKER test device was exploded underwater at a depth of 90 feet. The resulting contamination was severe both environmentally and in terms of the contamination. An extract from a documents filed with US National Security Archive follows:

'The Baker test caused a radiological crisis because task force personnel were assigned to do salvage work on contaminated test ships. Stafford Warren, the task force’s radiation safety adviser, warned task force chief Admiral William Blandy of the danger of these activities: the “ships were “extensively contaminated with dangerous amounts of radioactivity.” It was not possible to achieve “quick decontamination without exposing personnel seriously to radiation.” These warnings eventually led Blandy to halt decontamination activities although only after many military and civilian personnel had been exposed to radioactive substances.'

It took years to deal with the contaminated wreckage and the effects on personnel were catastrophic in many cases.

It was because of the results from the BAKER test that the CHARLIE test was canceled.

AUSTRALIAN OBSERVERS

According to records, there were two observers from Australia, Commander S.H.K Spurgeon RAN and Professor M.L.E Oliphant.

You can read the article here...

More on Professor Oliphant here...

More on Commander Spurgeon here...

Commander Spurgeon, RAN, was a Military Attache in Washington at the time, the image below shows a group of some of the observers of the CROSSROADS tests. Commander Spurgeon is first on the left, back row.

THE SOMERTON MAN CASE LINK

In a recent post, we discussed an interview with Paul Lawson in which Paul said that he had kept samples of the hair from the body of the Somerton Man and he had them analysed. They showed the presence of Strontium 90, a substance also found in atomic reactions. Paul also mentioned that Arsenic was found. What's particularly interesting about the latter find is that the results of severe contamination strongly resemble the presence of arsenic.

In the following images, you will see that protection for personnel involved in the decontamination process was minimal at best and totally absent at worst:

 The above shows an officer inspecting debris on one of the damaged ships, possibly after the BAKER test...

Personnel and Officers on the deck of the USS Pensacola, CA 24, decontamination work following the ABLE test.

THE INTELLIGENCE OPERATION

The next and probably expected thought is, was there an intelligence aspect to the operation? The answer will be no surprise and it's 'YES'.

Here's an extract from Document 18:

'The drafter of this memorandum is unknown but it is likely that the foreign observers, especially the two Soviets, were the targets of a coordinated effort to gather intelligence, possibly conducted by Navy and Army officers. Sailing on the Panamint was an interesting mix of military personnel with intelligence backgrounds, including Colonel Edwin F. Black who had served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and then in the post-war Strategic Services Unit (SSU), and Captain John L. Callan, who had served as naval attache in Rome early in World War II. Moreover, the head of Dutch Naval intelligence, Captain G. B. Salm, was one of the UNAEC observers in addition to Australia's naval attache in Washington Commander S.H.K. Spurgeon.'

You can read document 18 and many more here...

...AND?

The Test dates are interesting, July 1946 with the onsite cleanup going in until August 10th, 1945 when it was halted. It was recognised that the risks were too great and the task massive.

It is known that the US went to great lengths to minimise the news about casualties and injuries during the tests, example here...

Is it possible that one or more people who may have been injured were flown to Australia for treatment? Would Sydney be the first stop? Would they have ended up at the RNSH in early August for example? Is this when a relationship could have been formed? It's an interesting question and not one to be shied away from, it would have far-reaching effects and could provide us with another candidate for the Somerton Man?

As you might expect, there is more to follow...

With many thanks to PeteDavo for his extremely valuable input with this post...