(21 Nov. 86) Workers on Illeginni and other islands are preparing for a missile launch from Vandenberg tomorrow night. Gagan is being evacuated tomorrow afternoon. Jobtak, the turtle man, is my constable. It looks as though we are entering a busy period.
Now that the Republic of the Marshall Islands has a place among the family of nations, something new has been added to local Armed Forces Radio and Television broadcasting. At the start of each broadcast day a taped announcement states that the national anthem of the Republic of the Marshall Islands will be played, followed by the national anthem of the United States of America. These songs describe the relationship between the two countries better than anything I can think of.
The initial playing of the first anthem for the Marshalls is by a lone organist and the lyrics declare the peoples’ love for their country. It’s a light, easy listening song.
Just as I start to relax and before the last notes are played, a large orchestra with plenty of brass and drums explodes from the radio, driving the lone organist from the stage.
The air is filled with “…the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air.” The song is about a nation which was born in war and then survived a history of conflicts to become the most powerful on earth.
News from Bikini:
A recent article in the Marshall Islands Journal reports that American archaeologist Charles Streck, working on nuclear contaminated Bikini Atoll, has found evidence “…that Bikini Island may have been inhabitied from as early as 1960 B.C.” This would mean that Micronesia was not settled through Polynesia, a view held by a number of anthropologists.
The prehistoric artifacts and human remains were discovered in digs on Bikini, Nam and Eneu Islands. Bikini Island is higher than other islands in the Marshalls and this would support “…some of the oral history of the Marshallese which says that Bikini Atoll was the first of the Marshall Islands settled.”
Four islets at the atoll were destroyed by some of the nuclear testing done here and along with them, perhaps more evidence of Bikini’s past. Additional archaeological investigations are planned in a search for the first Marshallese. The 1954 hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll (above) left a crater 250 feet deep and 6510 feet in diameter. It vaporized three islets.
Filed under: Almost Paradise Volume 1
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