Bombing of the Crossroads

Victory! The U.S. had just won WWII with the first nuclear bombing on Hiroshima in 1945. President Harry S. Truman ordered that we test this new nuclear weapon in order to determine the effect of an atomic bomb on American warships. Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was chosen for the bombing because of its location away from regular air and sea routes. The inhabitants of Bikini Atoll handed over the atoll to the U.S. confused and were moved to Rongerik Atoll with all their belongings. This nuclear project was then given a name, Operation Crossroads.

After the transportation of the Bikinians to Rongerik, everything started to go down from there. While on Rongerik, the Bikinians had found out that Rongerik was 1/6 the size of Bikini, so the food and water supply weren’t reliable. The U.S. had left the Bikinians with enough food for a few weeks, which left them on their own for two more years, where the food supply worsened and people starved because crops weren’t producing. On March 1948, the Bikinians were moved to Kwajalein Atoll because the food supply on Rongerik had already depleted. They were housed next to an airstrip owned by the U.S. Military. The Bikinians had chosen another island to live off that wasn’t ruled by a king (since Kwajalein was ruled by the U.S.), it was called Kili Island. Six months later, the people of Bikini had left to Kili Island where the worst decision of their lives would take place.

On Kili Island, starvation had occurred once again which led to the Trust Territory administration to donate a 40-foot ship. The ship was used to transport copra (coconut meat) between Kili and Jaluit Atoll because they would use the copra to sell or trade with the people on Jaluit for food and money. Later on in 1951, the ship was sunk on the reefs of Kili and lost a full-load of copra. The next few years, rough seas, which lead to fewer visits from ships that carried food, had caused food shortages and had once required an airdrop of emergency food rations. By 1957, some families had moved to Jaluit Atoll to sell copra. The Bikinians had signed an agreement with the U.S. government, which gave the U.S. full use of Bikini Atoll. In exchange the Bikinians were given full use to Kili Island and several islands in Jaluit Atoll. Also, the people were given $25,000 in cash and a $300,000 trust fund.