Radioman 3rd Class
USS Leo AKA-60
I was a member of the United States Naval Reserve during college and activated to report to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Great Lakes, Illinois for boot training on January 9, 1952.
After completion of boot camp I reported to the USS Leo AKA-60 in Alameda, California dry dock yards. The Leo was a Cargo Attack Ship being readied to carry ammunition and supplies to troops in Korea. I was a Radioman on the Leo which carried out several assignments in Alaska, Japan and the South Pacific.
The most memorable was the first H-Bomb test called "Operation Ivy" which was top secret at the time. The Leo carried tanks of liquid nitrogen for the bomb as well as technicians and equipment for testing devices at different points in the sea. The USS Leo arrived at Eniwetok Island on October 20, 1952 with many other U.S. ships. The bomb was detonated on November 1, 1952. The fireball of the explosion was estimated to be 12 megatons and the mushroom cloud with tons of lethal fallout rose 130,000 feet into the stratosphere. What a sight to behold.
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