General Advisory Committee, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, October 30, 1949, LANL. 2 facing an unknown fate: Eyewitness information is from interviews with Alfred O’Donnell, 2009–2013; interviews with Jim Freedman, 2009–2011. See also O’Keefe, Nuclear Hostages; Ogle, Daily Diary, 1954, LANL; DNA, Castle Series 1954, LANL. 3 miniaturized: Principles of the hydrogen bomb were demonstrated two years earlier with Ivy Mike, which was the size of a small factory and weighed eighty-two tons. 4 buried under ten feet of sand: Holmes and Narver photographs, W-102–5, RG 326, Atomic Energy Commission, NAR. 5 scientists running this secret operation: Ogle, Daily Diary, 1954, 95-99, LANL. 6 “In the bunker”: Quotes are from O’Keefe, 166, 173–175. 7 Out at sea: Quotes are from interview with Jim Freedman; See also Castle Series 1954, 123. 8 largest-ever nuclear fireball: Memorandum to Dr. John von Neumann from Lt. Col. N. M. Lulejian, February 23, 1955, LANL; In time, the Soviets’ Tsar Bomba would be larger.
