I was stationed on the Aircraft Carrier USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63. We were deployed to Johnston Island. It was July 9th 1962. We were told over the ship's loudspeaker there would be a nuclear test conducted that night. At the designated time we went up on the flight deck to watch. The night sky was clear. If you have never seen a starlit night out at sea you have missed something spectacular. The vastness of it. They started the countdown. We were told it was going to be an ‘airburst’. I was looking up,thinking maybe I would be lucky enough to pinpoint the start of it. Five, four, three, two, one….Zero! . Instantly the sky turned white horizon to horizon. There was dead silence in our group. I myself, could not believe what I was witnessing. The awesome power! I stood there mesmerized. In all, it took about a half hour for it to dissipate and finally become night time again. I just shook my head in disbelief. How could this be. How could man possess such power. I later mused,~ just how many people get to see something like that and live to talk about it!

Mike Schoneman