Riding the Bomb

An older couple walked in and sat at a table in the small rustic cafe (Aspendell, CA near Bishop) where I was the only occupant for lunch.

We got to talking and I learned he was 84, they had been married 61 years. Since she came from a family of 21 (2 mothers, the first one died) and he from a family of 10, they never felt the need to have children. Both were sharp, quick and fun to talk with.

He told me they lived in Las Vegas for 35 years, where he travelled 108 miles ONE WAY to work everyday!

They've retired in Bishop now, returning after 50 years, where he worked in the mines in the 1940's. He proudly told me he was "a supervisor though" in Las Vegas. He worked at the atom bomb testing site in Nevada and once headed a small crew that needed to be lowered 5,000 ft into the ground, through a 3ft diameter shaft to a live atom bomb that had been dropped into the underground chamber.

The bomb was live, but the wires got damaged in the lowering. His job was to disconnect/reconnect every thing properly. {{{{{{oh....}}}}}}

He said for many years he was unable to tell anyone what he did, or to travel out of the US. He told me the government pays for extensive medical checkups every 6 months to monitor his health from the radiation, but he feels fine and never goes in, or "bothers with that stuff". He added as I was leaving, "You know, they tested a lot more than just atom bombs in those days . . . "