Operation Crossroads - Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account, Bikini Atomic Bomb Tests 1946

The Definitive Memoir of the 1946 Atomic Bomb Tests at Bikini "While updating this atomic memoir for the 80th anniversary in July 2026, I had a sobering thought: likely few Crossroads participants were alive today. I'm proud to have played a small part in preserving this history few know about today." – Sandra V. McGee, co-author of Operation Crossroads, Lest We Forget! On 1 July 1946, the world held its breath. Millions waited by their radios for news of Operation CROSSROADS—the first atomic bomb tests of the postwar era. No one knew what to expect. Among the 42,000 servicemen, scientists, and civilians at the remote Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was 20-year-old U.S. Navy Gunner's Mate William L. McGee, stationed aboard the new heavy cruiser USS Fall River (CA-131). The ship's assignment was to position the fleet of 95-plus target vessels in the Bikini Lagoon for two atomic bomb tests—Test Able from the air, and Test Baker from underwater. What McGee and his shipmates witnessed from ten miles away was both frightening and spectacular, and with consequences some would not survive later in life. Decades later, McGee, a noted military historian of World War II in the Pacific, wrote Operation Crossroads, Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account (BMC Publications). Known for his detailed research and straightforward writing style, McGee wrote what has been called "the definitive memoir of the 1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini. Inside the book: Interview excerpts from shipmates who witnessed the atomic blasts. Entries from the Fall River ship's log capturing her important role at Crossroads. 50 vintage images. Early opinions of Crossroads from the military and the media. Later opinions from three leading authorities on the use and misuse of nuclear power and the dangers from ionizing radiation. A blend of memoir and history, this atomic memoir places the reader in a front row seat at nuclear history. Another book, The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, won the Silver Medal for History from the Military Writers Society of America. Foreword by F. Lincoln Grahlfs, Ph.D., author Voices From Ground Zero 134 pp, 52 B&W photographs & illustrations BMC Publications (2016)