HEADQUARTERS
231ST ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION
Camp Desert Rock
Las Vegas, Nevada

5 November 1951

SUBJECT: Operational Report of OPERATION DESERT ROCK

TO: Commanding Officer
354th Engineer Combat Group
Ft Lewis, Washington

By Wednesday evening everything was in a state of final readiness for the big show. The convoys were all lined up and on Thursday morning the evaluation teams, radiological monitors and the other personnel within the control group proceeded to the Forward Area.

They then witnessed another nuclear detonation and as soon as the area had been declared safe by the AEC, which was a little less than an hour from the time of the explosion, the effects evaluation teams moved in and assessed the damage which had been done to installations and equipment.

[Dog Shot 1 Nov 51]
Upon completion of the mission the control group departed for Camp Desert Rock, and detachments of this Battalion immediately began to close the area. After this detonation, which was the major part of the Operation Desert Rock, this Battalion's primary duty was to restore the Forward Area to its natural state and to close the Camp in preparation for the homeward trip. Packing commenced and the dismantling of Camp Desert Rock began in earnest.

Within two days, the visitor's area was completely dismantled, many of the wooden structures were turned in and unit areas cleared in preparation for abandoning camp. It was anticipated that this Battalion would depart on either D+5 or 6. Working towards that goal everything proceeded on schedule. On Saturday, 3 November 51, orders were received for this Battalion to remain in Camp Desert Rock to participate in Operation Jangle.

Editors Note: Events which followed are covered in Operational Report covering OPERATION JANGLE. The report for Operation Jangle was not found after a search by the National Archives.

Co "A" was again sent to the Forward area to recover blasted equipment, fill in emplacements, and restore the used Ground zeros to their natural state. The soldiers of Co "A" continued their work during Operation Jangle shots Easy, Sugar and Uncle. Pictures and information on these shots can be found by following these links.

[Easy Shot 5 Nov 51 | Sugar Shot 15 Nov 51 | Uncle Shot 29 Nov 51]

[ Human Radiation Experiments during the Jangle Detonations]

[Table of Contents]

Comments can be emailed to the editor at histgaz@gmail.com.