Kwajalein of the Marshalls
Have a look at my friend Bill Remicks new book! It's about the history of Kwajalein. It was very well researched and the result of years of passion. Truely the location of Paradise for me. Early buyers can find a discount. Just Another Day in Paradise
My Story: In the late 1950's my Dad went to work for RCA in Moorestown, NJ. At the time this location was involved in radar contracts with the US defense systems. In the early 1960s he was given the opportunity to go to Kwajalein in the middle of the Pacific to work on the Nike Zeus project, one of the first US missile defense systems. He could take his family and live there for one or more years.
I can only imagine the conversation between my Mother and my Father about this opportunity. Was she reluctant? Or was she the proponent of the idea? I may never know but I am sure it was an interesting conversation.
What would life be like there? How as the weather? Were there stores? What about tidal waves an sharks? I am sure the information was sketchy in those days, many years before the Internet. Now there are a number of Websites that can help you understand what life would be like on a coral atoll.
One thing I am sure they didn't talk about was the Marshallese, the original residents of the atoll. We rounded them up and dropped them on Ebeye. Then we put them on a boat every day to be low paid servants who cooked, cleaned, and watched the little ones. Then at the end of the day we would ship them back to their crowded island.
I hope today things are different. But the more I read I think not.
Roi Namur was the third island in the chain involved with our daily life. My Dad went to work there each day in a sea plane. Which may sound cool except on stormy days. Don't be late! It is a long swim along with the 10 foot tiger sharks.
I many pictures of Kwajalein and Roi Namur and I will share as many as I can. These pictures are costly from slides, many of which are losing their colors and attracting some kind of black dirt looking marks. But there are some nice ones. Later if time permits I will add comments to the ones I know something about.