That is until one finds that place still contains radiation from the first Atomic Bomb test explosion conducted on July 16th, 1945.
Known as the Trinity Site in New Mexico, the White Sands Missile Range allows the public to enter Ground Zero the first Saturday of April and October. Yesterday I walked where sand was turned into glass…..
J. Robert Oppenheimer, leader of the Trinity test and whom many call the ” father of the atomic bomb”, remarked after the explosion, ” Now I have become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.”
I thought about this remark as I walk the dirt path to the epicenter of destruction. The area is chain linked, I imagine so us fragile civilians don’t wander off into an area more dangerous and exposed, if that is possible.
Story boards hang on the fence, describing the events leading up to the test. Only a few weeks later, World War Two ends as the United States drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. A group of Japanese teenagers take pictures of the headline on the fence. I wonder how they feel here at the place that ended in the killing of hundreds of thousands of their ancestors.
All that remains of the bomb at Trinity is the partial housing, named ” Jumbo”. There is a chill in the spring air as you approach it.
In this house is where the plutonium core to the bomb was assembled. The painted sign of the door still remains, warning those of the danger going on inside….
Full of history, a reminder of the power that comes from science, the remembrance of the sixty million deaths that occurred from World War Two, and the final resolution to that battle.
Very interesting place to seek out. I imagine it was quite chilling to see in person.