Letters From Under the Mushroom Cloud
By Ray Hoy
()
About this ebook
In addition to Ray’s casino career, he has another connection to Nevada — a more sinister one. He is one of those so-called “Atomic Soldiers” from the 50’s. While serving with the Signal Corps, his unit was sent to Camp Desert Rock, Nevada to provide communications for a series of atmospheric atomic bomb tests. While sta-tioned there with 5,000 fellow servicemen, he observed a number of “shots” (as the military referred to them), up close and personal. Today the number of survi-vors is down to 500 or so, and most of those men died horribly. However, to date Ray reports that he is still healthy, happy, and going strong, so he considers him-self blessed. He appeared as a featured guest on many television shows.
Ray wrote Letters From Under the Mushroom Cloud, a book about his atomic ex-periences, and he is happy to report that it was recently accepted for permanent display at the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas.
Ray Hoy
A hopeless romantic, chaser of rainbows, lover of dogs, and reluctant realist, Ray Hoy has been a professional writer, editor, publisher, and producer for six decades. During his long media career he also managed to spend twenty years as a casino marketing consultant working with major Nevada gaming properties. He retired from the "casino wars" in 1997. Jack Frost is a composite of three Special Forces men Ray met when he was in the casino business. Those men are gone now, victims of their chosen profession. They were amazing warriors doing an amazing job. Frost's sidekick, J.T. Ripper, is based on a real Doberman by the name of Scorpio. Ray was introduced to that monster dog by a friend who knew he was in the process of creating a Doberman character for his Frost books. Scorpio is gone now, too (as so many real warriors are), but J.T. Ripper carries on. The Ripper that Ray created gets more fan mail than Jack Frost does. Ray has no idea why, because the Ripper he created was born pissed, and he pretty much hates everyone and everything - everything except an occasional shooter of Scotch. And Ray defends Ripper's Scotch habit: "We all know that dogs should be kept away from alcohol of any kind, but since Ripper is not of this world, he can do whatever he damn well pleases, and believe me, he does. Truly a fun dog to write about."
Related to Letters From Under the Mushroom Cloud
Related ebooks
Bryce: Gentlemen of the Emerald City, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAltered Genesis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Never War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lost City of Faar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Youngblood: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Voyage to New Mexico: Using Lesser Definitions of Voyage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWinner of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Care and Feeding of Rubber Chickens: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmog - Baggage of Eternal Life: JournalStone's DoubleDown Series - Book II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Stole My Ride Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZombie Fallout 22: Bridging the Gap Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Forgiveness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5... of Bags, Counts and Nightmares Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLast Resort Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLast Light: The Sunset Chronicles, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWyvern and Company Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNovocaine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThunderstruck: Verse 1: The Return of the Divide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Silhouette (Alan Quinn and the Second Lifes) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSyd Kitchen: Scars That Shine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lightning Conductor Discovers America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNectar of the Lavender Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinging All The Way Up Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE TRIANGLE MOTEL Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsServo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBU21 (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Monophobia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Life in Smiley (Book 2 in Smiley series): I Got This! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5EconoClash Review #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgent 107: A Final Report Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Relationships For You
A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: The Narcissism Series, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Codependence and the Power of Detachment: How to Set Boundaries and Make Your Life Your Own Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Makes Love Last?: How to Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Letters From Under the Mushroom Cloud
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Letters From Under the Mushroom Cloud - Ray Hoy
Dad.
Chapter 1
Waiting for Diablo
Monday, July 15, 1957
0400 hours (4:00 a.m.)
Yucca Flat, Area 2b
Nevada Test Site
Dear Dad,
They’re going to detonate this big firecracker in exactly 30 minutes, so I’ll have to hurry with this letter. It’s 0400 hours (4 a.m.) and pitch black up here in this desolate place they call Yucca Flat.
This is the so-called Forward Area
and it must be what the moon looks like.
They test atomic bombs here.
Our actual base is Camp Desert Rock, which is located just a few miles south. It’s really just an ugly scattering of Quonset huts and motor pools situated a few miles off U.S. 95, about 70 miles north of Las Vegas.
When we go into Las Vegas on a weekend pass, people ask us what we do at the base. We tell them, with a straight face, We grow mushrooms in the desert.
I’m sitting on the sand with my back against the front wheel of a truck, writing this letter in the glow of my flashlight. I find myself shivering from time to time. Yeah, I know it’s July, but there’s a pretty good wind blowing—and I’m a little nervous.
For the past hour or so I’ve been wondering if the wind might cause the shot to be postponed. However, I just overheard a lieutenant talking on a field phone, and apparently they’ve been waiting for the wind to blow away from Las Vegas and toward some little town in Utah called St. George.
I wonder if the people in St. George know that? Somehow I doubt it.
Artie (a street-wise kid from New York, and my best friend here at Camp Desert Rock) just said to me, C’mon, Ray! Our government wouldn’t put us here if they thought we’d be in any danger! We’re really lucky, if you stop and think about it. Not everyone gets to see an atomic bomb blow this close and live to tell about it!
He laughed when I said, What makes you think we’re going to live to tell about it?
But of course, Artie has to be right . . . right?
It was interesting to see how we got here. Our first sergeant called us into formation yesterday and said, I’m looking for volunteers to go up to Yucca Flat tomorrow morning to witness a shot. If you don’t feel like volunteering, you don’t have to—I need K.P. people for the next month or so, anyway. Now then, all ‘volunteers’ take one step forward.
Needless to say, we all took one step forward.
Don’t you love the way the military works?
Off in the distance I can see a light flashing at the top of the 500-ft. steel tower that holds the bomb. By the way, the military likes to call it a device
rather than a bomb (maybe they think it sounds more civilized). However, Artie said, If it goes ‘boom’ it’s a bomb!
I agree with him.
Because it’s still dark, we can only see the flashing light on top of the tower, not the tower itself. But I heard it’s about the size of a large oil derrick. I don’t know how far away it is, but in