After the war, in December of 1945, President Harry S. Truman,"to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships,” chose the Bikini atoll, because of its location away from regular air and sea routes, to be the new nuclear proving ground for the United States government. One of these many tests deliberated in the area known as the Marshall Islands was the Bravo Hydrogen Bomb test, which was the largest weapon ever tested by The United States.
March 1, 1954, after the native islanders were evacuated and told that they soon would be able to return, the bomb was detonated. The radioactive particles were supposed to carry with the wind out to sea and away from the inhabited islands, but a tasteless mistake was made. Years later after returning to their once pristine island homes the natives of this region were still feeling the effects of this experimentation. So once again the islanders left the island atolls not only leaving their culture, but also their heritage to forever blow in the wind like palm tree fronds.
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