Ray Hoy - Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud

LETTERS FROM UNDER

THE MUSHROOM CLOUD

Non-fiction by Ray Hoy, Atomic Veteran

Kindle: 978-1-58124-045-0

ePub: 978-1-58124-288-1

2012 by Ray Hoy

Published 2012 by LifeLinks

(an imprint of The Fiction Works)

http://www.fictionworks.com

fictionworks@me.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission, except for brief quotations to books and critical reviews.

This one is for you, Dad.

What the Critics Said

Truly Awe-inspiring ...

The power of a nuclear explosion is truly awe-inspiring. Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud is a collection of letters from Ray Hoy addressed to his late father as he reflected on his time in the military and his viewing of one of the first nuclear detonations in the 1950s. Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud is a poignant look at the military and the early days of the nuclear era.

Midwest Book Review

Eye-witness History...

Thought-provoking, eye-witness history. Every American should read this. The book is a collection of letters to a deceased father about the life of a soldier who served and experienced, first hand, atomic bomb testing back in the fifties. The author, Ray Hoy, shares his priceless collection of heartfelt correspondence with his father.

Thankfully, Ray has captured a piece of history about some very unfortunate tragedies. Many suffered and lost their lives to cancer and other diseases related to being too close to the testing of the atomic bomb or were overexposed.

Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud is a worthy read and will become a catalyst to reflect on what is meaningful about life.

Bob Weinstein, Lt. Colonel, USAR-ret.

http://www.beachbootcamp.net

An Unforgettable Moment in Time...

Ray Hoys Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud captures an unforgettable moment in time during a military stint on a nuclear test site, but more than that his book is a testament to the endurance of respect and love that keep alive people we have lost. You will be moved in ways you cant anticipate.

Laura Belgrave, Author

The Claudia Hershey Mysteries

The Early Years of the Atomic Age...

Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud by Ray Hoy is a poignant representation of the early years of the atomic age as seen through the eyes of a young soldier at Camp Desert Rock, Nevadas above-ground nuclear test site. Dubbed The Mushroom Garden by soldiers in Hoys unit, bright mushroom clouds often blossomed from the desert floor.

After the passing of his father, Ray (Bud to his dad) wrote him letters about life in The Mushroom Garden. Beneath the simplicity of these letters, Ray reveals an era nearly forgotten, a national mindset never to be seen again.

Written by one of the few remaining survivors of The Mushroom Garden, this book is an historic treasure. A must-read for everyone.

Reenie Nattress, Author

The Keeper of Time

The Year was 1957...

The U.S. and the Soviet Union were in a mindless race to see who would be the first to develop nuclear weapons destructive enough to blow the civilized world off the face of the planet.

This was the setting for a warmly personal autobiographical book titled, Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud. Ray Hoy, the author, was stationed at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada, the site of a series of above-ground nuclear tests.

Two months after Ray entered the Army, his dad passed away. Rays close and loving relationship with his father, along with being far from home in a bizarre and frightening place, amplified his grief. To cope with his loss and the strange world in which he found himself, Hoy began writing letters to his deceased father, telling him of the goings-on in his outlandish world. Those letters are the subject of this book. The letters are warm, personal and factual; they speak of love and of the dangerous place the world was in in the late 1950s.

This small volume is a journey into a grieving young mans soul, and a cautionary history tale. I am the same age as Ray Hoy, and I found myself continually dabbing the moisture off my cheeks as I read this volume and walked with Ray, half a century ago.

The book is a quick read. Following in Rays footsteps will exercise your emotions and remind you of just how really dangerous the cold war was.

Richard Herman, Author

Lazlos Fire

Let the Historians Quibble...

Let the historians quibble over what was one of the most horrific man-made and hushed-up disasters of the 20th century. Ray Hoys testament in the form of letters written shortly after the death of his father should be included in the documentation of the collateral human toll that happens as governments everywhere develop deadly weaponry with disregard to the potential human toll.

Gordon Ross, Author

Tales from Tidy Vale

My Way of Coping

My father died two months after I entered the army. While at Camp Desert Rock, I started writing letters to him, which was probably my way of coping with losing him. Letters from Under the Mushroom Cloud is a collection of those letters. I am now seventy-four years old, and I still write letters to my father. I always will. Ray Hoy

Just Call Me Bud

When I was born, my mother named me Raymond but Dad never liked it, so he called me Bud instead. Oddly enough, from that moment on no one in my family ever called me by my given name againincluding my mother! Well, Bud always seemed like an honest name to me, so thanks, Dad. It suits this transplanted Midwesterner just fine.

Chapter 1

Waiting for Diablo

Monday, July 15, 1957

0400 hours (4:00 a.m.)

Yucca Flat, Area 2b

Nevada Test Site

Dear Dad,

Theyre going to detonate this big firecracker in exactly 30 minutes, so Ill have to hurry with this letter. Its 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. Its 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.

Im 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 its July, but theres a pretty good wind blowingand Im a little nervous.

For the past hour or so Ive 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 theyve 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, Cmon, Ray! Our government wouldnt put us here if they thought wed be in any danger! Were 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 were 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, Im looking for volunteers to go up to Yucca Flat tomorrow morning to witness a shot. If you dont feel like volunteering, you dont have toI 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.