In the 1950's, atomic arms still being nascient, various countries tested their new weaponry in the manner most efficacious. America obviously had testing grounds in its expansive and empty Nevada desert, but it also resorted, along with other countries with less empty land within their borders, to testing on islands in the Pacific Ocean. The British dropped bombs in both Australia and its colonies in Oceania, including Kiritimati (at the time part of the Gilbert Islands colony) during 1956-1958. The Americans then dropped atomic bombs in Kiritimati in 1962 (in a series of 36 blasts ironically known as Operation Dominic).

The islanders were kept on the atoll for certain blasts, but evacuated for short periods of time for the larger blasts conducted over the ocean 32 miles away. Studies were done to test the after-effects of the radioactivity on British military personnel, but no studies were done to test the after-effects on the local population, who had no access to high quality medical care anyway. The remnants of the military occupations are still visible as rotting carcasses of vehicles and heavy equipment in the center of the isle, rusted away, plundered and graffittied into fossilized relics.

Christmas Island (Kiritimati)
Kiribati

© Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli