BOMBS AT BIKINI 



experienced officers from Army and Navy for the top 

 command and staff positions ; the men were chosen for 

 their ability to act promptly and skillfully, without ex- 

 tensive instruction or deliberation. 



Rear Admiral W. S. Parsons was chosen to direct 

 the technical and scientific work. He was given the 

 title of Deputy Task Force Commander for Technical 

 Direction. His responsibility extended to preparing 

 the ships, instruments, and test animals, detonating the 

 atomic bombs, and determining the results of the ex- 

 plosions. Although he played a central role in the 

 planning, even before the creation of the LeMay Sub- 

 committee of which he became a member, his designa- 

 tion as a Deputy Task Force Commander of Joint Task 

 Force One was not actually formalized until February 

 26, 1946. 



Atomic bombs were not new to Admiral Parsons. 

 For over two years he had served at the Los Alamos 

 Laboratory, where he was head of the Ordnance Di- 

 vision. And he had flown in the Enola Gay on her his- 

 toric flight to Hiroshima; he not only supervised the 

 combat delivery of the Hiroshima bomb but personally 

 assembled the bomb after the takeoff. His familiarity 

 with the bombs and with Manhattan Project officials 

 made it logical that he should be principal intermediary 

 between Joint Task Force One and the head office of 

 the Manhattan Project. Admiral Parsons' large and 

 versatile technical organization is described in detail 

 in a later chapter. 



28 



