A trip back to the start of the Atomic Age

People take photos of an obelisk at the Trinity Site commemorating where the first atomic bomb test happened on July 16, 1945. Scientist Robert Oppenheimer reportedly came up with the name "Trinity" (the code name for the first detonation of an atomic bomb).
Highway Hasman photo 

At 5:29:45 a.m. on July 16, 1945, a bomb was ignited in a desert about 50 miles north of Alamogordo, New Mexico. 

"It was like being at the bottom of an ocean of light," said physicist Joan Hinton. "We were bathed in it from all directions. The light withdrew into the bomb as if the bomb sucked it up. Then it turned purple and blue and went up and up and up.

"We were still talking in whispers when the cloud reached the level where it was struck by the rising sunlight so it cleared out the natural clouds. We saw a cloud that was dark and red at the bottom and daylight at the top. Then suddenly the sound reached us. It was very sharp and rumbled and all the mountains were rumbling with it."

The aftershock from the world's first atomic test would not only be felt by those who were at the Trinity Site, but people from all over. 

"In a millionth of a second everything changed," Jeff Swanson, Alamogordo Police Department chaplain and historian said.

The successful results of the test meant the United States had a new weapon at its disposal to use if necessary. 

In August 1945, the U.S. was in the midst of a fierce war with the Japanese when President Harry S. Truman decided it was time to give the go-ahead to drop the "Little Boy" (uranium bomb) and "Fat Man" (plutonium bomb) on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, which resulted in the Japanese surrender.

At the Trinity Site is a post-World War II atomic bomb casing that is almost identical to the "Fat Man" bomb casing used over Nagasaki, Japan.
Highway Hasman photo

The summer of 1945 marked the end of WWII and start of the Atomic Age, an era that was full of hopes, fears and plenty of unknowns. 

On Saturday, a bombardment of people from around the world came to the Trinity Site to see where the Atomic Era began.

Touring the site

Twice a year the U.S. Army hosts the tours of the Trinity Site at the White Sands Missile Range, in April and October.

The site, also known as Ground Zero, is located about 220 miles south of Los Alamos (home of the Manhattan Project where the bombs were designed) in a desert located inside the Alamogordo Bombing Range known as the "Jornada el Muerto" or "Journey of Death."

The site is now part of the White Sands Missile Range and is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense. 

While the tour did not happen on the anniversary of the bomb test in July, it was still a memorable experience.

The day began at the International Space Museum in Alamogordo before a convoy consisting of six coach buses and over 100 vehicles drove up through the White Sands Missile Range to the site.

During the ride, Swanson, one of the bus tour guides, portrayed the characters of a few men responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb: U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, who oversaw the Manhattan Project; Lt. General Leslie Groves, the man responsible for getting the project completed; and Oppenheimer, the director the of Los Alamos Laboratory (also known as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb.")

The Schmidt/McDonald House sits a couple of miles from Ground Zero where the first atomic bomb was tested at the Trinity Site in New Mexico.
Highway Hasman photo

After the educational performance, the buses pulled in. 

Due to the long lines, Swanson suggested people first take another bus to see the 1,750-square-foot adobe Schmidt/McDonald Ranch House, two miles to the south from Ground Zero. This was where the assembly of the plutonium core of the Trinity device was assembled. 

When the bomb exploded during the test, the ranch house was fortunate enough to not receive significant damage. Most of the windows were blown out but most of the building was still intact. The house stood empty and was deteriorating until 1982 when the Army stabilized the house to prevent any more damage. The U.S. Department of Energy and the Army provided funds for the National Park Service to restore it, according to the U.S. Army.

People took photos of the ranch house and surrounding property before heading to Ground Zero where they stood in awe as they soaked in Atomic Age history in front of an obelisk made of black lava rocks that had a plaque commemorating the event on it.

The Trinity site obelisk sits at Ground Zero.
Highway Hasman photo

Before heading back to the parking lot, they stopped at booths where entrepreneurs sold items ranging from pieces of Trinitite (a glasslike substance that was created from sand and other materials during the first atomic test) to T-shirts.

Whether someone purchased something or not, everyone left with a treasure trove of memories and a better understanding or appreciation of what happened on July 16, 1945.

Additional info

For more information on the Trinity Site and the atomic bomb, read "The Day The Sun Rose Twice" by Ferenc Morton Szasz and "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes. 

People can also visit these websites, White Sands Missile Range, National Museum of Nuclear Science and History  Atomic Heritage and National Park Service.