Q: You witnessed a number of atomic tests. Can you tell me what sort of
impression they made on you?
JE: Well, it was very clear that the nature of warfare had changed, had become a
lot more serious. I went back out and watched the first H-bomb test, too. A
certain number of people were permitted to go from SAC [Strategic Air
Command.]...Oh, `54, I guess it was, when that happened, because I was a
brigadier general, and about four or five-- five, I guess, brigadier generals
from SAC went out to watch the H-bomb tests at Eniwetok. Then I was in the air
and watched it...
I flew over tests in Nevada a couple of times, and was on the ground in Nevada
once during one of the Keyhole shots (I think they called them). So we were--
We saw these bombs going off. We saw them from lots of angles. We carried
them in our bomb bays. And it--it made war a lot more serious. And it kept us
constantly aware of the fact that there wasn't--wasn't any room for--for
fudging, no room for-- no way of ducking it or getting away from it.
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