March 2026

What is the Meaning of the Code Name

Operation Crossroads?

After dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States military wanted to test the bomb in peacetime on warships and other vessels.

On January 24, 1946, Vice Admiral W. H. P. Blandy, USN, announced plans for atomic bomb tests before a Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy.

The test site would be Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands and the project would be code-named Operation CROSSROADS.

In VAdm Blandy's words:

“In the face of this new knowledge, these recently discovered truths concerning the atom, so suddenly thrust upon an already chaotic world, not only warfare but civilization itself literally stands at the Crossroads. Hence the name of this Operation.”

This Operation Crossroads postcard is from the Beth Flippen Scheel Papers, courtesy Hoover Institution Archives. Ms Scheel was one of 37 American Red Cross workers on Kwajalein Atoll in 1946.

The Reviews Are In

Publicity photo of authors William L. McGee and Sandra V. McGee.

"Brief, to the point, impactful. A model of a book trailer." - Bill A.

"Polished, compelling, entertaining." - Ann Marie P.

It's not often a creative project exceeds one's expectations. But that's exactly what happened with book trailer #2 for William L. "Bill" McGee's atomic memoir Operation Crossroads, Lest We Forget!

The trailer is narrated by me (or AI's version of me) and tells my point-of-view as editor and co-author of the book. "History books explain the blasts. William L. McGee's atomic memoir remembers the men who stood beneath the blasts."

Take a Look Inside the Book on Amazon

Hope you enjoyed this bit of atomic history.

Best, "AI" Sandra

Sandra V. McGee launched her writing career as a publicist for the performing arts in Southern California. She co-authors and edits in different nonfiction genres...World War II in the Pacific, Operation Crossroads at Bikini in 1946, the legeandary Nevada divorce ranch era of the 1940s, and more.

Sandra's passions are ballet, B movies, British mysteries, and Reno when it was the "Divorce Capital of the World." She does not live with a cat or a dog.

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