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yea OF : a ae ne '. 23 07 EF . pd - . . . - t Hryater Br, Deus. phinra ef ‘a Ua ween el - es Vol. MW No. 1 ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI ' _ SEPTE ABER. 1255 ( Aeprinted Ls RUSLEAR WAR UK ST. LOGE: GE YEAR LATER A STORY BASED UPON THE FACTS FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL HEARING CAMP G ~ 2-27, OCTOBER 16, 196-. Tomorrow it will be just one year since That Day -- the day that ended the wor we used to live in, and reduced our Jives to an elemental struggle against hunger, sickness, grief, and despair. Here in this camp outside Vermillion, 17,000 of us who managed to pull through, more ot less, are living in huts, tenis, and sod houses. Among the St. Louisans here, by some ironical chance, are three of us who were active in CN. Yesterday we de cided to mark this grim anniversary by writing down the history of this terrible year, as we know it, Not that anyone will publish this mock Nuclear Information -- not much is printed nowadays, and a sheet of clean white paper is a rare Juxury But we have managed to ect hold of some scraps of packing material to write on. Maybe at some remote time, when some thing like civilization is restored, if it ever is, historians would like to know what we have seen. 1, THE DESTRUCTION OF ST. LOUIS My name is George Scott. 1'm a physicist ~— or at least, I was. My being alive today is just chance. I was preparing @ paper that had to be finished on That Day, so] stayed home to work on it in the little study ! had built for myself in the basement of my new house out beyond Creve Coeur. Qn the campus, hardly anybody survived. It has been pretty hard to separate sound information from the rumors that fill the air, but it’s now generally agreed that the continenta] U.S. was hit by nearly 1500 megatons on the onc day that the war Jasted.! Seventy cities were hit, as well as major defense installations and atomic facilities.2 About 23 million people were killed that first » 3 NI . ¥ j r ’ oot yee ee lewe © died since, but nobody agrees The ferocious heat of the explosion caused the worst J remember that when the Holifield Committee held hearings havoc. Fires were started instantaneously as far away as on the subject, back in 19591] think, one expert estimated Weldon Spring.” People who were out in the open suflerec that a massive attack would injure about 43 million people, third degree burns even in Ellisville.? Second degree bur of whom more than a third would survive.3 That's not the were common Several miles beyond that. And many people way it was, though, the injured didn’t have much chance, were burned by fires Started by the explosion, with the lospitals pone and medical supplies burned up The destruction of major firchouscs, and the panic and the doctors mostly dead. As for the uninjured -- well, Continued on next pene. AN EXPLANATION . . . The probable effects of nuclear war in the United States were which need 1 be understood, considered and discussed.” described Jast June i in hearings before che Hobifield subcommittee CN) offers this interpretation in the hope that it will help on radiation of the Joint Congressional Convynittee on Atomic accomplish dius aim, Energy. The assumption was that the 7§ farpest cities in the In this account some assumptions have been made. Wt lias country had heen destroyed by nuclear weapons. ‘F echnical been assumed that the Army is able to take control of the expe mts discussed We eficcts of such an atrack, Physicists situation; since many military bases are outside of erban estimated the levels of radiation and the destraucrion of arcas, this assumption seems reasonable, A technical building: se Weather experts told how fatlout would be distcie * assumprion js that in St. Louis County the water system con- rete d fom the bob caplostons. Physicians described the linves 10 function; dhe location of the Howard Rend plant there was starvation, and there was typhus, and then there were a Jot of people who just went out of their minds and either killed themse]ves or died because they couldn’t ma the efforf to survive. Two Weapons St. Louis was hit by two weapons, of eight and ten me tons equivalance.2 The ten megaton bomb exploded at 11 and Pine.4 They say there’s a crater there now, a mile across and several hundred feet deep. The force of the blast, and it’s heat, destroyed nearly everything, in a cir extending north and south to the city limits, and westwa as faras Big Bend. East of Grand almost everybody wa wiped out at once. From Grand to Big Bend some people survived the attack itself, but not many are stil] alive.‘ e e e : tee is ot blast, heat and radiauion on humans. Agricultuial * 3etentists discussed the damage to livestock and. craps and ° One Fre evidence was presented, but nabody put it.ro,ether to Ney to answer the fundamental question: Whet would life be tSiske for the survivors of a nucleor war? 4 Thi. issue of Nuclear biformation is an answer to that squcsiion inthe fom of fietion -- bul itis net to be regarded asa work et inayination, The principal facts in this account Je taken from the tesuimony. The foonates give the specific toa tae ing vicina y sis seport, the Fholifield subcammrtios stared thavi: “brheves thatthe fundurcnarcbresnes dewte wi¢ho an these bearinps are extiegedy serous, anata shes are bs snes makes this possible. A third assumption is that the survivors recain the ability and willingness to cope with their desperate situacion, Ho these assumptions should be overly-optunistic, the aftermath of a nuclear war might be far mare goim than the stay preseoted here. This account of three St. Lovisans a year after the day of devastation was acitten by Dr Florence Moog, professei of zoology in Washington University, with the technical assistance of Dre Watrer CO. Bauer, ingaractor is surpicad patholesy, School of Medicine, and Dn Jo. Reynolds, ascasrant professcr ai plivsics, Rashtagion University. € 64 hope stl their Story will help: its treadors to becta priedear stood the meaning ef the faces thor were presented before _ uh YH. ria { Compriathec. “i ICL OSUS