Johnson Island H-Bomb July 8, 1962

In researching letters I had written my mother while in the Navy/Marine Corps and stationed at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station on Oahu, Hawaii I reviewed a correspondence I sent her on July 9, 1962 in which I said that I had stayed up late (11:00 PM) last night to watch the bomb explosion over Johnson Island. "There was a tremendous green burst that could be seen as far as Hilo Hawaii. Directly after the burst there was a bright red glow miles in the sky which could be seen for 10 minutes. It was really something to see and quite a show of power." I recall going to the Pali, the highest point on the island, with several of my military budies to view the event. Looking down over Waikiki and Honolulu from this vantage point was breathtaking, especially when the sky exploded with color from the atomic blast. The Fairbanks Alaska Daily News-Miner recorded the event with the headlines "H-Bomb Blast Lights Pacific."
In the Atomic Bomb Chronology: 1947-1979 the entry read: "1962 .7 .8 (USA). High altitude nuclear test, 400 km high Johnson Island of a 1.4 mt H-Bomb. A large power loss in Oahu island, Hawaii due to malfunction of electric supply control device caused by electromagnetic pulse wave emitted during bombardment of ionosphere x-ray and gamma ray of nuclear explosion."
http://www.ask.ne.jp/-hankaku/english/np9x.html

The Book of the Century

That's what the Editor-in-Chief calls it, and he may be correct. It starts in 1900 and terminates in 1987. It contains 1373 pages of headlines and significant events for each day of the month just as it was reported by the media from around the world. I have been doing research in this book to place events in time for my memoir from 1961-65 while in the Navy (actually the Marine Corps). I have been reading the letters I sent my mother while in the service and placing them in chronological order and then referring to the Book of the Century to place the letters and myself in relation to world events. I am interested to read my correspondence after the assissination of President Kennedy to read what my response was and how it seemed to affect me personally. My memory of past events seem to be pretty good, but I really get surprised when I read my old letters. My attitude and perspective is completely different than I remember. My letters are very positive and seem to reflect joy and happiness with where I am and what I am doing. My memory reflectes on a completely different attitude of unhappiness and depression during that time frame. At some point in time my attitude must have changed. I'm anxious to find out what triggered that and how I handled the correspondence with my mother. I'll just keep reading-on.