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    "label": "Notes Compiled by Lansing Lamont for His Book, \"Day of Trinity\"",
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    "title": "Notes Compiled by Lansing Lamont for His Book, \"Day of Trinity\"",
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    "seq": 2,
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    "type": "photo",
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    "ocrText": "20.\nI\nDATE: 16 July 1945\nPLACE: 30,000 yds. West of Ground Zero Trinity\nHARRY ARCHIVES NATIONAL TRUMAN AND LIBRARY\nRECORDS\nSERVICE\nGOVERNMENT\nAt the time of the shot I was lying prone and looking through a welders lens.\nThere appeared abruptly a brilliant pin-point of light at the source. This\ngrew in size and extended itself vertically upward like a jet, and then mush-\nroomed out at the top. I believe the point at the source remained brilliant\nfor an appreciable time during the formation. The illumination was dazzling\nto the eye and was apparently several times brighter than the sun when viewed\nthrough the same lens. I think this is true even when allowance is made for\nthe super-sensitivity of the eye owing to its lack of exposure to bright light\nfor several hours previously. The brightness seemed to grow in total intensity\nX\nfor a period of from 1/2 to 1 second. After what I estimated to be three\nseconds (although this is very uncertain) the illumination had diminished\nenough so I considered it appropriate to remove the welders lens.\nI then observed a great ball of fire probably one or two thousand feet above\nthe ground. This ball was approximately spherical, was of a reddish-yellow\ncolor and appeared to be boiling violently. At the same time I noted the\nbrightness of the landscape which was illuminated to about the extent observed\nimmediately before sun-rise.\nThe ball of fire continued to rise, getting fainter, redder and larger. In a\nfew seconds it changed into a gray cloud surrounded by a strikingly luminous\npurple halo. This halo lasted a few seconds and disappeared gradually. The\ncloud just referred to merged into a column of dust and smoke that was rising\nand continued to rise vertically at a high rate of speed, finally becoming\ntopped with a white portion that looked like ordinary cloud, or steam.\nPresently it was noted that the lower 2/3 of the column was drifting to the\neast whereas the upper portion remained more or less vertically above the\npoint of the explosion. My estimate of the height was 20 or 30 thousand\nfeet. It was noted shortly after the illumination disappeared that the ground\nfor more than a mile, and possibly 2 or 3 miles on either side of the explosion\nwas covered with a low dust cloud, thicker near the center and thinning toward\nthe edges. This cloud persisted for a long time and was still visible when we\nleft the site of observation some 25 minutes after the explosion.\nNo earth shock was felt though I was expecting it. The sound which arrived\nabout one minute and 40 seconds after the explosion was short, resonant and\nloud, but not of a degree of sharpness to hurt the ears. A few seconds after\nthe sound a continuous rumbling was heard, caused by the reflection of the\nsound from the distant mountains.\nA. B. MACHEN"
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