Oh yes, I see. Thank you very much. :-)
Unless I’m very wrong, that was the first nuclear explosion in history. Or at least the first triggered by a human endeavor.
I think you’re correct. He said it lit up the entire western sky. People knew to expect weapons tests but of course he didn’t realize what he had seen until a month later.
He was a WWI vet who had been gassed and suffered lung damage. El Paso was considered a better climate for those with breathing difficulty than his native New Orleans.