DUBLIN — On Dec. 17, 1959, a military band played “The River Kwai” as 91 Alameda County inmates and eight deputies, doctors and scientists, many with prickly beards, walked out of a hole in the ground at the mysterious Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. The 99 men had spent two weeks in the underground fallout shelter, testing the effects of the isolation as part of a military effort to design better bunkers amid the Cold War threat of nuclear war. Of the 92 inmates who started, one man developed an infection and did not last the full two weeks. Each participant wore a vest with his identification number, and scientists recorded their progress eating specified diets. A closed-circuit video camera recorded their actions. The inmates were selected from 400 volunteers and got their sentences shortened with their participation. A copy photograph from December 1959 of a Naval Radiology Laboratory bomb shelter experiment copied at the Alameda County Sheriff’s office archives in Dublin, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017. There are some photos, documents and relics related to the Cold War and the nuclear threat housed there. This photo shows people exiting the bomb shelter. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group) A copy of a December 1959 photograph of a Naval Radiology Defense Laboratory fallout shelter experiment copied at the Alameda County Sheriff’s office archives in Dublin, on Aug. 22. This photo shows people exiting the shelter. The biggest complaint during the experiment was noise — snoring and chatty inmates. Like our Facebook page for more conversation and news coverage from the East Bay and beyond. The men were separated into groups of 10, and every afternoon group leaders discussed gripes. Two different diets were fed to the men: One group received two peanut candy bars for dinner, while the other group got C-rations. There was canned spaghetti, hardtack, canned fruit and pound cake. The inmates could play shuffleboard, cards, chess and checkers. A periscope allowed the men to peak outside, and monitors could also view the men inside through the device. Dr. W.E. Strope, who was conducting the experiment, played music on his stereo phonograph from Montavani to Brubeck. Instead of brushing their teeth, they received a pill, which foamed up when they washed it with water. On Day 2, men were forced to stop smoking, which caused alarm, but alas a broken filter was fixed and they were once again able to light up their beloved cigarettes. One man kept a journal and shared it with the Oakland Tribune. A copy photograph from December 1959 of a Naval Radiology Laboratory bomb shelter experiment copied at the Alameda County Sheriff’s office archives in Dublin, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017. There are some photos, documents and relics related to the Cold War and the nuclear threat housed there. This photo shows everybody outside of the bomb shelter. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group) A copy of a December 1959 photograph of a Naval Radiology Defense Laboratory fallout shelter experiment copied at the Alameda County Sheriff’s office archives in Dublin, on Aug. 22. This photo shows everybody outside of the shelter. “Bury ourselves in the ground like a mole or ostrich. Yet, while our heads are still up we practice how to destroy, like children playing with matches, or like a mouse trying to steal the bait off a trap,” he wrote. “But we’re not children or mice. We’re intelligent human beings, or are we?” Reading this on your phone? Stay up to date with our free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store. On Sundays, men worshiped in their own ways. K6 became the bunker preacher. Photos show the men emerging from the bunker to a hero’s welcome. Strope wrote up a report. Later, 99 men, women and children spent 48 hours in the bunker. They were lab employees, and another report was made on psychological impacts.>