| ATOMIC VETERAN GETS
OUT WORD TO FIND OTHER VICTIMS
"We knew nothing about radiation. We
were on a destroyer with two scientists with meters. That's all.
Nobody else knew anything."
NOTE from Larry Scott, VA
Watchdog dot Org ... For decades our government pretended
atomic veterans didn't exist. Now that they are allowed to
tell their stories, the government pretends they're not sick.
This is one of the great national disgraces. I love my
country. But, sometimes I really hate my government.
Use our search engine
for more about atomic veterans.
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Westport man helping to spread the word about atomic veterans
By Steve Urbon
WESTPORT — The pictures tell the
tale, and that's the problem. The atomic tests in the South
Pacific were state secrets, and the photos were, too. Those who
were there were forbidden to talk about it for most of their
lives.
But now, a town resident has joined the movement to spread the
word about the atomic veterans, especially to get them the medical
help they have been denied all these decades while fighting the
after-effects of their military duty.
Dr. John Waters, whose career led him to duty as chaplain in a
psychiatric hospital, will host the showing of a documentary
presentation of the America, British and French atomic bomb tests
from the 1940s to the present.
They were made available by the Pentagon only about a decade ago,
at the same time the Defense Department lifted the oath of secrecy
that bound hundreds of thousands of "atomic veterans" to silence
about what they had seen and suffered.
And they did suffer. With today's knowledge, we know not to drink
or swim in irradiated water at Ground Zero. We know to wear
protective clothing, not to clean radioactive ship decks with mops
while wearing nothing more than a pair of shorts in the tropical
heat.
 But
military personnel, thousands of them, did exactly that in the
first atomic tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Waters was there as a sonar man, sent aboard ships that were left
in the blast zone to see what would happen. He and others handled
the equipment, swabbed the "hot" decks, ate the food, and swam in
the Bikini lagoon to cool off.
"We made fresh water for use right out of the lagoon. We distilled
it," he said.
"We knew nothing (about radiation). We were on a destroyer with
two scientists with meters. That's all. Nobody else knew
anything."
Now they know. "I'm 82. I have had prostate and skin cancer. I
have had bladder cancer," said Waters.
He's one of the lucky ones. Many atomic veterans have died from
their radiation-inflicted illnesses. Now, with the help of men
such as Waters, the National Association of Atomic Veterans is
trying to get the word out to those still living that they have
company, that there is support for them, even if the U.S.
government continues to force them to prove from sketchy,
once-secret records that they suffered radiation poisoning.
Waters will give his presentation on Saturday, the original
Memorial Day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Smith Mills United Church
of Christ, 11 Anderson Way, South Dartmouth. Admission is free,
and a free will offering will be taken to benefit the NAAV.
Steve Urbon is senior correspondent of The Standard-Times.
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TOPICS:
veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs,
atomic veterans, nuclear tests, human guinea pigs |
