WELCOME ATOMIC VETERANS
To all Atomic Veterans, Army,Navy,Marines,Air Force,Coast Guard,Government employes, please feel free to leave your atomic experience here for all to read.
This site is to allow all to learn of our sacrifice for our country and the American people.
Please be civil in your statements or stories, no profanity.
I know some of us have lost many friends and relatives due to being exposed to radiation caused by these nuclear tests and the ones having to work in a radiation environment.
Let us hope the American people will stand with us in the hope all Atomic veterans will receive the compensation and recognition we all deserve.
Please send your statement or story to budnorris@pacbell.netand I will check it and post here for all to read.
Or leave your statement or story, if it is not to long, in my guest book.
Who Is An Atomic Veteran
Atomic Veterans were members of the United States Armed Forces who participated in atmospheric and underwater nuclear weapons tests from 16 July, 1945 to 30 October 1962. They also include veterans who were assigned to post test duties, such as “ground zero” nuclear warfare maneuvers & exercises, removing radiation cloud samples from aircraft wing pods, working in close proximity to radiated test animals, de -contamination of aircraft and field test equipment, retrieval and transport of test instruments & devices, and a host of other duty assignments that provided an opportunity for a radiation exposure & contamination event.
ATOMIC VETERANS STATEMENTS AND STORIES
POSTED: 02/28/11
Brad Millar
I was the operations sgt for Desert Rock VI, aka Upshot-Knothole. I was in the command trench for seven of the devices including the one time that the 280mm cannon fired a nuclear device. Later, I was a nuclear weapons technician in Germany where I regulary handled bare Oralloy, Tubally, and clad plutonium components and breathed in huge quantities of trichlorethelene. The last 10 years of my career were spent in the Army's nuclear power program where I was shift supervisor on the SM1, the SL1, and the PM-2A. I made one entry into the SL1 after its excursion in 1960.
From:CaliforniaWeb Site: noneEmail: pawcat1929@sbcglobal.net9POSTED: 03/-01/2011
Gus Magafas
I was assigned to the atomic task force that took part in the tests in the south Pacific 1952 through 1956.Needless to say it was not on a voluntary basis that we went.My ship was the USS Curtiss AV- 4,originally a sea plane tender.However it was used, to transport top brass & scientests attached to US nuclear testing done at that time.I wouldn't take a million dollars for my experience in those tests.I do wonder though if medical problems that I do have now can be related to my involvement,or just due to old age,lol? Also,I would like to know if there is any compensation being paid to the guinea pigs that had participated,in any of the nuclear testing done?
From:Hudson,Florida 34669Email: gusm1292@yahoo.comEmail: gusm1292@yahoo.com
POSTED: 03/02/2011
Ruben Martinez
I was looking at the photos of some of the tests that were held at Eniwetok. I was at both Greenhouse and Ivy (I was also at Buster-Jangle. I don't believe that some of the dates you have for Ivy are correct. I believe that the first H-bomb was tested on November 1, 1952 and I do not think that there was one on October 31. We were one day ahead when the H-bomb was tested, it was Nov.1 at Eniwetok, but Oct. 31 in the USA. I do recall that after the H-bomb test, there was another test. When the first H-bomb test was done, we were all taken of the island, but not for the second test. I do not think that I am mistaken on this. Thank you.
POSTED: 03/07/11
Tom BotchieMonday, 3/7/11, 4:35 PM
Monday, 3/7/11, 4:35 PMI was assigned to the 57th Weather Recon Sqdn out of Hickham AFB Hawaii at Eniwetok 1957/58. Our unit was flying WB50s for the weather prior to each shot. It was quite an eye opener for a young 20 yr old. I did not realize what I had seen until many years later. For those vets that are not aware of it, the VA is giving a full physical for any possible ionizing radiation injuries, and there is quite a list of possible injuries from the radiation. All one has to do is go to a VA facility and tell them that you are there for the IRR (Ionizing Radiation Registry)and they will set you up. I am the Florida State Commander for the Ntl. Assoc. of Atomic Vets(NAAV) which has a great web site. Good luck to all "Atomic Vets".From:Ormond Beach Fl.Email: toppop59@comcast.net
toppop59@comcast.net
POSTED: 03/31/2011
Charles NachbarThursday, 3/31/11, 9:46 AM
Thursday, 3/31/11, 9:46 AMI was stationed at Eniwetok in 1958 on Opp. HardTac. Was assigned to the 24th Helicopter Sq.Det 4. We would transport people & equipment from the different Islands & ships in the area. Sometimes picking instrumentation that was set up to monitor the blast results. We were using H21 & H 19 Helicopters at the time. On one Eve. Flight in Apr I don't remember the exact date fut we lost one of our H19s that gotten into a small storm & Down draft and crashed into the Lagoon into about 7 feet of water. The Helicopter had rolled onto it's RH side blocking the passenger door. Everyone escaped through the Emergency Exits on the left side except one.Some one had opened a 20 man life raft in the passenger cabin. Trapping one of the passengers. The pilot tried to let himself in through the emergency exit to search for any one who may have not gotten out. It was Dark they had very little light. And the life raft had to many different inflated Partitions. He could never find the body that was trapped in the cabin. The Body was Mark Muir Mills an American Nuclear Physicist & Developer of Atomic Bombs.I remember there was a real intense investigation of this matter. Other than that incident I remember the Bomb blast where if you chose not to go over to supply and check out Glasses you were required to put your back to the blast and cover the eyes with the palm of the hands. Funny thing was when the blast went off you could see right through your hands in some of the blast and blast day the showers were restricted for they needed the Fresh water to wash the air Craft with. I have seen what these bombs can do. you can't start to Explain to some one who wasn't there the power these bombs have. It would be like trying to describe the Gran Canyon on the phone to some one.I hope to God I never see one used in a war. I am still around at 71 just now trying to get a little help from The VA With some of the health problems. I was also in Vietnam and all they want to do argue if it is caused from radiation or Agent Orange.Seems like they both have the same side effects.I know one of the problems that did start there from the water we drank. I didn't spend enough time at Duffies Tavern I guess. Kidney & Bladder problems.Enjoyed the movies and the cheap haircuts And the food on Saturdays was excellent. Then we would fly over and have dinner with the Holms & Narver Crew and the home style dinners they had there were excellent. The would even send a few pies home with us. Well Thanks for all the memories. I does me good to get these things out of my system every now and then. God Bless all of those that are still out there to read this. Charlie NachbarFrom:Clio, MichiganEmail: cnachbar@hotmail.comPOSTED: 04/13/11
Mack Fowler
I was in Nevada test in 1956 Oct. Went up to point 0. My buddy became a zombie and i carried him back to the trench. i was bleeding from all of my face by then and passed out for a couple of days they treated me for 10 mounts, had heart attact one year later + lung problens, still alive though.
From:amarillo tx.
amarillo tx.Email:macpeg@suddenlink.net
macpeg@suddenlink.netCliAMERICA'S RADIATION VICTIMS: The Hidden Files
LONG ARTICLE, BUT WORTH READING. CLICK HERE
POSTED: 10/19/11
Click here to add text.
George EgerWednesday, 10/19/11, 12:44 PM
Wednesday, 10/19/11, 12:44 PMI was part of the testing at Christmas Island in the early 60's. I was on the USS MUNSEE ATF(107). Most of the day we were involved in towing and setting targets for what were to be ((13 areial drops)) Once the target was set, we would steam to the harbor, about 15 to 25 miles away and anchor. A plane would fly over, drop the bomb, and set it off at different alttiudes. From what I was told, the test was to see how much down thrust these bombs had. Each target had electronic equipment on it, I guess to send to their equipment for readings. Even today, if I think about it, I can still feel the intense heat from the blast. After the heat came the shock wave and we could see it approching as it came across the harbor. The uniform of the day was Tshirts, showershoes and cut offs. There are more things to tell, so if anyone is interested, let me know.From:PennaEmail: bmwe93@zoominternet.net
Any Atomic Veterans who live around Springfield, Mo, please
contact me at: cvnorris@att.net
Would like to get together for coffee etc.
I had a large group of old shipmtes when I lived in Ca.
SPECIAL NOTICE: REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
POSTED: 01/03/2012
Atomic veteran
Bianco recalls infamous nuke test
“It was very frightening, this multi-colored roiling around thing up in the sky. The image that came to my mind was a diseased brain up there. It was very scary.”
— Dr. Marshall Rosenbluth, physicist and witness to the Bravo test
By James Staley
jstaley@lcsun-news.com
The bakers made mistakes.
That’s what drew a young John Bianco to the bakery near his Baltimore neighborhood. If he got to those mistakes quickly enough, Bianco could take them home.
During the Great Depression, you had to be ready for any opportunity.
“A lot of times, that was all we had to eat,” Bianco said.
He’s 86 now, living in a local retirement home. At one time in his life, he was a strapping sailor. These days, meandering through the halls of the retirement home, Bianco supports himself with a rolling walker, but gets around pretty well considering he has endured two knee replacement operations, four back surgeries and two bouts with cancer.
Last week, he talked about some of the more memorable moments in his life and career in the Navy. Bianco’s laughs, funny stories and occasional exaggerated hand gestures belie his almost constant pain. His esophagus doesn’t function properly, making eating a repetitive and unpleasant experience.
But that’s not what Bianco wants to talk about. Most of his conversation surrounds the events of one historic day.
March 1, 1954.
Bianco was aboard the USS Philip, an escort destroyer. He was a baker, a trade he had picked up after hanging around that Baltimore bakery so much as a kid.
He and the rest of the Navy personnel aboard the ship were there as part of Operation Castle, a series of experimental thermonuclear detonations near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. That morning, the first of seven thermonuclear devices — commonly called hydrogen bombs — was scheduled to explode. It was the Bravo test.
At 6:45 a.m., Bianco was on the deck of the USS Philip, with much of the rest of the crew. They wore special glasses to block the intense light emitted by what was anticipated to be a six-megaton explosion.
Those glasses failed.
Bianco’s reaction was to block his eyes with his right forearm and crook of his elbow.
“I saw the blood running through my arm,” he said.
This frightened him, so he dropped his arm. That revealed an even more chilling sight.
Said Bianco: “The man standing in front of me was a complete skeleton.”
The nuclear flash was bright enough to give Bianco temporary X-ray vision.
A short time later, superior officers told Bianco and the other men they could gaze at the fireball rising above them. He said he was scared to look at first, given the incredibly bright light the explosion had created. Eventually, he took a peek.
“All I could see was a big ball of black and red boiling into the sky,” he said. “... About an hour later, it looked like it was snowing.”
It was radioactive ash.
The device detonated in the Bravo test was nearly three times more powerful than physicists expected. It remains the most potent nuclear device ever exploded by the U.S. Another problem: the wind shifted, scattering the fallout further than anticipated.
Bianco and the rest of the sailors scurried below decks. The ventilation was closed, which turned the USS Philip into a toxic sauna.
Bianco vividly remembers inhaling deeply once he was cleared to be outside again; the cool air felt refreshing at the time, but he can’t help but think that it was those irradiated particles which caused his esophageal problems. He wonders about the cancers and all the joint pain, too.
But more than that, he wonders about the others — the men that tried to help the nearby natives on Rongelap Atoll. He watched about 30 sailors help about 75 natives who had been subjected to the radiation from Bravo.
“If you see a baby with radiation sickness, you never forget it,” Bianco said.
He paused.
“If anybody deserves a medal, those men do.”
Bianco has received some assistance from the National Association of Atomic Veterans. But he hasn’t heard from any other sailors aboard the USS Philip that day. He wonders how many are still alive.
Bianco served until 1964, when he retired and worked as chief of food service at a prison. He and his wife, Sandy, moved to Las Cruces from Glen Burnie, Md. in 2004.
When he talks about that, the big smile returns to Bianco’s face.
“I came to visit my daughter,” he said. “And I didn’t want to go back.”
James Staley
Reporter
Las Cruces Sun-News
jstaley@lcsun-news.com
(575) 541-5476
Friday, 2/24/12, 3:20 PM
Michael Osterbuhr
My father was exposed to radiation while he was being processed to be sent to Germany with the Army Airs Corps. The airmen (and also Navy submarine personnel) were treated with an instrument "something like a tuning fork" that had been dipped in radium. It was placed in their nostrils for about 20 minutes per treatment. The NASOPHARYNGEAL Radium treatment was supposed to help the airmen and sub-mariners breathe better at high altitude and under water in the subs. My father had no immediate negative effects, but has since had one leg removed, the lower lobe of one lung removed, and the top of the other lung removed; and later I've learned that he also had bladder cancer. The first cancer was diagnosed as swanoma-sarcoma (sp?) - a sinowy, spread out, fiberous cancer that didn't form tumors until after an exploratory surgery on his left foot arch (where he'd experienced numbness). The swanoma-sarcoma pinched off the nerve, so eventually the left leg was numb below the knee, leading doctors to amputate the left leg just above the knee. Fortunately dad is still with us and 86 years of age.
From: Wichita, KS
Web Site: Osterbuhrs
Email: Michael@Osterbuhr.us
Posted: 03/06/2012
Atomic Veteran
James Stroud
I was aboard the Sproston, DDE 577 at Enewetak for Operation Greenhouse in 1951. We escorted the Curtiss and the weapons from San Francisco. We steamed all around there on lots of patrol through all the detonations. I have had a number of malignant skin cancers, BCC & SCC, no melanoma yet, but I would not be surprised. I have had so many "pre-cancerous lesions" removed I have lost track. Diagnosed with prostate cancer last fall. I have suffered with "Post Radiation Syndrome" for many years. The VA is sure taking it's time on the "ionizing radiation" portion of all my claims, but I have done my research.
