New 5/21/2009
Atomic Veterans Service
Medal Act
view
House Bill #
HR 2553
Senate Bill # S 1128
Introduced in both the
US House & US Senate today
Please contact your Representatives and ask them to
cosponsor HR 2553 - they should contact
Rep Todd Tiahrt at 202-225-6216
Please contact your Senators and ask them to cosponsor the
companion bill S 1128 under the same title in the US Senate
- they should contact
Sen Pat Roberts at 202-224-4774
====================================
A Brief History
On July 16,1945 the first atomic bomb (code named "Trinity")
was successfully detonated while suspended from a tower at
Alamogordo in the New Mexico desert. A few months later two
atomic bombs "Fat man" ( the tested design) and "Little boy"
(an untested theoretical design) would bring the war with
Japan and World War II to an abrupt end. For better or worse
America and the world had entered the atomic age.
There was perhaps a natural euphoria across the nation
especially among the hundreds of thousands of servicemen and
their families that had awaited the invasion of Japan.
America and her allies were the victors, thousands of lives
would be spared and America possessed the ultimate weapon,
the end all to all end alls, the atomic bomb. Surely, the
carnage of war and mans inhumanity towards others would be
but a distant memory. Yet the history of the past half
century has demonstrated quite the opposite as new despots
came to power and the carnage continued around the globe.
Worse yet, close to half a million servicemen and women from
the greatest generation and those following in their
footpath would soon be engaged in a new war with an unseen
enemy. Countless thousands would be locked in a desperate
battle for their very life. The best laid plans, tactics,
weapons, sheer courage and bravery would not carry the day.
Ionizing radiation would ravage many and skip others. There
would be no winners and only time would identify the
survivors.
Development of the atomic bomb was not without risk or
casualty. The estimated annual budget for development and
production at the end of WWII was a staggering two
billion in 1945 dollars. The cost to follow in terms of
human loss and suffering is incalculable.
Following Japans surrender, some 200,000 service members
would serve in the occupation forces with duties carrying
many of them into and around the heavily contaminated areas
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Servicemen held as POW's in these
areas were also adversely effected and are classified by
Congress as atomic veterans. With scant time for a deep
breath and a serious evaluation of the future ramifications;
scientist and military leaders of the day pushed forward
with the development, design, expansion and power of the
atomic weapons arsenal. Unrestricted atmospheric, underwater
and below ground testing would begin in earnest in 1946 with
Operation Crossroads and continue for another 18 years on
and around numerous islands in the pacific or on the
mainland in Nevada and New Mexico. Approximately 1,060 test
would be conducted with roughly 235 detonated below water,
suspended from 300 foot towers above ground or delivered by
aircraft or missiles. Another 225,000 service members
representing every branch of our armed forces would be
exposed to the deadly effects of ionizing radiation as human
test subjects. Many of the participants had just survived
the last great war or were headed too or returning from
Korea.
Click here to view
Operation Crossroads
Shot BAKER at Bikini Atoll 1946
Operation Crossroads was meant to be a global spectacle, a
demonstration if you will of the fact that we not only had
the atomic bomb but knew how to employ it as a viable weapon
in future conflicts with minimal damage and casualties to
friendly forces. Some two hundred print journalists of the
day were gathered in the Pacific to witness the operation
and report the reality to the nation and the world. To our
knowledge this would be the first and last time journalist
would be invited to a test. Following Crossroads, absolute
secrecy was the mandate. Participants, however
insignificant, were restricted from discussions of anything
seen or remotely related to a witnessed test for nearly 50
years. Such restriction included immediate family and
personal physicians. Not until 1996 would they be
released to discuss their participation with
a VA physician in connection with the submission of a claim.
This was thirteen (13) years after
President Ronald
Regan had established Saturday, July 16, 1983
as Atomic Veterans Day, releasing the announcement at 4:00
PM on Friday July 15th (with the media already in the pubs)
to little fan fair and with no lasting semblance. It was
eight (8) years after the United States Congress in 1988 had
finally established the first presumptive cancers related to
the testing for treatment at the VA. It was six (6) years
after Congress established the RECA Act of 1990 administered
by the Department of Justice to partially compensate atomic
veterans that had contracted one of the listed cancers and
includes an official apology from the United States Congress
to the individual afflicted veteran for their exposure.
There is something terribly wrong with these timelines and
they demonstrate an insatiable appetite on the part of
some government agencies and the military in particular to
silence the atomic veteran. To this very day, names and
medical records of site participants remain classified (even
to them) and the leadership at the highest levels of our
military family [example:
General Peter Pace
form January 2007] remain adamantly opposed to honoring
the atomic veteran in any way. But Why?
Our servicemen were being used as test subjects (how else
can you explain Battalion after Battalion of men being
placed just a few thousand yards form a suspended detonation
with only a trench to protect them or ships crews sitting
topside unprotected during an underwater or atmospheric test
or air crews flying through the mushroom clouds).
Our servicemen represented a cheap, easily controlled and
expendable government asset that could be used at will and
discarded without thought. Was their personal health a real
concern? NO! Some were monitored for a short period after
the test and some were contacted years later requesting that
they come in to the VA for test (some refused - they had
been used enough). They were not being contacted to access
their treatment needs but rather to expand the governments
original test data. They were just specimens. If their
health was of real concern the later notifications would
have highlighted their health risk and encouraged the
veteran to report to any civilian or government medical
clinic for tests and treatment with the government
voluntarily picking up the tab.
The bottom line concern was, is and continues to be strictly
related to FUNDING. The upper leadership of the Atomic
Energy Commission (the successor organization to the
Manhattan Project) and Military understood early on that if
the public and Congress (in particular) knew of the real
potential health problems and almost certain litigation and
liability for claims related to radiation poisoning or
exposure that funding for the atomic weapons testing and
development they deemed crucial for national security would
have been seriously jeopardized.
(to read a related
article)
AMERICA'S RADIATION
VICTIMS:
The Hidden Files
- New York Times Published: November 19, 1989
As a consequence, atomic veterans were left to wander in the
wilderness, struggling independently for care and to prove
the connection between their service and contracted cancers.
Thousands of veterans would perish from radiological
illness's long before the presumptive cancers were
established in 1988 or RECA was signed into law in 1990 and
even then new obstacles such as a theoretical Dose
Reconstruction would be agency created without congressional
approval to limit successful claims. In addition, the
continued classification of the names of on-site
participants insures that many thousands of families
will never know of their veterans participation in an atomic
test nor file claims (although entitled) for their loss.
It is not our desire to question the necessity for the
atomic bombs development or even the guidance of those who
pressed on with understanding and developing it in the
aftermath of the war. Hindsight is always 20-20 and while we
can not alter the past surely we are bound to study it,
learn from it and alter our course where possible.
Who more than the greatest generation and those following
immediately in their footsteps better understood sacrifice.
How different might events have been if the Atomic Energy
Commission and/or Military would have simply been honest and
upfront with our servicemen. If they had simply said we have
this terrible new weapon and too many unanswered questions,
we can not tell you with certainty the health risk or
outcome but we need your help before others find the
answers. If they had only called for volunteers in the light
and committed to their future care. We believe the
volunteers would have stepped forward and the pain of the
decades since could have been avoided or at least mitigated
for the veteran.
The common bond between generations of servicemen that
allowed them to perform extraordinary fetes is faith in each
other and our institutions. In the case of the atomic
veteran that faith was broken. We can not raise the dead nor
undo the pain but we can try to mitigate it for the few
still with us today..
They were real Americans, performing their duties with honor
and courage to the best of their abilities. Many were
oblivious to the potential dangers or even their planned
involvement until at sea and nearing the projected test
site. Those volunteering for the Nevada test's most surely
did not believe their government would seriously jeopardize
their health. While an
apology for many
might be in order; a "Thank You" for all is preferred.
Knowing what we know today;
Would you Volunteer or want
to be Volunteered?
