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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR VETERANS AND CHILDREN
ISSUE 61
July 2020
LAST POST FOR UK’S NUCLEAR VETERANS fissionline@gmail.com
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Splitting apart: Nuclear Veterans fallout could end in extinction The British Nuclear Tests Veterans’ Association charity face being wiped out for good after it was plunged into a new crisis following a spate of resignations. Charity Chairman Alan Owen walked out over objections to his plan to form a new worldwide group of nuclear survivors. Several trustees quickly followed him. In a statement Owen, who was hailed as a ‘breath of fresh air’ when he took over the chairmanship two years ago, said: “I have been working on expanding Nuclear Veterans Worldwide. “Unfortunately, the constraints of the BNTVA mean that I am unable to promote the message that I want to push out, via the media, of the injustice. “We have now renamed Nuclear Veterans Worldwide to Legacy of the Atomic Bomb, Recognition for Atomic Test Survivors or LABRATS, as that is how they were treated, as rats in an experiment. “I have now left the BNTVA completely to concentrate on ensuring the world knows about the injustice and the suffering of the whole nuclear community.” The fragmented BNTVA charity board has desperately been been trying to shore up the crumbling organisation as members digested Owen’s shock resignation. Trustees who left have quickly been replaced and a new chairman Ceri McDade, appointed. Previously she has worked on projects raising money for homeless charities and has had experience sourcing charity cash. She issued a statement thanking Alan Owen for his work, and added: “The BNTVA will always be there to help all descendants of the nuclear tests and their families, and fissionline@gmail.com
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we continue to Alan Owen fight for medal recognition and the welfare of our members and their families.” But the placatory tone of the statement can’t conceal the deep anger felt by many n u c l e a r veterans as their organisation is once again mired in controversy. Doug Hern, a BNTVA Trustee, said: “Alan Owen had got all his irons in the fire with this new organisation when he resigned; I think it became more important for him to go with that than go with the BNTVA. “I can’t understand this new organisation that he’s formed because it is only dealing with second generation and family line. They are not the lab rats, the initial veterans are; they were the guinea pigs.” “There’s now only two of us who are actually veterans left on the Trustees Board. The rest are mostly from the next generation, and they are in charge. “Apart from anything else there won’t be many veterans left alive in five years time.” Christmas Island veteran Hern, who says he was one of the first to join the BNTVA back in the early 1980s, has now appealed to members to stand behind the new regime. In a wide-ranging interview, he said: “Me and Alan Owen are still friends. I don’t allow friendships to mar business. I didn’t try to stop him from leaving. “We had no idea that he was planning to leave the BNTVA and start up an international association. We didn’t know what was going on and it came as a big surprise. “We had friends in America asking us what was going on, and some of the stuff wasn’t very complimentary of the BNTVA or some of its trustees. I can’t understand a businessman of Alan’s acumen dreaming up such a thing. “You can’t raise a new organisation like that and put it on the map in about a year. You’ve got three to four years work to accomplish before you can call that a going concern. But it’s not just him, his whole family is gathered into it; they are doing it as well. “Alan is second generation and I think he wanted to promote that side of things, the descendants of the nuclear tests veterans. The structure he’s going for is international. Ceri McDade
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Doug and Sandie Hern
“But he couldn’t be chairman of the BNTVA when he is building a new structure which involves him going across international lines. The BNTVA would not have wanted that. “He couldn’t take the BVNTVA membership without first consulting them. There were not many that I know of who would want to do that. All we wanted to do was to stay friendly with Australia, NZ, Fiji, America and Canada. “You see when you go across international lines you can’t stop it being political.” Hern denied that Owen was forced into his resignation, or that any pressure was put on him. He said: “Alan definitely wasn’t pushed into going. Oh no. It was entirely his own decision; he went of his own volition, and the people who have gone with him must have been working with him on the new organisation in the background. “One of them, however, has now come back to us. There was another who also wanted to come back, but unfortunately it was voted out. They’d left and we were not going to get rid of new trustees just to get them back in again.” Hern admitted he felt some concern about the situation, but added: “Really what he does on his own time is his own business. I couldn’t see that that was doing any harm to the BNTVA; the only thing I queried was the fact that it was such a big undertaking. “The fact is that Alan had to resign because his tenure as chairman was up, and anyway he may have thought it was too much work to control both situations. The criticisms by people supporting him are of no consequence, believe you me.”
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“Alan Owen is nothing to do with us now. He has gone on his own. Once he stepped across the boundaries of the UK as far as we are concerned he is out of our constitution.” Hern and his wife Sandie, a former Vice-Chair of the BNTVA, have been at heart of the movement since the mid 2000s. He admitted that he had taken very much a backseat role, staying below the radar even when he disagreed with some of the contentious decisions that have rocked the organisation. One of the moves he profoundly disagreed with was the laying up of the BNTVA banner, a decision that caused huge resentment in the veteran’s community. He said: “Getting rid of the national standard was beyond the pale. This was a decision made by a former chairman John Lowe and some other people. “They wanted to get rid of the BNTVA branches which were being troublesome over the campaign for charitable status. Getting rid of the standard was part of all that, and I believed that was a huge mistake.” Doug said another thorny issue was the £400,000 cash bonanza paid to former BNTVA chairman Nigel Heaps and his business partner Steve Bexon, for managing the £5million cash windfall the veterans received from the government. There had already been rumblings of discontent among veterans when they learned that Heaps and Bexon had formed a company to manage the funds, after meetings with Ministry of Defence officials. According to Hern: “The trustees were aware they were going to get about £30-£40K a year for the delivery and administration of items that were sanctioned on grants application. “But when we found they were getting about £400k, we couldn’t believe it...and they were getting expenses on top of that. I was more than surprised. I was shocked to death.” Hern said the reason he kept a low profile when all this was going on was because he worked for a company that had many contracts with the Ministry of Defence. He explained: “If I had created a higher profile for myself within the BNTVA, my company wouldn’t have kept me on; they would have had to find somebody else to cover the MoD. “And the MoD consistently reminded me that I had signed the Official Secrets Act. And I am not talking about just ordnance. I’m, talking about other variants which affect the pharmaceutical industry as well as BP, Shell, Conoco. “I worked on all sorts of sites for the Government and I am convinced there is a guy somewhere in suburbia who gets up washes, shaves, cleans his teeth, has his breakfast, cup of tea, picks his briefcase up and gets on a train and goes all the way to Whitehall just to thwart the BNTVA. “When you get people like the self-confessed non-medical expert Ann Braidwood sitting in front of you, and then you get scientific people who you think have come for your benefit, and when you listen to the rhetoric that is going backwards and forwards in that meeting, you know very well that they are all part of the government.”
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Hern makes no apology for the BNTVA becoming a charity despite fierce opposition from many members: “As I’ve already said there won’t be any genuine veterans left in five years time; all that will be left is the descendants. “We produced a spreadsheet and calculated that if you gave every veteran two children and those children had two children and so on you ended up with about 164,000 children. “That was the reason that I suggested that we went in to becoming a charity. Because we would get a name, a threshold for the children. And I found out that charities could get grants for research that wasn’t controlled by the government. “But that took three and a half years to get through because there was so much opposition. But the membership came around and they all agreed. “I didn’t get any credit for that; someone else has already taken the credit, but they can have it. As far as I am concerned All I was happy about was that it had actually occurred. “We’d had years of being treated as a biased political animal while we had the ‘All; We Seek is Justice’ motto. We got rid of that and the government gradually softened toward us. “We are not just a twopenny boy’s association any more. When we got all that money from the government, it changed us completely from a nobody to at least a little bit of a somebody. “The money that eventually went to the Nuclear Community Charity Fund is being used for what it was meant for. There are applications going through today that will be satisfied “Nobody will ever get any cash in their hand, that was a foregone conclusion. But they can apply for help for their wellbeing for things they can’t get from the social security. “I am not a member of the NCCF, but I do read their website and I do talk to veterans who have had success. In the early days there were problems because handling millions of pounds all of a sudden was beyond most of our experience. “Things are better now and the NCCF are not falling down on the job. “I don’t want to talk about what happened in the past. I am talking about what is happening now. There were pitfalls and there were problems but most of those have been ironed out. “The role of the BNTVA now is with reunions and conferences, which the NCCF can’t help with. The BNTVA has to survive to be able to do that. “As far as I know there has been a massive change in the chairmanship of the NCCF and they have people who are worthy of the work they’re supposed to do.” Doug said he was now fully engaged in various projects to advance the cause of the nuclear veterans: “I have just finished filming with a Japanese company that is doing a film about the nuclear veterans, and there is a tie-up with the Lucky Dragon, the famous fishing boat that was covered in fallout from one of the American H-Bombs in the Pacific. “I shall carry on doing what I do, dealing with the press and the media, dealing with people who are writing books. There will come a time when we get the full transition of what is going on now, and when I feel happy I shall resign as a Trustee. fissionline@gmail.com
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I am become death, the destroyer of worlds... July 16, 1945
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The 'Trinity' nuclear test plunged humanity into the Atomic Age. The first-ever nuclear bomb was detonated in New Mexico, at the Alamogordo Test Range.
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‘I am become death, the destroyer of world’s’...is a quotation from the sacred Hindu text the Bhagavad Gita, and was used by J.Robert Oppenheimer, the chief scientist at Los Alamos, as he gazed upon the world’s first atomic explosion. He was dubbed the ‘father of the atom bomb’ for his world shattering achievement. But some believe the accolade should equally have gone to physicist Otto Robert Frisch, a British citizen of Austrian extraction. He fled to England from Hitler’s Germany in 1938 carrying the secret of fission and the process of how to conduct a controlled nuclear chain reaction, with him. Soon after war broke out he and emigre German physicist Rudolph Peierls, working in Birmingham, turned that process into a blueprint for a workable atomic bomb. They presented their findings to the British Government and the Maud Committee was formed to explore the feasibility of building the weapon. But fears that German scientists were also trying to build The Bomb led to Britain joining forces with America to form the huge $2billion Manhattan Project. With American industrial might coupled with the best scientific brains the day, the Bomb was built in less than three years. And Frisch was present in the New Mexico desert on 16, July 1945, to bear witness to the awesome power of the diabolical forces he had helped unleash. fissionline@gmail.com
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There have been many accounts of the Trinity explosion that marked the dawn of the nuclear age. It is perhaps fitting on this, the 75th anniversary of the event, that Frisch’s own eyewitness account is revealed here:When finally the day came the weather had changed; there were thunderstorms in the vicinity. We had reason to fear that lightning might set off the explosion prematurely, and many of the measurements would be ruined if the weather wasn’t clear and quiet. So we had to wait. Some of the big shots went to a bunker only about 10 miles away, but most of us were taken to a point in the open, 25 miles from the explosion site. There we sat around through the night, waiting for the weather to clear. For some hours I dozed in the car, waking up whenever the loudspeaker said something (in between it was playing dance music.) Finally the announcement came that the count-down was beginning; now it would be only minutes before the explosion took place. By that time the very first trace of dawn was in the sky. I got out of the car and listened to the count-down and when the last minute arrived I looked for my dark goggles, but couldn’t find them. So I sat on the ground in case the explosion blew me over, plugged my ears with my fingers, and looked in the direction away from the explosion as I listened to the end of the count...five, four, three, two, one... And then, without a sound, the sun was shining; or so it looked. The sand hills at the edge of the desert were shimmering in a very bright light, almost colourless and shapeless. This light did not seem to change for a couple of seconds and then began to dim. I turned around, but that object on the horizon which looked like a small sun was still too bright to look at. I kept blinking and trying to take looks, and after about 10 seconds or so it had grown and dimmed into something more like a huge oil fire, with a structure that made it look like a strawberry. It was slowly rising into the sky from the ground, with which it remained connected by a lengthening grey stem of whirling dust; incongruously, I thought of a red-hot elephant standing balanced on its trunk. Then, as the cloud of hot gas cooled and became less red, one could see a blue glow surrounding it, a glow of ionised air. The object, now clearly what has become so well known as the mushroom cloud, ceased to rise. But a second mushroom cloud started to grow out from its top, the inner layers of gas kept hot by the radioactivity and, being hotter than the rest, broke through the top and rose to even greater height.It was an awesome spectacle, anyone who has ever seen an atomic explosion will never forget it. And all in complete silence; the bang came minutes later, quite loud though I had plugged my ears, and followed by a long rumble like heavy traffic very far away. I can still hear it.
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Britain’s role in the Cuban missile crisis
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On the brink of World War Three: Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy
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closest the world has ever come to Armageddon occurred in November 1962 when US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stood eyeball to eyeball in what became known as the Cuban missile crisis. American U2 spy planes had detected missile sites being constructed in a secret jungle location in Cuba, 40 miles from the continental United States. Worse, it soon became apparent that the Soviets were supplying the island’s procommunist president Fidel Castro with nuclear weapons, in what Kennedy described as ‘America’s back yard.’ Kennedy ordered US warships to blockade the convoy bringing the weapons, but Khrushchev threatened to retaliate with force...World War Three loomed. Britain prepared for the crisis by putting its formidable V force of nuclear bombers on the highest alert. Crews who were used to training exercises, suddenly found themselves involved in the real thing. Air crews were scrambled and live weapons were removed from the top secret bunkers known as Supplementary Storage Areas (SSA) and loaded into aircraft. Aircraft were rapidly returning to the UK from destinations all over the world, and those in hangars were urgently made available for battle. Alarmed aircraftsmen and flyers were informed they could be dropping nuclear bombs on targets in Russia within days or even hours. There was black humour among the RAF armourers who joked that at least they wouldn’t have to unload the nukes again because they probably wouldn’t see another Monday morning. RAF bases were locked down and men off-duty ordered to return. fissionline@gmail.com
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Scramble! V-Bomber crew in action
Servicemen from all V-bomber bases in Britain got very little sleep that weekend as the US/Soviet standoff continued. There was high tension as the hours ticked by with anxious squaddies continually checking their equipment, not knowing whether or not they would ever return to their loved ones. Thankfully Khrushchev blinked first, withdrew his missile convoy and removed the bombs already in Cuba’s missile sites. One thing puzzled high-ranking RAF officers: emergency orders required the V-bombers once loaded with live weapons to disperse to secret airfields across the UK ready for take-off on their bombing missions. But the bombers never dispersed; it was only years later that they learned that Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, a very shrewd politician, calculated that the Soviets would back down. So he ordered the V force to stay put so as not to panic the British public with unforeseeable consequences. As a result very few people to this day realise just how close Britain was to taking part in a catastrophic nuclear war.
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Does anyone Know Sapper J. McDermott who died on Christmas Island in 1959? Mystery surrounds a memorial plaque that once hung on the wall of a church situated in Port London on Christmas Island, now Kiribati. Beneath an embossed crucifix are the words “Sapper J. McDermott, Royal Engineers”, followed by the date of his death, 16th July 1959.
A poignant message from the Sapper’s wife reads: “In loving memory of my dear husband. May he rest in peace.”
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A photograph of the the bronze plaque, was sent to fissionline after we began an investigation into a number of unexplained deaths of squaddies stationed on the island during nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s. Records exist for most of those that died on the island, but none can be found for Sapper McDermott. Mrs Ann Richardson of the Royal Engineers Association said: “I am sorry to say that the only records we keep are for Membership and Benevolence purposes. “However I have checked all of those records by name and the service number you have given me from the plaque, and I can find no record at all. “I even checked to see if we had anything for his widow which may have lead us to the correct service number, but that was the same.” Mrs Richardson has forwarded our enquiry on to Royal Engineer Association Controller Ken Kirk, but so far without result. We have alreadytold how Lance Corporal Derek Redman of the Royal Engineers, died in 1958 soon after the Grapple Y H-Bomb test on April 28. Part of his job had been to drive scientists to ground zero to collect instruments. But after one sortie Derek, 27, from Brighton, collapsed in a diabetic coma and died 24 hours later. His family were convinced his death was related to radiation exposure, but the Ministry of Defence insisted it was natural causes. A few months later another serviceman died, also of so-called natural causes, this time after working on the engines of the Valiant bombers that dropped the H-bombs. Sergeant Percy ‘Phil’ Phillips, an engine fitter with 49 squadron, died suddenly in the night, apparently, of a heart attack on August 9, 1958. Squadron Commander, Group Captain Kenneth Hubbard, described Sgt Phillips as a very popular and experienced engine fitter, adding that colleague Sgt Wally Cressey “had found him dead in bed.” Hubbard, who flew the Valiant that dropped Britain’s first H-Bomb on May 15, 1957, reported: “This was a sad day all round. The Garrison Padre, Eric Alsop, arranged a very appropriate memorial service in the little garrison church. “It was filled to capacity with members of the squadron and the Task Force Commander. “It was my privilege as Squadron Commander to read the lesson. Since there were no facilities for burial on the island, we were greatly indebted to the Royal Navy for arranging for a committal at sea with full military honours. “In spite of the difficulties of the environment, we had provided Sgt Phillips with an impressive and dignified farewell.” *Did
you know Sgt McDermott? Contact: fissionline@gmail.com
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FISSIONLINE EDITORIAL DIRECTORS
Ken McGinley Derek Chappell Barbara Penney. Dr Ian Gibson.
Albert Isaksen.
Robert Wells.
Gerry Rice
THERE WILL NEVER BE A VACCINE FOR ARMAGEDDON It looks as though the Coronavirus pandemic is not about to finish off the human race after all. Scientists are confident we will soon have a vaccine, and new medicines are being tested to treat the infection. But as we emerge blinking from our lockdown retreats it FROM is sobering to note there will never be a vaccine to treat the effects of nuclear fallout which has ravaged the health of countless millions THE worldwide for more than 70 years. Among the worst affected of BUNKER course have been the hundreds of thousands of servicemen forced to participate in nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s and 60s. They were exposed to radioactive fallout by governments who either treated them as cannon fodder, or worse, deliberately used them as guinea pigs to see how they would react to nuclear weapons. Either way it was a crime against humanity, and governments who conducted these awful experiments, including the British, should be held to account. The British Nuclear Tests Veterans’ Association was formed to do just that. Not only did it provide a beacon of hope for servicemen who had suffered, but it also sounded an alarm bell to a world largely ignorant of the hidden dangers of these dreadful weapons of mass destruction. But after becoming a charity the BNTVA lost its way and sold out to the Ministry of Defence. Worse, its leaders vilified and humiliated good men who stood in their way. Was it worth it? Hardly. The organisation is imploding. Doug Hern, one of its scions, believes it will no longer exist in a few years, and Alan Owen, an energetic and bright young newcomer to the cause, has quit in despair to form a new organisation. There are now four separate nuclear victims organisations all vying for the attention, and the cash, of a bemused public who really must wonder if any of them are worth the candle. But while they squabble, fissionline will continue to expose the truth about what really happened at the bomb tests, and warn of the very real and present danger nuclear war and fallout poses for the future of mankind. Pandemics will come and go, but a nuclear war really would spell the end of the human race. Preventing it should be the imperative of all right thinking people. There really is no better cause to fight for.
Fissionline is an independent journal. If you have a story or want to comment, please contact: fissionline@gmail.com fissionline@gmail.com