Fissionline 73

FISSIONLINE Issue 73

International Bulletin of Nuclear Veterans and Children

Oct 2024

A bombshell TV programme has exposed the story of British families living in fear of a creeping menace, a genetic curse whose origins lurk in the deadly radiation experiments their fathers and grandfathers experienced more than 70 years ago...

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The scandal that dare not speak its name...

EVENTS that occurred more than haf a century ago haunt the lives of hundreds of British families, and some were featured in a new Channel 4 documentary 'Britain's Atomic Bomb Scandal in September.

The powerful production brought into sharp focus the callous treatment of the atomic bomb test servicemen by successive UK governments who refuse to accept they were harmed by fallout.

But it also introduced, for the first time for many viewers, the even greater scandal of the offspring of those veterans who have suffered a catalogue of illnesses that can only be described as a genetic curse.

All scientists agree that radiation causes genetic mutations in the offspring of exposed animals. Experiments on mice and fruit flies going back to the 1920s show it damages the DNA resulting in cancers, deformities and a host of other illnesses in the offspring of those irradiated.

But here is an amazing thing: humans seem to be immune to this seemingly immutable law!

US and Japanese doctors after prolonged studies of the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings have found NO evidence of genomic instablity. How can this be? What is so special about humans? The answer, of course is that we are no different and

therefore the doctors carrying out these studies must be either incompetrent or lying.

Eminent physicians and scientists like the late Rosalie Bertell, Alice Stewart and Joseph Rotblat believed there was a massive coverup by the US-funded Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) who carried out the original studies into the Hiroshima A-bomb victims.

Nevertheless the studies have been weaponised by the UK establishment and other governments to brush aside compelling evidence that the children of atomic veterans and nuclear power workers are suffering from genetic disorders.

It has become the scandal that dare not speak its name and one they are too terrified to discuss.

But they must not be allowed to duck the issue any more. Fissionline has a trove of powerful evidence that points to a very real problem in the DNA of families whose fathers witnessed nuclear bomb tests. This has been examined by statisticians who say it amounts to overwhelming evidence of genetic disorders among the offspring of nuclear veterans.

But that alone will not persuade our masters to act. We need more descendents to come forward with their stories. And most of all we need the public on our side to build up the momentum.

This is arguably the most important campaign of all. Governments must be forced to recognise the suffering of nuclear veterans and their offspring and end the cover-up that has existed ever since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan 80 years ago next year.

It is no exaggeration to say the very future of mankind may depend upon it.

ALAN RIMMER EDITOR

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Welcome Aboard!

Elin Doyle

Stuart Ross

Elin Doyle and Stuart Ross are two

handful of others to form the British

unique human beings who grew up in the

Nuclear Tests Veterans' Association, a

shadow the Bomb

powerful pressure group that soon grew

Elin's father, Mike Doyle, who worked

to a formidable force of more than 3,000

for the Atomic Weapons Research

members that shook the foundations of

Establishment, was one of about 100

the British Establishment.

scientists and technicians sent to

Elin and Stuart, just youngsters at the

Christmas Island to facilitate the British

time, watched as their fathers faced an

H-bomb tests.

increasingly hostile and intractable UK

Stuart's father, Archie, was an RAF

government which refuses to this day to

squaddie who serviced the aircraft that

acknowledge that neither servicemen nor

dropped the bombs and who, like

their offspring were harmed by the

thousands of others, was forced to

bomb. Both their fathers helped

witness the huge explosions wearing

enormously to raise the profile of

nothing but shirts and shorts..

Britain's nuclear teast veterans resulting

Both men were deeply patriotic and

in the award of war pensions for many

proud to serve their country. But their

struggling nuclear veterans and widows.

perspective changed later when both

They would both be proud that their

they and their familes were beset by

children have now decided to follow in

health problems. And when the British

their footsteps. We at fissionline are

Government not only ignored their

delghted that Stuart and Elin have joined

plight, but slammed the door in their

the campaign for truth and justice that

faces, they became angry.

their fathers pioneered. Welcome to

They joined with Ken McGinley and a

both!

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BRITAIN'S ATOM

The TV Sensation of the Yea

When I first

By Alan stumbled across Rimmer the scandal of the "Atom Bomb Kids" back in 1984 I believed it was so compelling that no government could ignore it.

How wrong was I! For not only was it brushed aside, but those in power tried to strangle it at birth. First the government-funded watchdog, the National Radiological Protection Board, weighed in with a welter of false and contradictory statistics.

John McLeod This was swiftly followed by a parliamentary panning by a defence minister called Adam Butler who accused me personally of

'mischievous reporting' deformed. Over the for spreading years I have 'unnecessary alarm' encountered children among the families of the suffering from nuclear veterans. Then leukaemias, bone the prestigious New diseases, spina bifida, Scientist magazine hydrocephalis, pointed out the numbers Down's syndrome, of affected children skin diseases, involved had to be put in deafness, blindness Elin Doyle the context that two per and a grim panoply of cent of births had "anomolies." terrible diseases that seem to have no Thankfully my then boss, legendary name. It was a dreadful catalogue of Fleet Street editor suffering that Richard Stott was cried out for unimpressed. He government called me into his action. office and said his But to this day powerful political the contacts had told Establishment him the persists in its Government was perverse state of Shelly Grigg rattled and that I denial that only had them "bang to gets more rights,", adding: "Go where you egregious as time goes on. When I was need to go, do what approached by you need to do, but the TV company just don't let them for help in off the hook..." producing the Well that was forty documentary I years ago and I'm was only too still at it. I have happy to help in interviewed furthering the hundreds of veterans and cause of the their families. Like the parents of little veterans and their children. And given John McLeod, who was featured in the the success of the ITV drama 'Mr programme, who was born dreadfully Bates v The Post Office,' I thought that

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MIC BOMB SCANDAL

ar...and some of those who starred in it

Terri Pollard

ATOMIC BOMB SCANDAL was an outstanding success. Only time will tell if it leads to positive action by the government.

But the stories of the people involved, some of whom are pictured here, have certainly had an impact.

In fact my phone has scarcely stopped ringing since!

It was especially gratifying to hear from so many veterans and their children who praised the programme's hard-hitting and moving delivery.

The overwhelmingly kind response has given me new impetus to continue the crusade on behalf of Britain's nuclear veterans and their children -something I admit waned somewhat following the sad death of my old pal

Mike and Elin Doyle

Ken McGinley

Derek Woolf that was maybe the only way to force the British Government to act. Filming duly went ahead and the resulting Channel 4 programme BRITAIN'S

Peter Lambourne Ken Mc Ginley without whom the nuclear veterans would have been consigned to the dustbin of history decades ago.

And for those who have expressed an

interest in joining the campaign, I say A BIG WELCOME! There is much work still to be done in exposing this scandal. Fissionline with its unprecedented archive of material appertaining to the nuclear bomb tests can steer you in the right direction.

Contact us on fissionline@gmail.com with your thoughts and comments. *Meanwhile tune into Channel 4 on the catchup channel to view Britain's Atomic Bomb Scandal.

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As the hymns nuclear veteran founde funeral intheChurch where he was army of deceased comradesstanding

Arrival on Christmas Island 1958

KEN MCGINLEY the “wee man” from Johnstone who took on a mighty cause and shook the foundations of the Government and the Establishment, has died aged 85.

From a humble Sapper in the Royal Engineers, he became a five-star general to an army of servicemen who had been blasted into a whisker of extinction by their participation in nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.

Against a backdrop of government hostility and indifference he marched his men into the portals of British power and demanded justice for those who had suffered so much from the ravages of radioactive fallout.

For more than 40 years he fought

this battle, on the way taking on the brought the entire auditorium to its mantle of champion for the feet. countless children who had also Everywhere he went it was the same been grievously harmed by their whether it was in Japan, America, father’s Russia or involvement various venues in the tests. at home.

He talked and Crowds adored cajoled and him and hung shouted at on to his every anyone who word. would listen Ken McGinley including not was born into a only large family in On the campaign trail in Hiroshima politicians and Johnstone and power-brokers went to St in this country, but also senators in Margaret’s Roman Catholic school.

America, generals in Russia and a He admits to being a 'bit of a host of other foreign dignitaries. scallywag' in his younger days, Eminent scientists like Nobel prize but he soon sorted himself out and winners Joseph Rotblat, and Carl aged 18 decided to join the Army.

Sagan met Ken was with him for dispatched to discussions, Ripon in and renowned North geneticists Yorkshire like Sir and Richard Doll, Osnabrook in Dr Alice Germany Stewart from where one Birmingham fateful day he University, was told he Meeting the hero firemen of Chernobyl and internationally was being sent on famous environmentalist Dr Rosalie special duties to a place called Bertell, sought his counsel.

Christmas Island.

Ken was quick-witted and was In a few short weeks Ken along with possessed of a phenomenal memory. a thousand others from his regiment, He could speak to crowds of found himself on a palm-fringed thousands with such verve and atoll in the middle of the Pacific excitement that he invariably got a Ocean, 10,000 miles from home. standing ovation.

There he was given a ringside seat I remember standing beside him in to Armageddon, a glimpse behind Hiroshima back in 1985 when he the curtains of hell, forced to

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er Ken McGinley sang as a child rang out at his baptised, it wasn't hard to imagine his ghostly g in silent tribute as their general was laid to rest. witness five huge nuclear and the story was soon picked up by explosions. all the London newspapers. Radio It was a sight he would never forget and TV soon followed and the story and when he returned home to went international.

Johnstone he was Ken’s long struggle a sick man. against the Ulcers and skin Government for lesions plagued those men and their him and to cap it children has become all he was told he legendary. He was a could never have tireless campaigner a family. for justice, a That didn’t deter struggle he was still Ken of course involved with right and he and his up to the end. childhood His achievements sweetheart Alice were many. He was Early days protesting with Michael Foot decided to adopt instrumental in their beloved daughter, Louise. They overturning a the Crown celebrated their 60th wedding Proceedings Act, a pernicious law anniversary last year. that forbad servicemen suing for It was in early 1983 when Ken first injuries. learned of the sad fate of many of He won war pensions for hundreds his old comrades in arms after of veterans and their widows bumping impoverished by into the early disease and mother of death one of Abroad he forced them. She the UK told him government to pay her son had millions to the died of indigninous cancer in aboriginal people his thirties for damage done and that he to their ancestral wasn’t the lands by nuclear only one. testing.

With Minister for Disabled Jack Ashley Intrigued And he also forced Ken wrote them to pay for the to the Daily Record to see if he disgraceful mess they had left could find out the fate of the rest of behind before abandoning the once the lads: the response was pristine Christmas Island. overwhelming. Letters poured in I first met Ken in 1984 when he met

me off the ferry at Dunoon, on the banks of the Clyde where he and Alice ran a little guest house.

I was immediately struck by his honesty and open nature It was the start of long and enduring friendship and we talked nearly every day.

And it wasn’t all about bombs. We discussed politics, Ken’s great love of football and his fanatical dedication to Celtic FC. The only time I ever saw him angry was when Celtic lost, which thank God wasn’t that often.

Ken was a modest man with simple tastes. He never sought payment or honours for the work he carried out on behalf of the veterans.

He would brook no compromise in his demand that the Government said sorry to the veterans and compensated them for the appalling way they had been treated. 'Say sorry and pay up' was his simple mantra.

Ken McGinley, my friend, was laid to rest after a requiem mass at St Margaret's Church, Johnstone. The congregation sang the hymns he had sang in the same church as a schoolboy.

As the pall-bearers carried him away to his final resting place, it wasn't hard to imagine the ghosts of all his old comrades who had stood shoulder to shoulder with him throughout a lifetime of struggle standing with their heads bowed in silent tribute to a hero.

ALAN RIMMER

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GOING

NUCLEAR With Elin Doyle

I’m the youngest daughter of Mike Doyle who was a member of the BNTVA in the early to mid 80s along with Ken McGinley and other names that feature strongly from my childhood. Dad and I were close and talked about things and, as I was just about old enough, I would experience first-hand a lot of the things about the original campaign.

I can recite verbatim dad’s experience of witnessing Grapple X. I try to go away from the subject for few months and then the sense of injustice rises up again. It seems to me the older I get the more the injustice burns and the anger stings within — like many descendants, I just can’t let it lie — partially out of love and respect for the people no longer here, like dad and Ken McGinley, and for our families it’s too late —-but quite simply because it’s a wrong that needs righting and if my dad taught me nothing else, it’s that.

I’m a new old voice; I’ve been a

teenage mum, a currency dealer and I’ve scrubbed Turkish style loos in the South of France. Anything to keep my head above water, Much to my son’s horror, I began my BA Hons Acting at a top London drama school the same year he started Uni. I’m an actor first and foremost.

GUINEA PIGS is my first full-length play, though I have written all my life short stories, diaries, blogs, stand-up comedy, monologues, poetry. I am intensely interested in current affairs, politics and our shared humanity.

I like to think all around a subject from every aspect. I write because I have something to say about being human, and also when castings for Bingo sites don’t quite scratch the creative itch (Don’t tell my agent I said that), I love commercial castings really…So why not come and join me? Let me know how you feel.

Sound off if you want. Anything goes here. We've been silent long enough.

Time for the world to hear us...loud and clear.

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Iran may have a secret enrichment plant to make nuclear weapons

Reuters A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander has warned that Iran could review its "nuclear doctrine" amid Israeli threats. While it was unclear exactly what he meant, and that term tends to refer to countries that, unlike Iran, have nuclear weapons, below is an outline of where Iran stands.

The 2015 deal introduced strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran. It slashed Iran's stock of enriched uranium, leaving it only with a small amount enriched to up to 3.67% purity, far from the roughly 90% purity that is weapons grade.

The United States said at the time that a main aim was to increase

the time Iran would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb - the biggest single hurdle in a weapons programme - to at least a year.

In 2018 then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal, reimposing sanctions on Tehran that slashed its oil sales and battered its economy. In 2019, Iran started breaching the restrictions on its nuclear activities and then pushed far beyond them.

It has now breached all the deal's key restrictions, including on where, with what machines and to what level it can enrich uranium, as well as how much material it can stockpile.

Its stock of enriched uranium, which was capped at 202.8 kg under the deal, stood at 5.5 tonnes in February, according to

the latest quarterly report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that inspects Iran's enrichment plants.

Iran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% purity and has enough material enriched to that level, if enriched further, for two nuclear weapons, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency's theoretical definition.

That means Iran's socalled "breakout time" - the time it would need to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb - is close to zero, likely a matter of weeks or days.

The IAEA inspects Iran's declared enrichment sites: an above-ground plant and a larger, underground one at its Natanz complex and another buried inside a mountain at Fordow.

As a result of Iran ceasing to implement elements of the deal, the IAEA can no longer fully monitor Iran's production and inventory of centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, and it can no longer conduct snap inspections. That has prompted speculation about whether Iran could have set up a secret enrichment site, but there are no concrete indications of one.

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XMAS

ISLAND

HOT

BOXES

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Left to rust and crumble under the pitiless tropical sun these concrete and steel bunkers are the last relics of Britain's nuclear bomb tests on Christmas Island in the Pacific in the mid-1950s. They were strategically placed several miles from huge H-Bomb explosions so that scientists could observe close up the terrifying forces unleashed. Protected by just a few inches of reinforced steel and concrete, scientists observed the awesome mushroom clouds through a simple pinhole camera as the structures creaked and groaned under the enormous pressures from blast and heat. Later they were required to leave their smoking refuge to retrieve instruments which would later be flown to England for examiniation.

Surprisingly there was no shortage of volunteers from Aldermaston, Britain's nuclear bombmaking factory, to carry out the hair-raising tasks. In fact some were so eager, lots had to be drawn to see who would go into the "Hot Boxes". These pictrures were taken during clean-up operations in 2010.

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Death of a heroine. Julie Riches, daught Nuclear Test Veterans' Association, has disabilities to join her ex-RAF dad to c children. Here her brother S

Julie Riches 1960-1984

I had many happy childhood memories with Julie, but those years were marked by Julie’s birth abnormality, (or “big arm” as we children referred to it). My RAF veteran dad Archie Ross, along with

many others, believed Julie's disability was down to the nuclear radiation exposure they suffered while taking part in the British Nuclear Tests on Christmas Island in the late 1950’s.

We spent many years making frequent trips to Great Ormond Street Hospital where Julie underwent a series of operations in attempt to make her life more comfortable. It is worth noting here that the Doctors & Surgeons at the GOSH had no idea what they were dealing with nor how to treat it as conditions such as Julie’s were entirely unknown at that time.

These trips involved us staying in hotels or hostels near the hospital, one being the Salvation Army hostel accommodation in Central London. For the rest of the family, these hospital visits also involved sightseeing trips to various London locations while Julie remained in hospital. We remember visiting HMS Belfast & the London Dolphinarium to name but two. These “family” trips never felt quite right, for while we were out and about, we knew Julie remained in hospital Dad carried the weight and guilt of Julie’s condition

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ter of Archie Ross, one of the founders of the British s died, aged 64. Brave Julie overcame severe physical campaign for justice for nuclear veterans and their STUART ROSS tells her remarkable story for the remainder of his life, firmly believing his radiation exposure was responsible and he fought passionately from the early 1980’s until shortly before his passing, with the Government to press for acknowledgment, recognition and compensation for those veterans and descendants who were severely affected, Julie quite clearly being one of them. Dad also appeared on television and conducted radio interviews, with Julie occasionally appearing at his side. This fight continues to this day.

Meanwhile Julie got on with life

Volunteer abest she could. She developed a love of animals that began with Vicky our rough collie and continued with a passion for horses. Aged around 14, while still at school, she volunteered to clear the stables at what was then Sprowston Hall Hotel near our home in Norfolk where she cycled to every Saturday morning. They kept horses and had a riding school where Julie learned to ride. Various people stayed at the hotel including one William Lucas who played Dr James Gordon in the TV series “The Adventures of Black Beauty” that was being aired at that time, and she came home with a signed photograph of him.

She also met Martin Peters, the ex World Cup winning England footballer who ended his playing career at Norwich and Julie used to babysit for his children who also took riding lessons.

This love for horses extended to her art and despite being left handed she used to hand draw amazing pictures; those who will have visited her over the years can’t have failed to notice the many horse figurines adorning her shelves.

On leaving school Julie went to work at a dog kennels in Acle, Her energy and always friendly smiling face and disposition won her many friends.

Julie demonstrated an amazing courage and confidence throughout her life in spite of her condition, something we should all draw inspiration from. She never let her disability get in the way of anything and during the summer often wore blouses and tops that displayed her arm rather than trying to hide it.

Outside of work Julie took up long distance running, taking part in a number of Norfolk half and full marathons, several Great North runs and two London Marathons, (in 1995 and 2001 producing very respectable times of 4.04 and 4.05 respectively).

In later life she moved first to Horsford and was a regular sight either out running or walking for

miles with her beloved collie Robbie before finally settling nine years ago in Horsham St Faith.

Julie’s health took a turn for the worst around 18 months ago and during that time all attempts to find a diagnosis proved hugely and frustratingly fruitless. It was thought her decreasing mobility stemmed from the vascular issues associated with her arm. However in July we received the MND diagnosis we had all feared. This diagnosis shook us all and Julie was devastated.

MND is a brutal condition that takes away everything except one’s mental capacity and offers nothing in return, least of all hope, and for Julie not even her resolute and enduring stubbornness could resist this. Her decline was rapid and within 6 weeks she very sadly left us.

Of course we are all sad that Julie has gone but let’s also celebrate the fact that she has lived here with us, amongst us. She brought such joy to each and everyone of us and we’re all blessed to have known her.

This earth sadly was no longer a place for her, she’d simply outgrown it and moved on to somewhere she can be free from pain, restore her mobility and can spread her love, her joy and her warmth. God bless and thank you Julie for everything.

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PUTIN THREATENS The head of Russia's nuclear testing

encourage others such as China or

Rear Admiral Andrei Sinitsyn, the

site said on Tuesday his secretive

the United States to follow suit,

head of the facility, gave a rare

facility was ready to resume nuclear

starting a new nuclear arms race

interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the

tests "at any moment" if Moscow

between the big powers, which

Russian government's official

gave the order, in rare comments

stopped nuclear testing in the years

newspaper, which was published

likely to fuel concerns that the risk

after the Soviet collapse.

days after Putin warned the West it

of such a step is rising.

Russia's testing site, located on the

would be directly fighting with

Moscow has not conducted a nuclear

remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago

Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike

weapons test since 1990, the year

in the Arctic Ocean, was where the

Russian territory with Western-made

before the fall of the Soviet Union,

Soviet Union conducted more than

long-range missiles and spoke of

but some Western and Russian

200 nuclear tests, including the

retaliation.

analysts say President Vladimir

detonation of the world's most

"The test site is ready for resumption

Putin could order one to try to send a

powerful nuclear bomb ever in 1961.

of full-scale testing activities. It is

message of deterrence to the West if

It is closely watched by Western spy

ready in its entirety. Laboratory and

it lets Ukraine use its long-range

satellites for activity amid signs of

testing facilities are ready. The

missiles to strike Russia, something

construction work last summer

personnel are ready. If the order

that is under discussion.

shown in open-source satellite

comes, we can start testing at any

A nuclear test by Russia could

images.

moment," said Sinitsyn.

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Tsar Bomba: The World's biggest bomb

A RETURN TO THIS! He was pictured in his naval uniform

banning nuclear weapons tests, a

government policy suggested in May

alongside a cabinet holding a book

move he said was designed to bring

that Moscow consider a

about Putin and a giant white

Russia into line with the United

"demonstrative" nuclear explosion

porcelain polar bear, and painted a

States, which signed but never

to cow the West.

picture of a facility kept in a high

ratified the treaty.

In an article for Profil, a business

state of readiness that was protected

Russian diplomats said at the time

magazine, Dmitry Suslov said

by elite troops.

that Moscow would not resume

Russia needed to act to dissuade the

"The most important thing for us is

nuclear testing unless Washington

West from crossing a red line.

not to disrupt the implementation of

does. Putin said in June Russia could

"The political and psychological

state tasks. If the task of resuming

test a nuclear weapon "if necessary",

effect of a nuclear mushroom cloud,

tests is set, it will be accomplished

but saw no need to do so at the

which will be shown live on all TV

within the time frame stipulated," he

present time.

channels around the world, will

said.

The United States last tested in

hopefully remind Western

1992. Only North Korea has

politicians of the one thing that has

Putin, in charge of the world's

conducted a test involving a nuclear

prevented wars between the great

largest nuclear power, signed a law

explosion this century.

powers since 1945 and that they

last November withdrawing Russia's

A senior member of a Russian think-

have now largely lost - fear of

ratification of the global treaty

tank whose ideas sometimes become

nuclear war," Suslov wrote.

'DEMONSTRATIVE TEST'

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I sat on the floor of the hospital office tremendous heat surge and blast that ri

I joined the RAF in 1956 as a 4-year regular airman and - after medical training - was posted to RAF Hospital Christmas Island in late August 1957 where I was to witness both Grapple ‘X’ and ‘Y’ hydrogen bomb tests.

Throughout my time at the hospital I was based in the MI room where, with two colleagues, I dealt with the many and varied issues that arose

through either illness or injury.

Infections due to coral poisoning, particularly to feet, were common as were the many ear infections resulting from showering in salt water.

Acute sunburn cases - in some patients severe 2nd degree burns/blistering - were also common, particularly among new arrivals attempting to achieve a tan

By Derek Woolf

too quickly, many of them - but not exclusively - sappers from the Royal Engineers who received far more sun exposure than most by virtue of their duties.The many other minor and more serious conditions that arose through accident ensured that we had a pretty busy time.

Occasional patient escort duties to Tripler US Army Hospital in Honolulu provided the odd welcome respite from my work on the Island, as did infrequent spells manning the small airfield MI Room where minor injuries were treated on the spot.

My experience of the two H-bomb detonations probably differed from those of others because of my location. For Grapple ‘X’ I was sat on the floor of the hospital office with my back to the wall and hands over eyes while the Senior Medical Officer called out the countdown over the phone as he received it from Air Traffic Control. On detonation I recall the tremendous heat surge and the room filling with light before we were ordered outside in time to experience the shockwave for which we were totally unprepared.

We subsequently discovered that the door has been ripped away from the pre-fab X-ray department and one of the marquee wards partially demolished. Fortunately the few inpatients had been moved out previously!

For Grapple ‘Y’ I reported to the airfield, this time clothed in a white cotton suit with hood and mask, where I sat with a medical officer at the rear of the group of a hundred or so men, also similarly garbed. At three megatons this detonation was almost twice the size of Grapple ‘X’ and was even more spectacular a sight and sound.

17

e with my back to the wall and felt the ipped away the door to the X-ray room Fortunately, other than one man who panicked and was bruised when rugby tackled by his friend, there were no casualties requiring treatment.

I remained at the hospital until the end of my tour in June 1958. After leaving Christmas Island I continued to serve at various station medical centres until, as a SNCO, I was commissioned in 1968. There followed various hospital appointments and, finally, a posting to PMRAF Hospital Akrotiri as OC Admin in 1974. This was following the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus and subsequent partition of the island - a very busy time I finally retired from the RAF in 1978 when, after two years in the NHS at Regional level, I became the director of an independent hospital where I remained until retirement in 1993.

In a period of over six decades some memories fade but the Christmas Island tests will remain an unforgettable experience, heightened by the knowledge of their effects on many of those who witnessed them.

Now age 85, I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones - such health issues that I have pale into insignificance when compared with the problems suffered by many of my fellow veterans and their descendants. I wish them all every success in their continuing search for justice. The saddest fact of all is that, with the award of the Nuclear Test Medal, those veterans who have passed will never know that their service has been recognised.

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FALLOUT'S SHELLY GRIGG SPEAKS OUT

Government may have abandoned us, but we will never abandon each other!

Several years ago I started up a Facebook group for descendents of nuclear test veterans called Fallout. This came about after speaking to Ken McGinley and Alan Rimmer who have been campaigning for the nuclear veterans since 1983. My own father Roy, who passed away in 2001 with bone cancer, was at the christmas island tests. Whilst talking with them both it became apparent to me that there were other descendants who were in the same position as I was.

Thinking back to July 2001 when dad passed away and being an only child whose parents had divorced when I was little, I found I was very alone in what I was going through. I knew no other veterans' children and I was starting to suffer with a rare genetic condition, which would take two years or so to be diagnosed. During this time I struggled to come to terms not only with my father’s passing, but also with the pain I was

suffering with on a daily basis from my condition. It was around this time I was put in contact with Ken and Alan. They were

Fallout's Shelly Grigg there for me at the end of a phone and it was they that put the idea in my head about connecting up with other children. Dercums Disease is a rare genetic condition which causes the body to produce painful fatty lymphomas. These grow from the size of a pea and grow and grow, they eventually group together and become masses which have two be removed on a regular basis. I also have a

condition which mainly effects the elderly, called disc degeneration disease. Once I set up the fallout group I found there were others going through similar issues; their fathers had died and they and their siblings were suffering similar strange conditions.

We all had something in common, we were able to support each other in what we were going through.

The main aim of the group is to be there as a support for each other, to be able to advise others who are going through a tough time, giving information that may help their families, something that in the beginning I’d not had. For me it’s VERY important that there is support there for those who may feel alone and not know where to turn for help and advice. We are the Fallout of these tests, the result of something so awful that governments refuse to face the truth. So its most important that we stand firmly united together and show the world that even though our governments have abandoned us, we won’t abandon each other!

19

HURRICANE Britain's first and dirtiest Atomic bomb

It was 72 years this month on October 3rd 1952 that the first — and the dirtiest-- of all 21 of Britain’s atmospheric nuclear tests was carried out. Codenamed Hurricane it was exploded in the hull of HMS Plum, a Royal Navy frigate, moored at the. Monte Bello Islands, 80 miles off the Northwest coast of Australia.

It wasn’t a pretty sight. As it erupted observers described it as a more of a dirty, distorted cauliflower rather than the classic symmetrical mushroom shape seen in the American and Soviet tests.

Hailed as a triumph by Churchill, scientists privately were disappointed especially as it was plain for all to see that this was an extremely dirty bomb. It

vapourised the frigate and lifted thousands of tons of mud and water into the air. There they mixed with the fission products of the nuclear reaction to form a dense, deadly cloud of radioactive particles. The sheer weight of the particles brought much of it down on the surrounding islands turning the once pristine tropical lagoons into toxic sinks of death.

A few minutes later the hellish mix was joined by a fierce rainstorm that lasted for nine minutes, boosting the fallout to levels no-one expected. Records show there were three major radiation scares: the first two involved servicemen and scientists sent ashore. But the worst incident involved HMS

Tracker, part of the task force sent to the islands. An official report stated: “At 1900 hours the radioactive background on Tracker rose by a factor of 500, putting out of operation all the personnel-monitoring equipment on board.”

Britain’s A-bomb chief Dr William Penney and Task Force Commander Rear Admiral Torless assured everyone that no harm was done to any serviceman. But medical records obtained by fission line show a total of 205 servicemen later suffered illnesses including seven blood cancers, 23 solid cancers, 41 skin diseases and 73 reporting problems with their children.

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Ken McGinley

Archie Ross

F I S S I O N L I N E

Roy Chappell

Albert Isaksen

Barbara Penney

Mike Rubery

Mike Doyle

F O U N D I N G F A T H E R S

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07801 184011 True to form the Labour Party is showing itself to The be just another Bunker pathetic bunch of chancers who will say anything to get elected. Not only has it kicked the pensioners in the teeth by taking away their heating allowance, but they now appear to have frozen Britain's nuclear veterans out of any chance of compensation.

There is no mention of them in the manifesto, or indeed at any of the major speeches at the Labour conference in Liverpool. It's no surprise really especially as Tony Blair Mark2 appears to be running the show and pulling Starmer's strings. It was Blair, along with Kinnock and the rest of the Labour heirarchy who solemnly promised to sort the veterans out when they achieved power. In the 1990s Labour MP Bob Clay remembers a young lobby

From

correspondent called Alistair Campbell assuring him that he had the ear of Blair and compensation was 'nailed on' under a Labour government.

But as soon as Labour came to power those promises evaporated. In a letter to Ken McGinley a shame-faced Blair apologised for his duplicity citing how the "realities of Government" had changed his mind. Much as the Left villify the Tories, it was they who gave the veterans war pensions which allowed at least some of the veterans to gain financial recourse. It also doled out some £6million for stairlifts and the like for incapacitated veterans.

And of course it was the muchmaligned Boris Johnson who agreed to a 'commemorative' medal for those who took part in the bomb tests. In the immortal words of Monty Python: "What has Labour ever done for the nuclear veterans?"

Answer: NOTHING!