Fissionline 74

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CIA REPORT

EXPOSES UK BOMB TEST COVER-UP

Atomic Gulag: the town that dare not have children

FISSIONLINE

Time to tell the world about the greatest scandal of all

The existence of s secret conclave of 2nd and 3rd generation victims of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a real eye-opener.

These poor people have been fighting a lone battle for justice of decades yet the world at large is completely oblivious to their plight.

UK groups clamouring for justice for nuclear veterans and their offspring should reach out to their compatriots in South Korea to share experiences.

The common thread of atomic legacy that unites them, transcends borders and culture. It makes them uniquley qualified to confront the great evil that is the atomic bomb

Yet the victims of Cold War nuclear bombings and nuclear power are unknown and unrecognised. Their voices have been deliberately suppressed and censored by governments terrified of the consequences of their actions.

Such groups are present in every country that has carried out nuclear tests. The descendents of Britain's nuclear veterans are ahead of the curve because hundreds of them have already got torgether to

share experiences.

But there are thousands more out there who are worried and afraid to confront a legacy almost too cruel to contemplate. It is high time they came forward and help confront those in power who have covered up their suffering for far too long.

As the evidence mounts, how long can the Government deny justice for the UK's nuclear veterans

Our page three exposure of the CIA document detailing fallout levels from one H-bomb explosion, is just another example of UK Government lies and obfuscation.

For decades veterans have been assured that their illnesses could not have been caused by fallout because the huge Christmas Island megaton bombs were "clear" air bursts with no possibility of contamination.

This CIA document explodes that fallacy. The fact it was produced by our closest ally, the United States, with high-level access to secret technical details of the bomb, makes it even more potent. This document alone should be enough to force the Government to rethink its callous policy of denying nuclear veterans compensation for the suffering they have endured due to their participation in the bomb tests.

Fissionline is an independent newspaper with no political ties or affiliations. We provide a voice for all those suffering from the effects of radiation, to campaign for justice on their behalf, and to work for a better world free from nuclear weapons. If you want to support us, or have something to say, please contact the editor at fissionline@gmail.com

Damning CIA report exposing UK Government lies over H-Bomb test

A CIA report has exposed British government lies that there was no fallout over Christmas Island from H-bomb test.

The delassified document states that at least one of the tests, codenamed Grapple X, exploded on December 8th, 1957, "was not free from radioactivity, as claimed by the British "

The UK has always insisted the tests were all "clean" air bursts that posed no contamination threat to thousands of troops stationed on the island.

The document also casts doubt on UK claims that Grapple X exploded with a force of 1.8 megatons.

According to American analysts who examined debris from the device, Grapple X was a massive three megatons, well above the two megaton safety range set by scientists to protec

Grapple X, was the first H-bomb exploded at Christmas Island, an isolated Pacific atoll 1,100 miles from Hawaii.

Three previous bombs (Grapple 1,2&3), were detonated near uninhabited Malden Island 400 miles to the south

No troops were present on Malden Island for safety reasons But to save money and beat pending international nuclear test ban deadlines, the government decided to explode Grapple X over Christmas Island where thousands of troops were stationed

The Americans were impressed by the size of the blast however, stating that the test showed a "major improvement" over previous devices exploded earlier in the year

The Macmillan Government hoped it would finally convince the Americans to share nuclear secrets, thus saving the cashstrapped British economy millions. But it would take at least one more H-bomb explosion, codenamed GrappleY to convince the Americans the UK was ready to join the exclusive megaton club

The military were under pressure from Whitehall who were insisting on a 'big bang' from British scientists after the earlier Grapple explosions had failed to meet the megaton range

Some 4,000 troops were hristmas Island for the blast

Many later suffered cancers and other illnesses which they blamed on radiation fallout.

But claims for compensation were dismissed after the Government insisted the weapon was exploded too high in the air to cause contamination

Eyewitnesses have spoken of the huge force of the blast which bowled men over and caused widespread damage to native huts, tents and planes Derek Chappell, a young RAF signalman, was in a radio van some 20 miles from the blast. He said: "It was huge. The blast was so great it left an imprint of a palm tree on the side of the van."

*Sadly Derek died earlier this year after a long battle with blood disease.

TRAPPED IN THE ATOMIC GULAG

Hidden away in a remote valley in the mountains of South Korea is a unique community that has been condemned to a life of shameful anonymity

Unrecognised by its government, shunned by the outside world, it is a place where people deny their birthright and women are afraid to have babies.

It is a place that has literally been poisoned by events that took place in another time and another place of which they played no part.

Welcome to Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang, a mountainous province almost entirely made up of second generation victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Their Korean parents were caught up in the devastating attacks while working as slave labour in mines and munitions factories used to fuel Japan's war machine.

Forty thousand of the estimated 70,000 slave workers were wiped out at a stroke and many of the remaining 30,000 were stricken by radiation diseases.

But unlike the Japanese 'hibakusha', survivors who received aid when the war was over, the

Koreans went unrecognised by either the Americans or the new Japanese government. Homeless and disenfranchised they fled to their homeland only to find themselves shunned by locals who feared they could pass on plaguelike diseases.

They eventually took refuge in the remote Hapcheon province in the far north west where they set up their own township.

Their inheritance of radiation exposure after effects only came to public attention in 2002 when local man Kim Hyeong-ryul revealed that he was a “second -generation atomic bomb survivor” who was suffering from an incurable condition known as congenital immunoglobulin deficiency disease Kim died on May 29, 2005, at the age of 35. Kim Hyeong-ryul’s parents had been living in Hiroshima when it was bombed Fortunately, they both survived the blast.

Kim established the Association for the Second Generation of Korean Atomic Bomb Survivors as an organization for other victims in a similar situation.Kim aimed to gain official recognition of the hereditary transmission of effects from atomic bomb exposure

Mourners at Hapcheon Peace House for second-generation atomic bomb survivors

In 2013, South Gyeongsang Province surveyed 244 children of atomic bomb victims living in the province. They found 34 of them, or 13.9%, suffering from congenital abnormalities or hereditary diseases

And despite promises by both the South Korean and the Japanese government to ‘look again’ at the problem there has been little enthusiasm to do so. It has become just another taboo subject in the ever-more murky world of the long-term effec radia

As o of 20 2,10 Bom surv were alive aver of 81 Scie reco that DNA dam radiation the deleterious health consequences can be passed on down the generations. But the implications are so dire that governments are too afraid to recognise it and scientists are encouraged not to delve too deeply. Japanese culture, too, has aided and abetted in this Hiroshima and Nagasaki inhabitants not near enough to be directly affected left the area and kept secret their attachments A woman expecting to marry would never find a partner i

that she hailed from one of the blasted cities

So a massive cover-up of the true consequences of the atomic bombings has been allowed to take root and Governments carefully cultivate those roots so that the dreadful seeds can never reach fruition. Japan’s government as recently as 2019 ruthlessly closed down legal attempts by a group of second generation survivors, known as Hibakusha-nisei, to force the government to recognise them ly the vernment to wledge or cognise ht of ds of n and hildren of nuclear s who ffered a catalogue ases. by the s that the diseases are direct result of their exposure to fallout at the bomb tests have fallen on deaf ears with the UK Government citing controversial statistical studies as evidence the men were not exposed to radiation.

But with evidence to the contrary mounting all the time, with fresh legal claims being made in Japan who knows how long the UK Government will be able to keep the lid on the scandal

th Korean survivors of the atomic bomb and their supporters in Hiroshima
Kim Hyeong-ryul
Hapcheon town square

Derek ChappelL: one of the giants of the nuclear veteran movement

Derek Chappell was one of life's good guys His kindness and humanity shone through to whomever met him, and he never had a bad word to say about anyone

As Chairman of the East Anglian branch of the British nuclear Tests Veterans' Association he was one of the giants of the nuclear veteran community

His branch was one of the biggest and most important of the veterans' organisation; it included many members who had crewed the bombers and flew through the mushroom clouds

In 2013 Derek led a revolt against the main BNTVA organisation which had decided to go in a different direction to what the original association had been set up for, which was to campaign for

justice

The new organisation opted for appeasing the Ministry of Defence by not joining in legal actions against the government This led to Derek's branch being referred to in disparaging terms by 'Head Office' who dismissed the Anglian branch as among other things, 'A bunch of Sunday afternoon revolutionaries."

But Derek and his branch were unmoved They were a deeply patriotic lot and and loathe to openely criticicise the government But deep in their bones they knew their cancers and other illnesses were caused by exposure to radiation. Derek, himserlf developed a blood disease that has been linked to radiation exposure

Sadly Derak passed away after a long illness just before Christmas last and it was fitting that the staff and many others lined the corridor of his nursing home to applaud the commencment of his final journey.

His son Paul in a moving teribute said: "I am so glad that you were able to see, enjoy, celebrate and appreciate dad whom we slowly lost through dementia He was still in there, somewhere, until the end, when a wink or a smile would tell us that all was well with him "

Derek and wife Diane pictured) eturned to Christmas sland with other Norfolk veterans and ater wrote movingly of his experiences

Rest In Peace Derek, my riend I'll miss you.

TRIBUNAL FURY OVER SECRET LEUKAEMIA BLOOD TEST ON NUCLEAR BOMB SOLDIER

A pension tribunal reacted with fury when it was disclosed that secret blood tests were carried out on a young soldier who witnessed nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.

It said it was, "astonishing and disturbing" that the soldier was admitted to hospital and tested for leukaemia with no reason given

The tribunal heard that Sapper Phil Munn was sent to Christmas Island for the Grapple X H-Bomb test in November 1957. He was stationed along with 4,000 servicemen some 25 miles from the huge blast

At the time Pte Munn appeared to suffer no ill effects and was sent home six months later, just before the next H-bomb test, apparently unscathed. However for reasons that were never explained to him he was sent to the Netley military hospital in Southsmpton and kept there for a week for medical checkups which included blood tests for leukaemia

In later life Phil developed leukeamia which he claimed was caused by his service on Christmas Island. But Phil, from Glasgow, was turned down when he made an application for a war pension in 1982. He appealed against the decision before a tribunal in Edinburgh but was again turned down after the Ministry of Defence said his leukaemia was of a type not linked to radiation exposure, and he had received no radioactive fallout from the bomb

But the tribunal made it clear

ere far from happy with ision. And it made lar reference to the lack ical evidence supplied by D. itten submission it said: tonishing and disturbing 30 6 1958 (about seven after the detonation) the ant was admitted to l and tested for leukaemia apparently no further ation is available...In lar, no reason for the admission is given, no reason as to why leukaemia was suspected is given and the specialist's report is not available We can only regard such a situation as quite unsatisfactory " Phil, who has now sadly died, later received a war pension after the rules were relaxed But he never did find out why he was tested for leukaemia. In an interview at the time he said: "As far as I am concerned this is the clearest proof yet that we were used as nuclear guinea pigs Why else would they test me for leukaemia?

Christmas Island Veteran Phil Munn

FISSIONLINE FOUNDING FATHERS

FROM THE BUNKER

PRIME

MINISTER Keir

Starmer has agreed to meet campaigners for Britain’s nuclear veterans who want compensation.

But it's an uphill task as globetrotting Starmer is an enthusiastic cheerleader for a new nuclear building programme “to grow the economy and deliver cleaner, more affordable energy”

And of course he will not want to upset his mentor and de facto PM of this country, Tony Blair Blair’s money-spinning ‘Blair foundation’ is openly and rigorously in favour of nuclear power.

Starmer is not going to upset the apple cart by tacitly admitting that radiation caused, among other things, deformities in children of nuclear veterans

The sad fact is the most that can be expected from him is a heap of platitudes and a promise to seek further evidence

It is a familiar path The predecessors of the current crop of energetic campaigners opted to be appeased by a few million pounds in charitable cash to help ‘aged veterans’ in need. But even that weasely compromise was contingent on the veterans agreeing to stop campaigning or take part in any litigation against the government

There have recently been two well-receieved TV documentaries exposing the injustices the nuclear veterans have endured over the years They followed decades of exposiure by

fissionline and others, of government wrongdoing and lies over the nuclear tests. But the plight of 87-yr-old nuclear veterans complaining of injuries incurred 65 years ago, has unfortunately not been enough to bring about a furious 'Mr Bates' outrage among the populace

It's time to stop raking over the embers of the past and look to the impact those far off events have had today.

The physical and psychological injuries inflicted on the offspring of nuclear victims all over the world should be the focus

The undeniable fact is that radiation from bomb tests and nuclear power stations has polluted the human gene pool and is the cause of many of the ailments currently afflicting mankind.

The hideous cover-up of the genetic effects of radiation started in the ashes of Hiroshima and continues today. It is is the greatest scandal of our age. It is the only cause worth fighting for.

Trump the Redeemer

At the risk of upsetting the rabid wokarati of the left, and those suffering from advanced stages of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), we are writing to President Donald Trump to ask him to support our cause by brokering a deal that would eventually lead to a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. Ambitious? Maybe. But you never know the old rogue might just be attracted to the idea. And let's face it he's the only world leader with the cojonies to carry it off We'll let you know!

s Mike Dolyle Derek Chappell Roy Sefton Albert Isaksen Mike Rubery

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