Nuclear tests, aftermath their story
Mike Driscoll, 66, of Spokane, points to the area of the Pacific where his ship, the USS Yorktown, stood witness to a nuclear test in 1962. He wonders if some of his health problems stem from some kind of nuclear exposure. The Spokesman-Review (JESSE TINSLEY The Spokesman-Review )
John Stucke
Staff writer
November 11, 2008 Mike Driscoll is solving a puzzle that has bothered him for 46 years. Could his health have been affected by exposure to atomic bomb testing? The insight the Spokane Navy veteran is gathering is as personally momentous to him as his time aboard the USS Yorktown. He joined the aircraft carrier in 1961 after enlisting in the Navy out of high school.
The crew were told they were taking part in a test, but none knew the details. It became clear when a nearby destroyer became the first surface ship to fire an antisubmarine nuclear rocket. Four decades later, Driscoll suffers from health problems that many Americans have, including a thyroid condition for which he takes medication. He's now connecting with fellow veterans and using the Internet to review declassified documents about his ship and its missions. Driscoll is not looking for a payout – he doesn't know for sure his health issues are related to the test – but he wonders how the exposure to fallout from bomb tests is affecting others. Some may not even know they were part of it.
Several levels below the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, lying prone and bracing for impact, Driscoll wondered what was happening in May 1962. Today he knows. He classifies himself an "atomic veteran." 400,000 atomic vets Veterans Affairs lists 400,000 U.S. military and civilian men and women as atomic veterans. This includes about 195,000 service members who occupied Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities. And it includes another 210,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel who participated in nuclear weapons tests from 1945 to 1962.
While the VA says it is nearly impossible to determine definitively if radiation poisoning from nuclear testing is responsible for veterans' health problems such as leukemia, cancers and cataracts, it does recognize exposure may have affected the health of those involved in the testing and states that veterans can participate in a program to test radiation levels.
Recalling a 'whump'
Driscoll carried a small, green Navy-issue memo pad in his pocket and kept meticulous notes. Of special interest now are his journal entries in May 1962. Driscoll wrote about the Yorktown leaving Long Beach and sailing to open ocean. On May 11, sailors had to surrender their cameras. At about 1 p.m. a nearby destroyer, the USS Agerholm, became the first surface ship to fire an anti-submarine nuclear rocket. The depth charge armed with a 10-kiloton warhead plunged into the deep water about 400 nautical miles southwest of San Diego, then exploded. An impressive spray dome was captured on film from ships participating in what was called the Swordfish test. It was a small part of the country's extensive and devastating series of nuclear weapons tests called Operation Dominic. Within the overall operation, the U.S. military detonated 36 bombs. Most were atmospheric bombs at remote South Pacific locations like Christmas Island and Johnston Atoll. Some were exploded at the Nevada Test Site northwest of Las Vegas.
The sailors aboard the nearby warships during the 1962 test readied themselves. Driscoll remembers a "whump." "It was incredible that something could have such force," he recalled during a recent interview, describing the event as if something had violently lifted the Yorktown and slammed it back down. |
I was in Radio One when condition zebra was set throughout the ship. When the bomb exploded the Yorktown was like a cork in a storm.
It seemed to raise several feet out of the water and then slammed down knocking out lights in Radio One, and showering us with asbestos dust from the overhead wire bundles.
I personally have had no ill effects from the tests, but I'm sure many have. I count myself as an atomic veteran due to Operation Dominic. I'm proud to have served aboard the Fighting Lady
|
|
Radiation's effects
Richard Sprute, of Spokane, talks about his World War II experiences, but doesn't care to recall the terrible aftermath of the atom bombs dropped on Japan.
He arrived at the Japanese port of Sasebo on Sept. 22, 1945, on the USS Kingsbury. That was about six weeks after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the subsequent Japanese surrender. Many sailors took bus rides from Sasebo to Nagasaki in a sort of ghoulish tour. "They said there was nothing left," said Sprute, 84, who added that he had no desire to go. "I just wasn't interested. Sasebo was totally devastated and I didn't want to see any more of that."
Shipmates who did go to Nagasaki were upset.
"I think they considered the whole thing as regrettable, even though that was at a time when there was still a lot of anger toward the Japanese," he said. Sprute doesn't know of anyone on his ship who was sickened by radiation exposure from visiting Nagasaki but believes it could have happened. "There didn't seem to be any kind of knowledge or awareness that you could be in a radiation area," he said. Critics, including some veterans groups, say the U.S. military used people as guinea pigs as scientists and leaders performed test after test to learn the effects of nuclear bombs.
Driscoll is left with more puzzle pieces, knowing he will not fit them all together. But he is writing about his experiences and hopes the legacy of nuclear weapons is not lost on generations coming after World War II and the Cold War. "We must never use these weapons ever again," he said. "We must educate the world about this period in our recent, memorable past (about) what was done."
