Soldier reveals experience as “guinea pig” for US nuclear radiation tests

U.S. Army vet reveals 1950s nuclear secret, Rapid City Journal 12 May 13, “…… As impossible as it seems, Shuck said Operation Tumblesnapper involved exploding atomic bombs over the desert in an effort to study and better understand the effects of nuclear radiation.

“Our clothes and shoes were found to be contaminated with radiation, and we were ‘decontaminated’ with an air blower after Shot Charlie,” said Shuck, who drives the Disabled American Veterans bus throughout the Black Hills area.

“We were issued no special or protective clothing. We did wear film badges, which were to measure our exposure to skin radiation. Some personnel were required to shower until skin contamination was lowered to zero, and then put on clean clothing. I was never decontaminated beyond an air blower blowing the sand off my clothing.”

Some of the live animals used in the tests didn’t fare as well, said Shuck. Like the sheep and rabbits that were burned to a crisp on one side, and virtually untouched on the other…….

A stripped B-52 nearby broke right in the middle.

Shuck says he took part in four blasts altogether: Shot Charlie, the 31-kiloton bomb dropped from a C-50 aircraft flying over Yucca Flat; and Shots Easy, Fox, and George, three tower drops. During Shot Charlie, Shuck and his group were stationed about three miles away from “Ground Zero,” and watched the dust storm and fire ball approach and pass over the trenches.

After the blast passed, Shuck’s group marched in formation toward “Ground Zero” within half an hour after the detonation.“On the tower shot, I noticed the sand looked like burnt glass, as if the sand had been melted,” says Shuck.

After the tests, they had to bury the equipment, and not much more was said, Shuck said. “They just wanted to test the bombs and find out more about the effects of radiation. We were guinea pigs.”

Since then, as the dangers of radiation have become more publicized, Shuck pointed to a book called “American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear war” which details alleged health, crop, livestock, and private property damage as a result of these and other atomic tests. He and his Army group weren’t the only ones affected, he says.

Shuck, who is currently retired, said that out of that group, only half are left alive.“Many of them have died of cancer or leukemia,” he said, “which are probably effects of the blasts.”….. apidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/belle_fourche/u-s-army-vet-reveals-s-nuclear-secret/article_1e32b6ef-93b5-5769-9ff4-b48d8db27c7e.html

May 13, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, history, USA, weapons and war