Thank you and you are welcome. My uncle passed away due to cancer from it as well.I wonder how many of those men came down with cancer due to radiation later on in their lives? I have a patient who was there who had cancer and he believed it was from exposure to the radioactive fallout following the test.
Arctic, Great to see that letter!
Arctic, my father was also at that test. He had been transferred to the to the destroyer USS Furse, DD-882 when the war ended and his wartime destroyer USS Gridley, DD380 was decommissioned and turned into razor blades. He also passed away from cancer in '05. After the bomb went off, these ships went in and put out fires on some of the test ships. They used ocean water to put out the fires and the water ran off the ships only to be sucked back up by the firefighting pumps and pumped back up again, over and over. He passed away 3 weeks after he was diagnosed with what the oncologist said was a very aggressive form of cancer. When I spoke to the oncologist, I mentioned he was at the Bikini tests, and the doctor said that most likely may have been the reason he contracted that form of cancer. He started to complain of back pains in March of '05 and passed away in Sept. of '05. -Lloyd BEERCHUG1Thank you and you are welcome. My uncle passed away due to cancer from it as well.
An old friend of mine was present at Bravo Shot (second hydrogen bomb detonated). What was supposed to be a 5 megaton blast ended up being 15 megatons. All the ships in the observation area were horribly eradiated. Bud (my friend) remember changing dosiometers 10 times in one day. When the VA attempted to get his Navy medical records, they were refused because Bud's medical records (along with THOUSANDS of others) were being held on national security hold by the DoE. When Bud was finally able to get his records, he discovered he was the ONLY person aboard his LST that hadn't developed or died of some form of cancer. He did develop an aggresive but benign brain tumor that ultimately killed him (brain stem stroke).I wonder how many of those men came down with cancer due to radiation later on in their lives? I have a patient who was there who had cancer and he believed it was from exposure to the radioactive fallout following the test.
Arctic, Great to see that letter!
The government was going for the big blast. Even the scientists that built the bomb did not realize the extent of radiation poisoning and that it may be more dangerous than the blast itself. -Lloyd BEERCHUG1A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. We didn't know then what we were unleasing and I'm not so sure we really know yet. Brave men paid the price for what we did learn. May God bless each and every one of them for what they did. Thanks, Arctic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_number_(United_States_Army)Oh also to add I do have is I'd bracelet with what I think was his military number but I have no idea how to track it.
Thank you that was more helpful his Id falls in line that's pretty awesome I'm very proud of my great great uncle and when I can I will post pics of some of his gear like his kbar bayonet belt and m1 carbine.
