A-bomb veterans deserve a medal
IT IS more than 60 years since the UK was acknowledged as the third nuclear power, after the U.S. and the then USSR. To achieve this, Britain conducted tests in Australia and at Malden Island and Christmas Island (now Kiritimati) in the Pacific from 1952 to 1964 involving more than 22,000 service personnel, of whom only 1,500 are still alive. The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) is campaigning for the award of a medal to the personnel involved. Last week in Parliament this was raised on three occasions and the replies were all favourable, which appears to be a shift in political opinion. I joined the Royal Engineers in May 1957 and was posted to 73 Christmas Island Squadron RE. I saw the nuclear explosion, Grapple Y, on April 28, 1958, two weeks before my 19th birthday. After an early breakfast, we were driven to the assembly point. We remained on the truck, waiting for the airplane carrying the bomb to take off, before forming up in three ranks. We were told to sit on the ground with our backs towards the drop zone. When the countdown started, we were told to cover our eyes with our hands. When the bomb exploded, we saw the flash through our hands — we could even see the bones. Then the heat stuck our backs and it was like sitting in an oven. This was followed by the noise and finally the blast. We were ordered to turn around to watch the mushroom cloud rising upwards. Later in 1958, there was another series of four tests, Grapple Z, two H-bombs and two A-bombs, and we went through the same routine. I flew home in December 1958 and was posted to an Engineer squadron. In the summer of 1959, we were being trained in the use of Geiger counters. I and two other Sappers who had been on Christmas Island could cause the Geiger counters to give a reading. You can add your support to the campaign for medals for the nuclear tests veterans by visiting bntva.com/
medal and signing the petition. COLIN MOIR, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.