Blood brothers
Nuketest veterans in campaign to get medical results unlocked
SALUTING smartly outside Number 10, veterans yesterday fired the opening shot of a legal battle against the Government.
Brian Unthank, 86, and Terry Quinlan, 85, wore shorts and boots, the same clothing they had to protect them from Cold War nuclear bomb tests.
Survivors of Operation Grapple, their lives have been blighted ever since serving at Christmas Island in 1958. They say blood taken during the trials may prove they were irradiated, but that test results are illegally withheld.
They delivered legal papers and a petition to Downing Street calling for an end to their 70-year campaign for the truth.
Brian has had 90 skin cancers removed and has two more awaiting removal. His first wife had 13 late-term miscarriages and his living children have problems with their eyes and internal organs. A grandson had a malignant melanoma as a baby.
Terry had two large tumours removed from his side and lost all his teeth before he was 21. He has had six heart operations and daughter Anne vowed never to have children.
Ex-RAF cook Brian, of Erith, Kent, said: “For all the hard work, I fear this was a waste of time. The MoD will try to sweep it under the carpet again. All we want is the truth but our blood has been locked away as a state secret.”
Ex-Army driver Terry, of Leybourne, Kent, who was ordered into the forward area after blasts and was never decontaminated, said: “I hope this is the last time we have to demand what we should have had long ago.”
Also at No10 yesterday were Ian Owen, founder of LABRATS, which represent the veterans, and Steve Purse, who was born with undiagnosable genetic conditions and has been refused access to his dad David’s blood tests.
Steve said: “The sooner we can get the blood tests, the sooner we can do the research and get the answers we need, time is not on our side.”
In 2022, the Mirror reported blood tests had been taken from some of the 22,000 servicemen who took part in the experiments between 1952 and 1967.
Veterans who seek the results receive edited medical files, while families and widows have been refused them on the grounds of patient confidentiality. If such tests exist, they would prove whether radiation caused the legacy of cancers, miscarriages and birth defects the veterans’ families now report
The new case hinges on forcing the Government to either provide the records or compensate veterans for their loss.
The MoD said no information is withheld from veterans and that any medical records can be accessed on request.
The veterans’ crowdfunder is at crowdjustice.com/case/nuclearveterans-case.