Call for medals as north-east veteran relives atomic bomb tests

● Government urged to recognise risks servicemen exposed to

Today the risks of radiation are well documented and exposure to its dangers is avoided at all costs.

But in the 1950s, when hydrogen and atomic bombs were being dropped in the Pacific for the purpose of testing, young soldiers watched with nothing but their hands for protection.

For one 18-year-old Peterhead soldier, seeing the bones shine through his skin and the glow in the Pacific air afterwards was just part of the job.

It was not until years later that Colin Moir realised the risks he and 3,000 other young troops had faced as nuclear weapons were tested around Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of Operation Trinity, when the first nuclear device was detonated by the US Army on July 16 1945.

It is a milestone Colin, a north-east veteran of the UK testing programme, is hoping will aid calls for the government to come clean about what soldiers were subjected to.

“We were two degrees north of the equator and right slap bang in the middle of nowhere for one year,” Colin, 81, said.

“It was my first posting, having joined the Royal Engineers in May 1957.”

Mr Moir witnessed the controversial hydrogen bomb tests five times.

Colin Moir, right, outside his Christmas Island accommodation with his tent mates

The protection offered to British soldiers on the remote Indian Ocean island between 1957 and 1958 is said to have been almost non-existent.

“The days of the tests you got a bit of a shake and a scare, especially if you were witnessing your first one,” he said.

“Nobody knew what to expect. We had to sit on the ground with our backs to where it was being dropped, and cover our eyes with our hands.

“Then you just counted down and there was a big flash, a blast of heat, then a big blast of wind. A bang. And then everything went flying.

“You could see the shadows of the bones through your hands in the light.

“It was scary but, as we were young soldiers, we didn’t really worry too much. Of course, we should have been worried, but we didn’t know the risks.

“We didn’t know what was going on. Our job was to build the likes of roads and factories for the scientists.”

It wasn’t until he returned home to Hatton that he realised how worried his family had been for him.

“My sister said my mum was scared to even pick up my kit bag, as by then there had been something in the press about the testing,” he recalls.

After a year on Christmas Island, Mr Moir spent eight more in the Army, posted to destinations such as Germany and Aden.

Returning to civilian life in 1966, he became a sheet metal worker before training as a maths teacher and working at Peterhead Academy and Oakbank School in Aberdeen.

While Mr Moir, and his two daughters with wife Elizabeth, have felt no serious ill-effects from his exposure to the bombs, he believes he’s been luckier than most.

“When I was posted to Germany afterwards I was being trained in operating a Geiger counter, for detecting radiation, and I actually set it off,” the grandfather-of-four added.

“I’ve had a few unexplained illnesses and the doctor calls me the ‘Mystery Man’, but nothing as serious as others have had.

“Really, the government should have tested us to figure out what the sideeffects are.

“But they didn’t. They couldn’t afford it. I think they nearly bankrupted the country creating these bombs. And all for the prestige. All so that we could be a nuclear power.

“A lot of soldiers were on national service so were dispersed all over afterwards. It wasn’t until reunions were organised in the late 1970s that we realised a lot of people had died from common or unknown illnesses.”

Since then, Mr Moir has been campaigning to persuade the government to issue medals to those surviving veterans involved.

Photograph by Chris Sumner MAKING POINT: Colin Moir from Hatton wants the government to acknowledge the impact its nuclear bomb tests have had on veterans.