Category Archives: Atomic Veteran

Will Veterans Tested On Like Lincoln Receive Help from US Government

Nuclear Weapons Use at Bikini

 

F. Lincoln Grahlfs is now 101 years old and the oldest Atomic Veteran remaining who was subject to nuclear weapons testing. For some reason, the Congress is so far not continuing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.  Will they ignore the harm done or is it grandstanding?  

After being tested on with nuclear weapons, some doctors thought X-rays might help those who were getting sick. Navy sailor, F. Lincoln Grahlfs:

“He said: “We call that the hair of the dog that bit you.” …I am affected by this thing as far as I am concerned LIFETIME because it’s in my blood.”

NPR: ‘Atomic veterans’ battle with Congress for benefits

HEARD ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

 

LISTEN IN: Military servicemembers who took part in the country’s nuclear testing program are on the verge of losing federal benefits 

 

 

“The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal statute implemented in 1990, set to expire in July 2024, providing for the monetary compensation of people, including atomic veterans, who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War as residents, or their exposure to radon gas and other radioactive isotopes while undertaking uranium mining, milling or the transportation of ore…”

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act – Wikipedia

 

 

  1. Voices from Ground Zero: Recollections and Feelings of Nuclear Test Veterans – F. Lincoln Grahlfs – Google Books
  2. US Senate votes to expand radiation-exposure compensation, from Guam to original A-bomb test site | AP News
  3. Veterans and Nuclear Radiation Exposure | C-SPAN.org
  4. Veterans of US atomic age deserve compensation (militarytimes.com)
  5. ‘You can’t live with them’: Madison WWII vet exposed to atomic testing warns about nuclear weapons
  6. Civil Division | Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (justice.gov)
  7. Classified US nuclear test films saved for posterity (newatlas.com)

 

May 2024      Arms Control Association
By Chris Rostampour

“Communities adversely affected by U.S. nuclear testing and weapons production activities in the early years of the nuclear age and their congressional representatives are urging the House of Representatives to reauthorize and expand an expiring federal program that compensates victims of nuclear radiation.”
U.S. House Under Pressure to Renew Aid for ‘Downwinders’

 

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