Girard Frank Bolton, Enewetak Atoll (1978-79) Glimmer of Lights

Introducing a series of narrative articles about the Atomic Cleanup Veterans of Enewetak Atoll.

The following are first-hand accounts told by the relatively few survivors of the Enewetak Atoll Atomic Debris Cleanup Mission, Marshall Islands; a mission that took place between 1977-1980. Their stories appear here as told to T-M Fitzgerald (published author, veteran, veteran advocate) because theirs are tales needing to be told.

Read - H.R. 5980: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr5980

Introduction: “Where in the World is Enewetak?”

Enewetak is just one of many atolls and islands in the south Pacific’s Marshall Island chain. Located about 2,365 nautical miles SW of Hawaii (just north of the equator), the Marshall Islands were once a major testing ground for nuclear weapons post WWII. This island chain is also home to the project called Cactus Dome, a 350’ wide blast crater located at the northern end of Runit Island that has become known as the ‘Nuclear Trashcan of the Pacific.’

Between 1948-58, forty-three nuclear weapons were detonated over Enewetak and its sister islands. Among these tests were ‘Ivy Mike’ and ‘Castle Bravo’ (a device 1000X as powerful as the bomb ‘Little Boy’ which was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan post Pearl Harbor.)

In 1977, a coalition of United States military forces was sanctioned to ‘clean’ the islands of residual radioactive fallout. Men, many who were mere teenagers back in the day, were tasked with cleaning the contaminated fallout from the nuclear testing that occurred throughout the previous three decades. Keep in mind, that as recent as 2012, the United Nations reported that the cumulative effects from all that nuclear testing had effectively caused near-irreversible environmental contamination.

There was a problem beginning in 1977 and currently, effects from that exposure have begun to manifest, taking toll on many surviving Enewetak vets today. Four decades later, survivors are telling their stories because the world needs to know.

Personal story by Girard Frank Bolton

Branch: Army -MOS: 81B (Combat Draftsman)Location: Enewetak Year: Multiple Tours 1977-1979

Quote: “I think the cleanup mission ended up being a huge embarrassment to the government and they’ve just wanted to slip it under the rug.”

“I am but one of a few of the survivors of the 1977-1980 Enewetak Atoll Atomic Debris Cleanup Mission that took place in the Marshall Islands.

A major focus of this group has been to help one another with information and moral support during some of the challenging times we’ve encountered following our time in service at Enewetak.

A secondary focus/goal is to urge Congress to change current law and recognize Cold War Era soldiers and contractors of the Enewetak Cleanup Mission as “veterans and workers who participated in radiation-risk activities during active service.”

By obtaining their second goal, individuals experiencing health complications resulting from radiation exposure at Enewetak Atoll will be eligible to apply for funds that have previously been set-aside for other Atomic Veterans who have already been recognized and acknowledged for their service.

“My first memories about going were being asked to volunteer. Even though I was a combat draftsman, I took a pipefitter slot to get over there. They’d already had me working as a jack-of-all-trades but when I was asked to go to Enewetak, I was guaranteed draftsman work.”

“I arrived on Lowja after C-company was already in place. They performed a lot of pre-fab work on Enewetak to take over to Lowja. I was transferred to HQ Company in S-3 Ops and did major drafting work. Enewetak was paradise for me but I wasn’t out in the middle of everything like a lot of the guys. The men on Runnit had it really tough. We worked hard, to the best of our abilities with what we had but I think the cleanup mission ended up being a huge embarrassment to the government and they’ve just wanted to slip it under the rug.”

“Before I went down there, I really didn’t know anything about the location: nothing, actually. I was totally clueless. All I knew was ‘FTA’….’Fun travel adventure’. (FTA was a BIG advertising campaign for the military back in the day. As you can imagine, the official definition was modified by the troops not long after the mission began.”

“Protective gear was nothing. I think I remember wearing a RADS badge maybe once or twice. My job had me up in helicopters and we only touched down on the islands for mail drops and things like that. We touched down on Runnit one time for little more than a mail drop. When I turned in my RAD badge, I asked how it read and was told, “Oh, you’re exposure here safer then what you’d get in Denver.” (The Air force was tasked with radiation monitoring.) “

“I was satisfied with my personal work environment. I mean wherever I lay my head was home for me but let me tell you about the Lowja base camp. In the very beginning, those guys lived in tents. A lot of them had major problems with rats coming into their hooches at night. And those hooches? Tin on the outside, no AC, no screens on the windows, no glass….just open air. Their working conditions? It was manual labor: day-in, and day-out with six-day work weeks. I had a tremendous amount of empathy for those guys.”

“I really never thought about the radiation issues at the time. My job was paradise. I never thought about possible repercussions, at least not until later when I was reading military reports on agriculture subjects. Reality started to sink in. It wasn’t long after that I found websites and started learning about all the problems other people were having. I felt like I had been saying yes to and agreeing about so many health issues that were revealed, medical issues that so many had that I never really thought about. We needed to get included in the official ‘Atomic Veteran’definition….to get into the rink of judgement.”

“What prompted me to start talking about my experience in the Marshall Islands was seeing and reading about all the guys having health issues. In fact, I’d found a website several years back and touched base with their webmaster. After reading through their stuff and talking with him, I thought ‘Oh good, I’m an atomic veteran’. Then I read some more and found out I was NOT considered an atomic veteran. I knew immediately that we needed to do something to change that. A lot of us have many medical problems along the same lines as those men“

“We found our place in the social-media market and saw our group start growing. (But it’s not getting the attention I’d like to see. Gary never expected to see how the group has evolved. We’re all feeling very patriotic but disappointed and hurt at the purposeful exclusion. As you read through various documentation about the cleanup itself, keep in mind the variety of personnel that participated. This fact represents the different government organizations and all the different slants on the matter, just like in a regularly sanctioned scientific experiment. Over time, politicians have put their fingers in it and ‘we turned into forgotten glow-in-the-dark veterans. We’re just kind of out there.”

“If I had an opportunity to address the entire country and could share a message in our benefit, the things I would talk about would include making the process of obtain our records (proof we ever went to Enewetak in the first place) easier. That seems to be a big problem. We are burdened with proving we even went and files and records are mysteriously missing or have been burned in the fire or lost in a flood. We get Congress to step in and lo and behold, files seem to mysteriously regenerate. We are fighting for recognition, to be recognized as ‘at risk’ veterans as opposed to being labeled as merely ‘occupationally exposed’. I think there was a total error in our classification status and nobody did any follow-up. The cleanup study….the intent was to circumvent us having high exposure ratings. I’d like to see that recognized”

The primary focus for this group is to urge Congress to change legislation and recognize soldiers of this seemingly forgotten cleanup mission as “veterans who participated in radiation-risk activities during active service.”

Follow our cause: Atomic Veterans of Enewetak Atoll