Aaron Ducote, Enewetak Atoll (1979) Glimmers of Light

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

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

Read - H.R. 5980: Mark Takai Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act

Introduction: “Where in the World is Enewetak?”

Enewetak is just one of many atolls and islands in the Pacific Ocean’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 and civilian support teams were 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 and contractors today. Four decades later, survivors are telling their stories because the world needs to know.

Personal story by Aaron Ducote

Branch: Equipment Operator/Transportation MOS: 64C10/20 Location: Lojwa Year: 1979

Quote: “As a nation, we take in people from other countries, give them full rides, scholarships, and housing…we have people from our own country who serve in the military and this is all they get?

“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 of the Enewetak Cleanup Mission as “veterans 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.

“Mine is a little different story than what anybody else is going to tell.”

“There were people going around to each unit up at Ft. Wainright asking for volunteers to take part in a mission down in the South Pacific. As we were told during that ‘recruiting’ phase, Enewetak was part of an island chain down there between Hawaii and Australia. If we went, we were supposed to get R&R 2 days a week and be able to take it in Australia. Well…I volunteered and we never went to Australia.”

“My job there was operating heavy equipment. As for protective gear? Let me tell you about that. During the heaviest part of the day, we’d have this mask that used forced air. It had the same dirty filter in it day in and day out. We had no suits, hoods, or special gloves. Our uniform was simply a Boony hat, a T-shirt, cut-offs and regular work gloves.”

“I started thinking things weren’t quite what they first appeared when there wasn’t any change of pace or tempo to what we were doing every day. In my opinion, we were given a cat in a sack right from the start. I began suspecting we were part of a big cover-up of some sort. All our supplies and mail and such had to be dropped in to us. We never received any visitors from other islands. I mean, there we were in all that dust and dirt with absolutely nothing. That’s when it dawned on us, ‘There’s something else happening here.”

“After about 1985, my experiences in Enewetak just dropped out of my mind. Then Facebook came along and jarred my memories. I kept just about all my orders, documentation, and photographs but can only remember about two people on the survivors’ roster. I don’t remember any of the other guys.”

“I was motivated to share the things I could recall about my duty at Enewetak because I’ve learned about so many of my brother’s illnesses related to their serving there. I don’t know if I have any cancers like so many of them have developed but I have had to have a heart valve replacement. My own original valve looked as if it had been through a few rounds of chemo therapy, you know, some serious doses of radiation. The VA keeps insisting there was no way such an exposure could have taken place at Enewetak. So far as I know, among the survivors in our group, I’m the only one who has had valve issues. I have been told I have the heart of a seventy-year old. That’s so strange to me because up until about a year ago, I had been fine.”

“I’ve had several issues in the past when I have tried obtaining copies of my DD214 but have never been able to get them. I have never had complete information about the time I’ve spent in the service. Without going into a lot of detail, I had to get my Congressman (now a Senator) involved.” Mr. Ducote was growing audibly breathless during the interview and paused for a moment before continuing.

“I had radiation contamination in my system and had gone into a coma for three weeks. I had been given last rites, my family had been notified, and I’d been pronounced dead in Hawaii. The military had no record of my existence whatsoever. My parents were tasked with the burden of proving that I was indeed in the Army when this issue happened in the first place. There was a Congressional inquiry and everything. I recovered and was eventually sent back up to Alaska. They had no records of me so they sent me back down to Louisiana. I didn’t die, of course. My 214 says minimal of my time in service. It has hardly anything on it.”

“After all of this had resolved and I was out of the Army, I decided I was going to join the Marines. I had to write a letter to the Commandant to get back into the service. I’d been out of the Army for eight years and I started all over again as an E1 in the Marine Corps. I completed my 4 years there and went back to the DOD where I trained dogs since 1994. Just recently I was forced into retirement due to medical conditions, ones I most definitely believe are directly related to my time at Enewetak.”

“I do have copies of my medical records now thanks to my Congressman. I was the one med-evac that Jimmy Clem had off Lojwa. His records tell a different story though in that they say he had to transport a patient who suffered burns from a radiator. It was radiation burns, NOT radiator burns. I had to be wrapped up every day and it just got worse and worse. I got so bad that I finally just fell out one day and that was when I was evacked.”

“There is officially no record of this event. Even though I still have all of the correspondence and paper work otherwise, it turned into a ‘he said/she said’ kind of deal. I had textbook symptoms of radiation exposure but they still insist I had no radiation illness and the VA continues to deny me care.”

“For so many years I didn’t want to think about my time spent down in the South Pacific. But then I started reading about other people’s experiences. It made me so physically ill that I literally had to push away from things for awhile. But I always came back. I’m drawn to this. We’ve got to do something.”

“If I could convey a message to this nation about all of us and what the government has done, it would be this. ‘Everything has been a lie. The government is behind every bit of it. We have been refused treatment; our records have been conveniently lost or covered up. We were used for experimental purposes. I mean, we take all these people in from other countries, give them full rides, scholarships, housing…but we served our country and this is the thanks we get for doing that?”

"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.”

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