Sammie Lee Marler Enewetak Atoll(1977) 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 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 Sammie Lee Marler
Branch: US Army MOS 91B20 Corpsman Location: Lojwa Basecamp, Marshall Islands Year: 1977
Quote: “Live today like it’s your last, because it may very well be. The future is now…”
“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 this 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.
“I’d go to different islands with the soldiers and provide medical care as needed. I set up the work schedule for four of us medics, checked supplies and also took wet bulb temperatures. About those temps, what that entailed was basically checking the temps each day. If temperatures read over 120 degrees at any particular time, only half the guys in the details would work at a time. Thirty minutes would pass and the next batch of guys would rotate in. And as far as protective gear? On Enewetak, we were shown the yellow banana suits but I was never in one. I didn’t even have a dosimeter badge. I never knew until a few years ago that the place was toxic and that was only after I watched an episode of 60 Minutes.”
Mr. Marler was asked what prompted him to share his experience with the rest of the world. “I was searching through the internet and came across an article about Enewetak Atoll. I investigated a little further and found out about all the other guys. I decided to share my experiences with the world because we were all deceived. We were told that the Marshall Islands were safer than Denver, Colorado. But now, a lot of the men who served there are suffering health problems in a variety of ways, cancer in particular.”
“We went out of our way, through a lot of hardships for this nation. We should be taken care of as veterans. As for myself, I have PTSD pretty bad even to this day. While serving in the Marshall Islands, every night you’d have twenty maybe twenty-five rats crawl up on your bunk. Lojwa was overrun with them, big as full-grown cats some of them were. I have no idea how rats survived for so long on those islands particularly when people hadn’t been there for years.”
“The medics and firemen all slept in the same hooch. One night, we killed over fifty rats with a spear gun. We’d throw their bodies into a 55-gallon barrel outside the hooch. When we filled one up, we fed the sharks. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much on Lojwa. I was a mess when I got back home. At night, I’d wake up screaming thinking those rats were coming up on the bed.”
“I called bingo one night a week for the guys. Bingo was a big deal because they could win a lot of money. I also had a 9 member band (‘Singing Sam and the Superstuds) and we’d play at the club. As a matter of fact, Jim Androl played the drums. I was also the MC and comedian in the USO show that came. I kept the guys spirits up; helped them forget about home a little bit, so they respected that. Everyone knew me. I’m glad I could make them happy for a little while.”
"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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