Christopher Brown, Enewetak Atoll(1978) 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 Christopher Brown

Branch: Army MOS: 63B, 95B, 62C Location: Lowja Year: 1978

Quote: “I’m proud to have served my country, but our government won’t look twice at its own veterans…”

“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.

When asked what he had known about the mission that he had been a part of in the Marshall Islands nearly four decades ago, Christopher Brown shared the following. “I volunteered for the TDY (temporary duty) pay which we wound up not really getting. We weren’t told anything about stuff going on as far as radiation exposure. The Air Force was kind of in charge of the whole deal and as far as we knew, we were simply going down on a humanitarian tour to help Holmes and Narver clean the islands for the native people.”

“You have to keep in mind, we were just a bunch of teenagers at the time. The place was absolutely beautiful. Radiation safety was the furthest thing from our minds. We had no protective equipment other than paper masks. Sometimes, if we went to the other side of the island for anything, they had some of us wear Banana Suits, but not everybody wore them. We also had a sort of gas mask to use but it really didn’t do anything to help.”

“We worked around a lot of chemicals as well as the fallout from all those years of testing that our government performed. There were things going on that I had never seen before. Take grease, you know, for machinery. Well, I’d never seen grease rust, but in the motor pool down there, I saw stuff rust. They explained that by saying it was result of the salt water environment. We had a vehicle there, too that only had about 4,000 miles on it; a Dodge Ram and that thing looked like it had been sitting on somebody’s farm for 20-30 years. It was only about a year and a half old. As far as worrying about radiation went, we didn’t know we had anything to worry about. I mean, we carried RAD badges but never thought anything of it. There were different types of badges being used among all of us working there.” Mr. Brown paused. “I just received a copy of my individual report and a lot of what I’m reading doesn’t make any sense.”

“There were no women there other than some Marshallese over on Enewetak. If any women came down, it was generally for some event and an announcement would get made so we all knew ahead of time. We had one woman reporter that came out there and nobody had warned us. So there I was, walking to the showers with just a towel over my shoulder and nothing else on. A towel; that was it. Needless to say, when she come around the corner and there I was on my way to the shower, well, I ended up getting chewed out pretty good over that.”

“I began wondering what was going on kind of early in the game. At first, we were told we could eat the coconuts. It was the first time a lot of us had ever seen fresh coconuts. Well, Mike Wallace from the news show Sixty Minutes showed up and we were suddenly told not to eat the coconuts. Then, there were certain people who would show up out there but only particular people could talk to these individuals.” As he shared his thoughts, Mr. Brown suddenly remembered another detail. “One of my sergeants had me send a letter to Congress one time. I still didn’t know the degree of what we were doing down there but he wrote that letter and had me send it to a guy named Howard Baker. It caused an IG (Inspector General) complaint. The sergeant said he couldn’t put his name to it because it could affect his career so that’s how I came to be the one to send it.”

“The Islands were paradise. Yes, it was ungodly hot down there but it was an absolutely beautiful place. You wouldn’t believe there could be such an invisible danger just by looking at the landscape. You didn’t know. One of the Air Force guys eventually told us about the radiation business. I remember we were on one side of a little line…basically two inches separated us from the ‘safe’ and ‘hot’ zones. When we came back to the shop, we started thinking about all of that.”

“I’ve been trying to get this out for years. Nobody wants to talk about it. Let me tell you about the time I got hurt out there. I was sent back to Hawaii and eventually, they sent me back stateside to Birmingham. I had to show them where I had been by using a globe. They had no idea where the Marshall Islands were located and all my medical records from that time are conveniently missing. Nobody believes me. I’ve had a lot of health issues that the VA has not wanted to help me with.”

“My time on Enewetak was fun. I mean, I loved it. It was one of the most beautiful places that I had ever seen at the age of 18 but the Federal government used us as guinea pigs. We went there and thought we were performing a humanitarian mission for the Marshallese. Those people would never be able to return to their home. I’m proud to have served my country, but our government won’t look twice at its own veterans who did all the work in the first place. There’s something wrong with that picture.”

“I’d like to go back and see Enewetak. As far as more exposure, I don’t think it really matters now; I mean, they can’t do any more damage to us. (I don’t know if this is part of it or not but I’ve never had any children.) I’d like to see what happened to all the work we did; even just to fly over it. I got to work with a really great group of guys. If I could have stayed there with my guys, I’d have never gotten out of the military.”

"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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