David Langmeyer, Enewetak Atoll(1978) 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 David Langmeyer

Branch: Navy MOS: Seabees/Mechanic/Equip Operator Location: Enewetak Year:1978-79

Quote:“We were there for our country, why can’t they be there for us?”\

“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.

“I’m having trouble proving that I ever served on Enewetak. I was there 78-79 for six months. I’ve put in requests for information but am not having a lot of success.”

“I’d just gotten out of school when one of the Army guys was having problems with a piece of equipment. He was having some trouble with the transmission. They asked me what I would do to fix it, so I told them where to troubleshoot. They didn’t listen. I got off the plane and went directly over to the Army facility and started working on the problem transmission. The guys in the shop had been trying like hell to fix it because it wouldn’t go in reverse. They’d asked me my opinion on the matter but whoever it was I’d talked to didn’t do what I had told him to. Needless to say, I fixed it. While I was down there, I did a little bit of everything. I ran dozers, played boatman; I worked with EOD blowing ship parts off of reefs. I was rated a Seabee, but I basically did whatever had to be done.”

“I was also was the culprit in a little incident we had. I was pulling a piece of causeway section up a ramp. I mean, I had a cable stretched out, rolling it to get it up on the beach to do some welding on it. Here come this jeep, nobody paying any attention and what did they do? They drove right into my cable. They were hurt pretty bad and had to be medevac’d out of there.”

“As far as our mission went, nobody really told us anything about radiation. They asked for volunteers, said we were going to be cleaning these islands so that the Marshallese could come back and basically that was it. I had never heard of the Marshall Islands but volunteered to go. The only thing they told us was that we were going to be cleaning the islands. I was down there running dozers and scraping topsoil. As far as safety gear, we were wrapping t-shirts around our faces for some kind of breathing protection. And our uniforms of the day? Shorts, boots and maybe a t-shirt on occasion.” Mr. Langmeyer paused in thought. “I ended up working on pretty much every one. Guys were being bounced around down there six months at a time. I did whatever I had to for my country.”

“I worked primarily on Enewetak but with EOD, we’d get to go out to the other islands. I’d go out into the water pushing ordinance back onto land where we’d blow it up. We’d set charges to blow things off into the lagoon. I ran across a little Japanese tank that was out there, leftover from the war.”

“When I started finding out all the medical problems and such that so many of my military brothers were having. Things started to hit me in my 50’s and so I researched and found out that a lot of people were coming down with the same things as I. I’ve got it all, diabetes, COPD, thanks to ionizing radiation. I can’t even walk out to my kitchen without getting out of breath. I never thought anything of it at the time, until they gave me that jug to fill up.”

“Immigrants and migrants get more respect and benefits than we do and we fought for this country. I talked to my doctors a few weeks ago. I told her I was an atomic veteran. She was supposed to do some research about Enewetak. Right now, Congress can keep saying no until we get these bills pushed through. We need to be acknowledged, and somebody needs to admit that we were deliberately placed in harm’s way. We did what we were asked to do for our country. Some of us were told to do it, some of us volunteered, but regardless, we were all there for our country. Why can’t our country be there for us?”

"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