Mike Brown, Enewetak Atoll (1976-79) 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 Mike Brown

Branch: Army MOS: Chemical Officer Location: HawaiiSchofield Barracks Year: 1976-1979

Quote: “Enough time has passed where specific health processes from radiation exposure are starting to develop in full force. How can the fact that Soldiers served down there with radiation hazards even be in question?”

“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."

"About the Marshall Islands or Enewetak and Lojwa, I knew absolutely nothing beforehand. I didn’t even know the place existed. All I knew was that we, as a country, had performed atomic testing someplace in the South Pacific. I was a lieutenant back then and I ran the NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) School for the 25th Infantry division. That’s how I got tied into this project. I was tasked with teaching radiation safety to the Air Force Field Radiological Safety Teams (FRST) who were getting sent to the islands. They came through Schofield for a week, rotated through training and were then sent out to Enewetak to support the radiation cleanup operations.”

“To actually get out on to the atoll, as the officer running the NBC Defense school, I wanted to verify if the training we had given everybody was adequate and see if what we had taught was actually relevant to the mission. I wanted to know what their day to day mission on the ground was like. What actions actually entailed ‘cleanup?’ What was the concept and were we actually ‘on target’ with training them? I was only out there on Temporary Duty for two weeks and when I arrived, I was given a film badge that recorded my exposure to gamma radiation. I never received any results from my film badge back from those two weeks. I based out of Enewetak Island and then we went to the other islands in the Atoll (Runit and some of the other northern islands). I went out to Cactus Crater (site of eventual containment dome) before the Engineers actually started containment in it. There were two holes out there that had literally been melted into the coral by atomic blasts.”

“As far as what happened in the Marshall Islands before we went in to clean things up, believe the Atomic Energy Commission performed a detailed air and ground radiation survey of the Atoll, and published the results in a three volume set in 1973. From my professional training as a Chemical Officer, I knew about the different kinds of radioactive isotopes that were likely to be present. Some of the radioactive isotopes, like plutonium, has a half-life (time that it takes to degrade dose rate in half) of approximately 24,000 years. I mean, hazards of various isotopes and radiation from those were some of the topics we had touched on in training. As a visiting officer from US Army Pacific, I’d asked to fly over all the islands to assess the extent of the damage from testing and situational awareness. I remember seeing the craters from previous nuclear blasts, and even saw where that one island was vaporized (Elugelab) from a nuclear fusion test. From the air, I could see hundreds of craters from WW2 naval gunfire as the Japanese had occupied those islands and ironically enough there were our guys, thirty years later in the process of clearing all that stuff from the surface to make it safer to be out there.”

“I knew I needed to share my own experiences from serving during that time after a great college friend of mine and fellow Army officer (Al Gettier) told me how veterans who had served down there were getting sick from radiation exposure. I want to help in any way I can these troops and contractors who deployed to do a difficult mission. I worked with an Air Force Senior Master Sergeant for the first for the two weeks I was out there. He and I surveyed all the places thattroops were going to be working. He gave me actual volumes of radiological surveys about the area before our engineer troops set boots on the ground. It’s clear to me that the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defense knew where all the radioactive isotopes were. For anybody to claim that they didn’t know is beyond me. Certainly, the mission leadership should have known of the present dangers. By virtue of my mission on Hawaii- train and assist the US Air Force in field radiation safety- makes it self-evident that there was radioactive hazards on the islands. That’s why I offered to do anything I could do to help Congress better understand the current issue. I still possess those volumes that show exactly where all that stuff was based on all the nuclear tests that took place decades before.”

“In my line of work at the Pentagon, I’d receive calls every once in a while from old veterans to help them verify what they might have been exposed to. The record keeping was lousy back in the day, and because of that, there were often no records help these veterans. Anything I can do now to help get this up to Congress, I’ll do.”

“One thing stands out in my mind when we were touring the atoll sites, when I saw some young combat engineers pushing dirt, sand, and old WWII ordnance with their dozers, (including the radioactive contaminants in the sand) wearing just boots and cut-off fatigues! I’d asked why those men weren’t wearing protective gear while they were moving earth. It was explained to me that they had performed some testing and taken air samples before the men would go work in their areas. Because it was mainly coral and sand, the air monitors did not pick up a significant amount of airborne radioactive matter; there was no air suspension threat as we were taught. I knew right there that was total BS as I stood there looking at Soldier covered in dust from head to toe. I thought there was a problem and voiced my concerns to the USAF FRST. Al recently told me that at the end of each duty day, the guys would go literally jump in the lagoon to rinse the dust and contamination off. When I went back to Hawaii in 1977, I told our instructors at the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Defense School to emphasize the safety aspect of inhalation issues. I feel the men working that radioactive clean-up mission needed to take more precautions.”

“Whenever we place our troops in potential harm’s way, leaders need to be clear and upfront about the hazards they may be exposed to and ensure good medical follow-up. Today, I am told these guys need to show proof they were assigned in the Marshall Islands for this mission; I cannot believe that there is any doubt that troops stationed on the Atoll during that time could have easily been exposed to radioactive hazards. We owe our military and civilian contractors to do the right thing- to encourage Congress to acknowledge this fact and to enact legislation to help if they are facing health issues.”

“Speaking of radioactive hazards, do you know about the three types of radiation? Gamma is the high powered stuff like X-rays and goes through a body- this energy is what is picked up in the film badges. Alpha and Beta radiation can cause burns on the outside of the skin, or for Alpha, not even get through your skin. However, if you get an Alpha or Beta isotope inside your body, it can cause a lot of long term damage. You can’t measure alpha exposure on a film badge. By the nature of their assignment on Enewetak, and based on the radioactive isotope surveys done before the clean-up mission, I believe good chance the troops were likely exposed to a lot of that.”

“My last remembrance is that I asked questions about the plans for the troop bivouac sites. I mean, at low tide, you could walk between the islands on the Atoll, so I wondered how they were going to keep troops from running around and exploring like you know troops do. I don’t know what kind of controls the leaders of these operations had, if any, but those were the kinds of concerns they should have addressed as they were building the sites.” Our troops and contractors were placed in a dangerous area for an important National mission. There were definitely clear and known radioactive dangers out there and I would be very disappointed if the mission leadership did not brief the situation and hazards to their people. I just want to do right for all those who deployed on this mission, and who are now sick from radiation exposure”

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