"Radioactive Veteran" winner SPARK best documentary - Story of Donald Guy US Marine died,
Photo - Donald Guy (middle) participated in Operation Upshot-Knothole in 1953 in the Nevada Desert.
Congratulations to Mark Wampler for winning at filmSPARK in the documentary segment for Radioactive Veteran. Thank you for supporting the plight and sharing the story of the Atomic Veteran.
Radioactive Veteran -
By: Mark Wampler
Donald Guy was a Marine in the early 1950s when the military ordered him to the Nevada Test Site, where they had begun conducting nuclear testing. Along with thousands of other Marines and soldiers, Donald was assured he was safe as he gazed at the billowing mushroom cloud and marched through the desert toward the atomic blast.
Within only a few years, however, Donald began experiencing serious medical issues resulting from radiation exposure and soon became disabled. For the rest of his life, he fought for disability benefits with Veterans Affairs, but in 2009 he died before receiving his due compensation.
For the next seven years, Donald's widow Mary continued his fight for justice.
After veterans attorney and law professor Craig Kabatchnick began representing Donald and Mary in 2007, Kabatchnick became convinced the story of America's radiated veterans needed to be told on a broad scale. He published a widely cited law review article in 2013 and then began assembling the resources for a documentary film. In 2014 his student Mark Wampler, a Marine Corps veteran himself, joined the project as director. Two years later filmmaker Bradley Bethel came on as producer, and the team decided to begin with a short film.
"Radioactive Veteran" tells the story of the military’s nuclear testing in the 1950s and its consequences for Donald and Mary Guy. The production team hopes the films will raise awareness of the legal challenges radiated veterans have faced and compel viewers to demand justice for all veterans.
Follow on Twitter: - Radioactive Veteran (@RadioactiveVet): Honored to announce our film is an Official Selection at @film_SPARK in Raleigh Sept. 15 – 18 @IndigoMoonFF in Fayetteville Oct. 7 – 9.
Personal Review by Jeff Fortin - On September 5, 2016, I had the pleasure to review this documentary portraying Mr. Donald Guy, a US Marine who was exposed to atomic fallout and debris from various Atomic Tests conducted by the US Government.
This is a well written and filmed story of the hardships, suffering our service men and women at the hands of the government, under the guise of classified placed Americans at risk, exposed them to hardships, medical illness, cancer, financial hardships while at the same time forgetting them, holding them in a void of proof, and denial of all benefits, compensation and healthcare.
Radioactive Veteran is one-story which mirrors hundreds of thousands. Before long, all living military and civilian personnel who were exposed to atomic debris and fallout will be gone. Shuffled and stuffed under the rug of bureaucracy, cover-up and denial. These military members took an oath, served with honor, yet died alone, forgotten, and sidestepped by the government, denied due-process.
>Where is the outrage, the protests, the anger?
>Where is the congressional support of righting a wrong?
>Where is the Veteran's Administration with a goal to help serve veterans?
>These Radioactive Veterans, proud, honorable but dying!
>Who will carry their last words- Why?
>Who will remember?
Photo: Producer Bradley Bethel (left) and Director Mark Wampler (right) at the Film Festival of Columbus for the first rough cut screening of Radioactive Veteran.
Read stories: AtomicRadioactive Veterans.
