Bill Skarupa, Enewetak Atoll (1979) 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 Bill Sakrupa

Branch: Army MOS: 12B Location: Lowja Year: 1979

Quote: “How can they say that we’re not Atomic Vets? That we were only a cleanup crew? We deserve to be recognized as Atomic Vets and be taken care of.”

“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.

“”What did I know about the Islands before we went? I’d been over in Hawaii on R&R longer than I had anticipated for health reasons. While I was there, I was at Hickam so of course, I hung out with the Air Force guys. Some of them were talking about Enewetak and said there was radioactive material involved but nothing about anything being detrimental or hazardous to our health. That was about all the info I had before we went. When we left Hawaii, they took us over, dropped us at Enewetak then we were on the first the boat to Lowja. That was it, which was all the orientation we got about the hazards of the mission.”

“When I was there, my main job had me running six days a week from Lowja to Runit. We’d take a LARC over for 10-12hrs day and work in 120-125F heat. We weren’t working in the full-blown banana suits, just shorts and boots. The temperature wasn’t a constant though. When we were working the concrete, the temperatures were more like 140-150F. There was no freaking way that anybody could have worked in those suits in those temps. As it was, they’d only let us do 20-minutes on the crater (Runit Dome) at a time. One crew would go up and do forms and pour the concrete and the next crew would come in and do the finishing work. The only safety-gear we had was yellow boots and a particle mask, and you know, sometimes you’d have to keep that mask in case they run out of them so you’d have one for the next day. I mean, there was dust on everyone and everything. I always made sure I had my mask and some kind of shirt.” Mr. Skarupa paused. “The dust was so heavy, and you know, whenever they came out to run the Geiger counters on us, if anybody had a high amount of radiation on their person, they were told to just go jump into the lagoon and rinse off. That was the extent of decontamination.”

“I knew something wasn’t quite right when the Geiger counters would go from 0 to ‘off the meter’, I mean to the very end. That was when it really hit me. I tried saying something about that. I mean, I was to the point of, ‘I don’t care if you kick me out of the Army. I’m going to say something when we get back.’ That was when they said that everything was classified and that I’d be court-martialed for giving out classified information. That reminds me too, one morning we woke up in the hooch (temperatures still sometimes got up to 110F, even in the morning) and I looked over at this one poor guy and he’d come down with this horrible rash that covered his entire body. One day he was there and then the next, we never saw him again.” When asked about his own current health, Mr. Skarupa shared the following. “I am actually in good health. I have absolutely no issues.”

“My service down there is just something that comes back to me all the time. I realized some of my habits weren’t of the greatest and it did effect my civilian life. I mean, as far as when I was down there, I was young and thought I knew everything. I drank every single day. (I think that’s what they wanted us to do too, I don’t know.) Maybe all that drinking helped flush any radiation from my body. They tested us once in a while but I never got any information or details back. Before we left, we had to give a gallon urine test and I never heard anything back about that, either. I have all my medical records from when we were there as evidence of my service. In the very end I was so glad to get the hell out of there…”

“We went over there and we cleaned up those islands with exposure to radiation that was so much higher than the normal amount people get. We were at war without being fired on. Our own government has paid the Marshallese all these millions of dollars, yet while we were there working 12-hour days in up to 150F heat what have we gotten? Our records redacted, purged, everything. How can they say that we’re not Atomic Vets? That we were only a cleanup crew? We deserve to be recognized as Atomic Vets and be taken care of.”

"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