Jack Showers, Enewetak Atoll (1977) 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 Heathcare 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 Jack Showers

Branch: Army, Retired MOS: 62E Location: Lojwa Year: 1977-78

Quote: “The facts about Enewetak will remain closed until just about everybody’s dead.”

“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.

At the beginning of his interview, Mr. Showers was asked to share what he knew about the Marshall Islands, Enewetak and the mission he was being sent to work on.

“I didn’t know anything. We were all kept in total darkness until we got down to the islands. Even after we got there, we still weren’t really told about what we were going to be doing. It was like, ‘Here, go do this job.’ I didn’t even know the Marshall Islands existed before we went”

“While I was down there, I was a heavy construction equipment operator. I drove a 5-ton dump, and a cement mixer. It was my job to mix and pour the cement wherever they told me. I pretty much poured forms and then they took those forms to wherever they needed. I never worked on Cactus Crater itself.”

“Safety gear? That was a joke. The stuff they had us wear was only good for making you sweat. It didn’t do any good as far as protecting us from anything because it was so thin and light. It couldn’t, but it sure could make you sweat.”

“I started thinking things weren’t quite right about the whole situation when they told us that we had to wear this one type of uniform while we worked on the islands. When we got back, we had to get hosed off and the uniforms got destroyed. That made me think, ‘Hey wait a minute.’ Like I said, they never told us exactly what was going on.”

“I have a medical issue that I developed about six months after I got back from Enewetak. The military was real quick to call it psoriasis but I don’t think that’s what it is. I’ve looked up a little information about psoriasis and found out it’s some sort of autoimmune disease that you are born with. This that I have? I wasn’t born with it. Currently, I go to the VA in Cleveland at least twice a month and they’ve been giving me shots. I take methyltrexate for it and have both psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis as well.”

“I’m also a veteran of Desert Storm. I brought back a lot of issues from over there so now the VA is playing this game with me. Depending on what I have going on this week, the VA tries to blame my situations on either Enewetak or Desert Storm. If I ask about something I know happened to me on Enewetak, they blame it on Desert Storm. If I talk about something I know started happening after Desert Storm, they try to throw it back on Enewetak.”

“If I could tell the world one thing it would be this: don’t put too much weight into what the government does or what it tells you. The facts about Enewetak will remain closed until just about every one of us is dead. Then, they might eventually come out and say they just found out about everything when they knew about everything all along. We’ve just been swept underneath the rug for too long. Something needs to be done about what the government didn’t do. I hope that the government will admit to its mistakes and realize before all of us are gone that there was something over there that could and didhurt us. They need to do something before all of us are dead and buried.”

"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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