Atomic Age wound left to atrophy - Background Enewetak and efforts Atomic Veteran Healthcare Parity

Patrick Reedy was 17 when his feet hit the beaches of Enewetak Atoll in June 1978. An Army specialist from Clarks Summit, he was one of 8,033 American soldiers sent to clean up the radioactive remnants of atomic bomb tests on the Marshall Islands of the South Pacific.

Orientation included a rough run-through in “banana suits” — plastic yellow shells that proved hell-hot on a tropical island. None of the guys wore them after that. The brass didn’t object.

“They said it was as safe to go there as it was to go to Denver (about 350 miles from atomic test sites at Los Alamos, New Mexico),” Patrick told me. He lives in Falls Twp. now and struggles with health problems he traces back to Enewetak.

Denver may have been safe from fallout 20 years after the “Trinity” tests in the New Mexico and Nevada deserts, but the 40 tiny islands that make up Enewetak (“any-wee-tock”) were ground zero for trials of the hydrogen bomb. One test device that failed to reach fission showered plutonium across Runit Island, rendering it uninhabitable for 24,000 years.

Patrick Reedy and other Enewetak vets hauled countless loads of radioactive waste to a dump on Runit Island. They were clad in nothing more than shorts, combat boots and trust in the government that sent them there. Enewetak was a patchwork paradise. Some islands were lunar-like. Others were lush with life. Patrick and his comrades napped beneath palm trees and fished on coral reefs that seemed created to reflect sunlight.

“It sounds like a fantastic journey,” he said, but the trip turned dark when the Enewetak vets came home. Patrick was lucky. He injured his hand on duty and headed home in November 1978. Tests showed he was exposed to high levels of radiation. The Veterans Administration approved him at 30 percent disability. At 56, Patrick has had heart bypass surgery and struggles with a degenerative connective tissue disease. He can no longer earn a living in construction and masonry.

Still, he feels blessed because he can get medical treatment that is denied to his comrades by what amounts to a clerical error. U.S. law recognizes “atomic veterans” as those who served between 1945 and 1962. Essentially, if you were there when they tested the hydrogen bomb, you’re covered. If you cleaned up the piles of plutonium-poisoned sand 20 years later, you’re on your own.

“It’s not a conspiracy or a cover-up or anything,” Patrick said. “It’s just that the rules were written before we went out there.”

The rules continue to hurt veterans like Gary Pulis, who served in Enewetak in 1979. A New Jersey native, Gary, 56, lives in Indiana now and is a mainstay of activity is hosting and outreach of the website www.atomiccleanupvets.com. Gary knows in his bones that his heart, lung and skin afflictions are rooted in Runit Island. The Department of Veterans Affairs refuses to take responsibility for his wounds. Gary has declared bankruptcy three times in the past 25 years over health care costs.

“I don’t want monetary benefits,” he told me. “I just want the medical care I earned.”

A push to honor the service of Gary and his brothers-in-arms has been initiated by U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, D-Hawaii (below). House Bill 3870 — now stuck in committee — would amend the law. Veterans like Patrick Reedy and Gary Pulis would finally get the respect and medical care they deserve.

I called U.S. Reps. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, and Tom Marino, R-10, Lycoming Twp., for comment on the House bill. I also called Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey. Anyone can pledge support for veterans. These guys are in a position to prove it.

Mr. Marino’s office didn’t call back, but I received this from Mr. Barletta’s spokesman:

“This bill was just introduced and I haven’t had a chance to review it. However, it has always been my view that we must take care of our men and women in uniform during and after their service. Just as I have supported efforts to assist veterans who came in contact with Agent Orange in Vietnam, I believe we should look after all veterans who encountered hazards during their time in service. I will look forward to considering the bill should it come to the floor of the House.”

Asking senators to comment on a House bill that so far has failed to reach the floor is usually a mistake, but I was pleasantly surprised by Mr. Toomey and Mr. Casey.

Turns out Mr. Toomey, a Republican, has already taken up the case of Enewetak veterans. In June, he called for a study into whether they were exposed to toxic radiation. It seems obvious that they were, but the gears of government grind slowly. Should the bill ever pass the House, he will have a golden opportunity to stand up for Enewetak veterans.

So will Mr. Casey, a Democrat who has made veterans’ issues a priority. His spokesman emailed me this:

“These veterans engaged in important service at incredible risk to themselves. It’s important that Congress recognize that service both in word and deed. Passing this legislation would provide a measure of justice for these veterans and ensure they have the basic services needed.”

Amen. As Gary Pulis — who served his country and asks nothing in return but its thanks and care — told me, this is not about money.

“How much could it cost?” he asked. “There are only 444 of us left.”

Enewetak Cactus Dome -

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, salutes our veterans and the families that sustain them.

Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com, @cjkink on Twitter.

Read his award-winning blog at blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/kelly.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this column incorrectly attributed a statement from U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, to U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-10, Lycoming Twp.

Video Added for Awareness and Exposure - Not part of the Article.