Recognition for nuclear test veterans

While discussing remembrance, John Morris describes wanting the same recognition for nuclear test veterans that war veterans receive. Morris was significantly impacted by his experiences on Christmas Island. Both he and his family have suffered numerous health complications that he attributes to his service during Operation Grapple. He has been an active campaigner for the nuclear test veteran community and appeared in the BBC documentary Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal.

British nuclear test veterans are not the only cohort of ex-servicemen who have had to wait decades for medallic recognition. Servicemen who participated in the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War were not permitted to apply for their medal, the Arctic Star, until 2012. The ‘Bevin Boys’, young men conscripted to work in the coal mines between 1943 and 1948, also had to wait before being recognised with an official badge.

This is a short extract from an in-depth interview. John Morris was interviewed for the Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans project in 2024. The interviewer was Jonathan Hogg. The project was run in partnership with National Life Stories and the full interview can be accessed at the British Library.

I felt very, very strongly that I deserved recognition for what I’d done for this country, similar to what the soldiers in the First and Second World War had done. They were recognised for their valour and what they’d done for this country. I believe that the atomic veterans deserve the same recognition. And finally, we won. Finally. But it took a lot of time, a lot of money – it’s all self-funded. Not that it bothered me, because I have principles, and that principle was very, very strong in me for people that are no longer here to fight for themselves, or are not capable of fighting for themselves. And that’s why I think this sort of history needs to be out there. And people, in time to come, as they often do, to look back in that history and to learn from it.

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Pete Peters took part in the Castle series of American nuclear tests on the Marshall Islands on behalf of the RAF. He talks about the historic lack of recognition for nuclear test veterans in the context of awards received by pilots and navigators. He mentions losing two crews on the way out – this is a reference to the two British Canberra aircraft that were lost over the Pacific on the way to the Marshall Islands.

The image illustrating this clip is an article by Susie Boniface for the Sunday Mirror. Susie’s support and groundbreaking investigative journalism has been invaluable to the test veteran community.

This is a short extract from an in-depth interview. Pete Peters was recorded for the Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans project in 2023. The interviewer was Christopher R Hill. This project was run in partnership with National Life Stories and the full interview can be accessed at the British Library.

As it was, you know we lost two crews on the way out, they are nothing but remembered. Of the three crews, that’s Flying Officer Warren, Flying Officer Crompton [sp?] and me, Flying Officer Peters, the pilots concerned all got Air Force Crosses, afterwards, about a year or so after, after we were back. The navigators got Queen’s Commendations, but not- they wear a medal for that. But there was a lot of dissention that the navs should also have got AFCs, because they shared the same risks with us, all of them. If anything had gone wrong nastily it would have happened to them just as much as it might have happened to us. So there was a lot of dissension about that afterwards, but that is the service system, and being inured to it, we accepted it.

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David Taunt was sent to Christmas Island to participate in the joint US-UK nuclear testing operation Operation Dominic in 1962. During his time on the island he ran the Christmas Island Broadcasting Service. In this clip, Taunt talks about the way the Nuclear Test Medal was awarded and describes how its arrival in the post has caused anger amongst veterans. In later life he began to face health issues and this led to his involvement with the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA). Due to Taunt’s service for a joint US-UK nuclear testing operation, he has been able to claim monetary compensation from the USA through the RECA (Radiation Exposure Compensation Act) scheme.

This is a short extract from an in-depth interview. David Taunt was interviewed for the Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans project in 2024. The interviewer was Christopher R Hill. The project was run in partnership with National Life Stories and the full interview can be accessed at the British Library.

My thoughts on it, my personal – and they are my very personal thoughts – some would agree and some would totally disagree. The fight that we’re having to put up to get recognition, despite – what sort of recognition is irrelevant – but to have to basically crawl on bended knee and beg for a medal, 65 years down the line after the issues, it really… Had they given us a medal and thought, referred to us as heroes, as we are [laughs], of course, you know, within a couple of years or so of all this happening to us, I could have accepted it, I would have been very, very proud, but the fact that we’ve had to beg on bended knees, you know, it, it loses its value to me. And I think one of the reasons for me standing down as vice chair, over and above the medical issues, which were the main reason, was because of those thoughts. And being so involved with the guys that were suffering, as I am, in some cases worse than me, for the British test, and for the American test. It has, I’ve been talking quite a lot about this to my wife and to my doctor, I’m suffering mentally, I think, over all this because I know too much. And the ideas, as I say, of having to wait and have to, you know, beg for a medal. It’s nice to be awarded a medal, but to have to go and beg for it, it loses its value to me.

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John Simes was posted to Christmas Island as part of Operation Grapple in 1958 and was initially in the Royal Engineers. He then became attached to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) and visited Ground Zero following the Grapple Z2 detonation. For Simes, as this clip shows, receiving the Nuclear Test Medal is not as important as finding out more information about the levels of radiation he and his fellow servicemen were exposed to. Simes has been a member of both the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) and LABRATS (Legacy of the Atomic Bomb, Recognition for Atomic Test Survivors).

The photograph illustrating this clip shows Ken McGinley, founder of the BNTVA, surrounded by documents and files in his fight for justice on behalf of British nuclear test veterans.

This is a short extract from an in-depth interview. John Simes was recorded for the Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans project in 2024. The interviewer was Fiona Bowler. The project was run in partnership with National Life Stories and the full interview can be accessed at the British Library.

I probably wouldn’t have gone for a medal in the first place, but it seemed to be, LABRATS seemed to be obsessed with it. [laughs]

So how did you feel when it arrived?

Well, I just put it over there, it’ll still be in there now. What I would like to know is the truth. The medal doesn’t tell us the truth. The truth has been covered up, in my opinion, and that’s the bit I would love to know. You’ve only got to go, read all this tribunal stuff in it, there’s so many variations on the evidence being given that it’s quite disturbing really. So there we are.

So in terms of recognition, from the government, you want to know the truth

Well, it would be nice to know the truth. I mean it’s a fact that all these politicians that we’ve got, I mean from way back, they’re all convinced, they stand up and say all the precautions were taken. Well no, they were not taken. I don’t know, I can’t talk about Australia, I don’t know, but I can talk about Christmas Island. Because none of these people that say all these precautions were taken were there. And if you’re involved as I was, going down all over the island, we know.

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Gordon Coggon was blinded for two weeks by the second bomb test that he witnessed. In this clip, he argues for the importance of educating young people about the legacies of nuclear weapons testing. He mentions LABRATS (Legacy of the Atomic Bomb, Recognition for Atomic Test Survivors), a nuclear test veteran support group.

This is a short extract from an in-depth interview. Gordon Coggon was recorded for the Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans project in 2024. The interviewer was Jonathan Hogg. The project was run in partnership with National Life Stories and the full interview can be accessed at the British Library.

I’d like to see in history in black and white and for the MoD to admit what they did, or to be forced to tell the true story behind what they did. You know, for it all to come out like you’re doing now, all to come out in the open and show people that we was used as guinea pigs, and we were. That’s what I want. I’m not interested in the bloody money, they can keep it as far as I’m concerned, I’m more interested in the kids’ future health. That’s why I’ve done things like the book, I’ve donated it to LABRATS so they can help other bomb victims, specially children, now. I mean I’m not well off, but I’m not downcast either, I’m quite happy, financial situation, it’s a bit hard sometimes, but apart from that, I’m okay.

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Elin Doyle grew up in South Lincolnshire. Her father, Mike Doyle, worked as a technician in the bomb detonation team at the AWRE (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) in Aldermaston. This is also where Mike met Elin’s mother, Barbara, who was attached to the team responsible for running tests to calculate the critical mass of Uranium. Elin is the youngest of Mike and Barbara’s three children and grew up witnessing the toll that the tests took on her father and family. Her childhood memories are filled with Mike’s extensive involvement in the early campaign for justice as one of the founding members of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association. Elin is an actor and writer. Her play, ‘GUINEA PIGS’, a semi-autobiographical comedy drama, was first performed as R&D at The Space Arts Theatre in London in 2022.