Official accounts give no hint of what really happened after Grapple Y. They talk only of it being “a clean bomb” that precluded water or dust being drawn up from the surface which may have given possible radioactive fallout
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
THE COVER UPS
In June 1958, Mrs Kathleen Jones, a Red Cross blood donor who worked in a London bank, got a priority summons to attend the Masonic hospital where her blood, a rare type, was urgently needed. She was told it was a matter of life and death. Mrs Jones dropped everything and rushed to the hospital. Not knowing the area she arrived hot and flustered ten minutes late. The doctor told her not to worry as she was the sixth person they’d summoned to give the patient blood. She was shown to a waiting room which was near a small private ward. She was intrigued to see the ward was guarded by two military policemen, and asked the doctor who the occupant of the ward was.
Her curiosity was piqued further when the doctor refused to answer; he hooked her up to the drip without saying a word. As soon as the doctor left she asked one of the nurses what it was all about. The nurse whispered it was because the patient was a young soldier who had been sent home from Christmas Island suffering from blood cancer. Mrs Jones was shocked: “There was quite a fuss about it, but everyone had been told not to say anything. It was all very hush-hush and mysterious. I gave my blood and went back to work, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind.”
Later, while on her way home, she decided to return to the hospital to find out what had happened to the soldier. The young nurse she had spoken to earlier was coming out of the door. Her eyes were red and she had obviously been crying. She didn’t need to tell Mrs Jones that the young soldier was dead. “How old was he?” She asked. Just 20 was the reply. But all the staff had been warned not to say a word. Mrs Jones never forgot the incident. In an interview she told of her “total conviction” that the authorities were covering up the young soldier’s illness because he had been on Christmas Island.
He wasn’t the only one: William Brian Morris, a 20-yr-old soldier in the Royal Engineers, was another who died within six months of returning home from Christmas Island. In scenes eerily reminiscent he, too, was heavily guarded as he lay on his death bed. Even his close family was not allowed to visit leading to distressing scenes outside the hospital ward.
Private Morris’s inquest was told he died from leukaemia and that he had an amount of radioactive Strontium 90 in his body. His father told the inquest that his son had been in perfect health up to the time of witnessing the Grapple test. He began to feel ill soon after returning home. Against the wishes of their son, who remained loyal to his country right up to the end, his parents demanded an inquiry. Researchers at Harwell examined the deceased soldier’s right femur and found 15 strontium units in the bone structure. And the inquest was told there was a definite connection between leukaemia and radiation.
On the face of it this seemed a clear-cut case of a servicemen dying because he was irradiated by a nuclear bomb. Not according to the coroner, a certain doctor O.G. Williams, director of Swansea Hospital where Private Morris died. He astounded the inquest by declaring that in his opinion there was absolutely no connection between the soldier’s death and the atomic bomb. A verdict of death by natural causes was subsequently recorded.
This was just one of many puzzling decisions handed down by coroners on nuclear veterans in the 1950s and 60s. Veterans are convinced some coroners took it upon themselves to hand down ‘safe’ verdicts. Coroners were doubtless aware that any verdict blaming the bomb tests would have been hugely controversial and it is possible many simply did not want the aggravation.
But a charge often made is that the coroners could have been following secret government guidelines for dealing with cases involving nuclear veterans. (If this sounds far-fetched, you only have to consider the case of a atomic veteran Ken McGinley, of whom more later. He managed to get his health records from the department of Health after a long wrangle. Clearly marked on one document were the words, “politically sensitive case.”)
Professor Joseph Rotblat, who had been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, was one of a number of eminent scientists who was convinced there was skullduggery at work. He said in a 1985 interview: “The fact that servicemen were dying because of their participation in nuclear bomb tests, wasn’t a surprise to anyone, except, of course, the governments carrying out those tests. We had a very similar situation with the survivors of Hiroshima. Of course they wanted to cover these things up; that is what governments do.”
Even former premier Harold Wilson was sceptical when assured that the death of one of his constituents had nothing to do with his witnessing bomb tests. Wilson had expressed a keen interest in the case of Sapper Samuel Duggan who died five years after returning from Christmas Island. In 1965, he had been in correspondence with Private Duggan’s widow and had been persuaded there was a link with his death. He wrote to the Ministry of Defense about his concerns, and received the following bland assurance from his defence minister Fred Mulley:-
“From the copy of Mr Duggan’s death certificate, which we have seen, I understand that he died of a rare form of cancer. There is no evidence that this form of cancer would be induced by exposure to ionising radiation, and the film badge which Sapper Duggan wore, in common with all those liable to be exposed to radiation, gives no record of exposure. I think we can take it, therefore, that Sapper Duggan did not die as a result of his service on Christmas Island.”
In common with many people before and since, Wilson was unhappy with this explanation. He knew the Ministry of Defence was notorious for obfuscation and would always be ‘economical with the truth’, even with prime ministers. He wrote to Sapper Duggan’s widow: “Although the Minister says that the rare form of cancer from which your husband died was not caused by his service on Christmas Island, I do intend to make some further inquiries about cases of leukaemia and similar diseases developing after service on the island. Unfortunately I have not yet had an opportunity to do so.”
Unfortunately it is not known whether Wilson made any “further inquiries” or indeed the nature of them. The letter was the last Mrs Duggan heard of the matter. Inquiries in 1984 to the then Lord Wilson asking about private Duggan received no response.
Many veterans allege they have proof that initial reports on their sicknesses were not included in their medical records. In the aftermath of explosions, ill health tended to be ignored or even hushed up. And even those whose health was so serious that it could not be ignored, often faced a frightening and bewildering ordeal.
Raymond Drake was an RAF fire officer on Christmas Island when Grapple Y was exploded. Mr Drake was in one of the forward viewing positions when he and the rest of his small detachment were blown clean off their feet. “The bomb was massive,” he said in a statement. “The whole island seemed to shake. I thought the scientists had made a mistake and that the place was just going to blow up. We thought we were all going to die…”
Mr Drake survived the blast, but a few days later he began to experience intense chest pains. He also coughed up blood and felt so weak he could hardly stand. It was decided to send him home for treatment.
It was soon obvious to Mr Drake that he was getting special treatment. On his arrival at Gatwick airport he was surprised to see a small convoy of military vehicles and what looked like a specially modified police ambulance. He was even more surprised when he realised the little convoy was waiting for him.