From 1945 till 2008, over 2,000 nuclear tests have been conducted worldwide. The United States of America alone accounts for 1054 of these tests, according to an official count. Many of these atmospheric tests, the ones in which the nuclear device is detonated above the ground, were watched by thousands of spectators and volunteers. Radiations and fall-out from these tests were later found to have claimed the lives of more than 11,000 Americans, according to a report by New Scientist. The guys in the following pictures had no idea of what they were getting into.
VIP observers watching the spectacle during Operation Greenhouse at Enewetak Atoll, 1951.
Soldiers being exposed to a nuclear explosion at the Nevada Test Site in 1951
Believe it or not, these five volunteers were standing at ground zero when a 2KT nuclear war headed air-to-air missile, Genie, was exploded 15,000 feet above their heads, to demonstrate that the weapon was safe for use over populated areas. Whether this affected the health of the officers is unknown.
The testing of "Small Boy" in 1962
Cameramen at the Nevada Test Site, May 25, 1953
Troops watching during Operation Tumbler-Snapper. Twenty-one hundred marines participated in this test on May 1, 1952
Crew of the USS Fall River watching the atomic blast during Operation Crossroads in 1946
Casual observers of the Baker blast during Operation Crossroads
The origin of the next two pictures is unknown, though the last one could be from Operation Tumbler-Snapper.
Update: Watch this video (it's worth it)
9 Comments
monkey
I feel radioactive.
In most of these pictures the people were far enough away than the amount of Gamma they received was less than a walk through a graveyard (lot's of marble and granite are radioactive, in case you didn't know, so watch your granite counter top). Tissue stops Alpha and Beta, so the 11000 must have bathed in fallout and eaten crap off the ground after the events.
(I built nukes for 4 years, so I know what they can and don't do.)
Just a guess, but marching them through ground Zero might have had a little bit to do with that. And nukes built today have about as much in common with the early nukes as your microwave. Early nukes were more dirty bombs than the ones of today.
My dad was at this blast. They could feel the wind from the blast while in their trenches. After the blast, they marched to ground zero. My dad died of mantle cell lymphoma in 2008. His 5 buddies who were with him all died before him either of leukemia or some form of lymphoma.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I have a great uncle who told me about watching the first hydrogen bomb blast. He spent the rest of his life pretty radioactive, with various health problems. He was distant family and I don't know exactly when he died, but when I talked to him he was in his sixties and was still reasonably healthy. All the same, I'm happy to not see one of these in person.
my dad was in the 82nd at shot charlie. Died of leukemia. Would love to share info with anyone who had family there. 504th2bncoe@gmail.com
Wow. My dad was at the first Hbomb test at Enewetok...he is, to his knowledge, the only person still surviving from his group...the rest all died of cancer, leukemia etc. He was on the YAG39/George Eastman.