[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ATOMIC VETERANS

                                 ______


                        HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 30, 1996

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a group of 
forgotten cold war veterans who, along with their families, are 
suffering the after-affects of serving in the military during the 
nuclear age.
  I am speaking of atomic veterans and their survivors. These service 
people were the ones called in to clean up after accidents involving 
nuclear weapons, apparently with little regard to their safety and 
long-term health.
  While we may never fathom the number and full extent of these 
accidents, there are two we do know something about, thanks mainly to 
the diligence of many of the veterans involved in these cleanups who 
brought the truth to their fellow citizens.
  One mishap occurred in Greenland in 1968, when a B-52 bomber carrying 
four 1.1 megaton bombs crashed, spreading radioactive debris across the 
frozen tundra. Service people, who were not even issued protective 
masks, reportedly picked up the deadly pieces with shovels, and in some 
cases, their bare hands.
  In a 1962 incident, Navy personnel on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific 
were subjected to incredibly high levels of radioactive materials for 
days when a Thor rocket tipped with a 1.4 megaton warhead blew up on 
the launch pad during testing. Debris strewn about the atoll, including 
across the air strip, prevented the flight crews of a Navy air patrol 
squadron from leaving for days.
  Veterans of this squadron suffer from various cancers, teeth and hair 
loss, sterility, joint disease, eyesight failure and reproductive 
problems. However, the most insidious manifestation of this problem may 
not be among these veterans, but in their children, who are also 
suffering from their parents' exposure. These children suffer from a 
variety of ailments, ranging from learning disabilities to congenital 
deformities, related to genetic damage to their parents who were 
stationed at these nuclear hot spots.
  I believe that these children have suffered because of the negligence 
of our Government toward their parents, and therefore, am a cosponsor 
of H.R. 2401, the Atomic Veterans Survivors Benefits Act. The this much 
needed legislation was introduced by my good colleagues from Illinois, 
Mr. Hyde and Mr. Fawell.
  This bill would simply treat the children of atomic veterans 
suffering from these disabilities like veterans with service-related 
injuries in regard to compensation. Advocates for those who served at 
nuclear hot spots such as Johnston Atoll and Greenland include the 
Veterans Rights Coalition and the Alliance of Atomic Veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 
2401. It is the least this country can do for those veterans and their 
children who have ended up as casualties of the cold war long after it 
ended.

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