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Some of the few surviving members of the group of men who witnessed Britain’s nuclear testing programme are still campaigning for justice for what it did to their bodies.
The United Kingdom conducted a series of nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly in the Pacific Ocean. Some 22,000 personnel were involved.
Now a documentary has revealed the extent to which the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) knew of the dangers of radiation poisoning – but failed to act.
John Morris (above), of Rochdale, was just 18 when he was sent to Christmas Island in the mid-1950s as part of the programme. He witnessed four explosions – an experience which he described as ‘frightening and devastating’.
Morris, along with many of the other men involved, developed serious health issues later in life, while his first son, Steven, died as a baby in 1962 of suspected ‘underdeveloped lungs’.
‘I blame the MOD and the experiments they did on us for Steven’s death, and I always will,’ said Morris. He called on the MOD to ‘admit liability and give us the recognition that we deserve’.
As well as seeking compensation for their suffering, campaigners are asking for a short tribunal to provide answers to their questions. So far, France, the United States, and Russia have compensated victims of nuclear testing, but the UK has not.
The campaign received a boost in 2022 with the release of new documents, including a 1950 memo which proved that blood tests taken from serving personnel were showing ‘gross irregularities’.
Another 1957 document stated unambiguously that ‘all personnel selected for duty at Maralinga [an Australian test site] may be exposed to radiation’.
The campaigning journalist Susie Boniface, author of Exposed (published by Pen & Sword), a new book on the secret history of Britain’s nuclear experiments, told the documentary that it was the ‘longest running scandal in British history’.
‘The whole thing was one big experiment,’ she added, as she described how men such as Morris were regarded as ‘expendable’.
The MOD has said that it recognises the ‘huge contribution’ of the veterans, and added that it was ‘listening to their concerns’.
The documentary, Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story, is available on BBC iPlayer.
