Operation Teapot
US Atomic Veterans
Don Doyle
Click on this photo for a full page view.
Please forward this photo to Bill Bires. It is one that was taken at
Camp Desert Rock during the 1954 & 1955 series of tests while the 95th
Combat Engineers were on site. The photo was given to me by PFC Larry
Quan who was the Battalion Photographer. The photo was left at my
mother's home until she recently passed away and I found it. Note the
dark line of busses and troops that are in the foreground. Don
From: "Don & Christa" d_cdoyle@bellsouth.net
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Update
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003
Keith,
Just a quick update to what I put on the board in 1998. Since that time I have developed a lung cancer that has been removed. It was a rare type that has seldom been seen, called "Papiliary Bronchogenic Adenocarcinoma, Variant of Bronchoalveolar Cell Cancer". I lost the upper two lobes of my right lung.
Don
From: Don Doyle dedoyle@home.com
Organization: @Home Network
To: Keith pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: Atomic Veteran (Operation Teapot)
Hi Keith,
I was a helicopter mechanic at Desert Rock without a helicopter. They
assigned me to a Barber Green ditch digger and I dug the trenches for
the different shots. There were three or four of us doing that job. We
were sent out before dawn each day and did not return to Desert Rock
until after dark.
We each had a vehicle that we drove out to our assigned digging site
each day. We carried our fuel and water out daily. Around noon someone
would bring us out our meal in mess cans that was supposed to keep it
warm.
We weren't overly supervised and had pretty much free run of the test
sites. We could actually go up to the sites where weapons were tested in
previous years. They had chain link fences around them, but we could
walk up to the site and check out the crater that was left from the
previous year. I believe that there were signs that warned of radiation,
but there was never anyone to chase us off. We didn't attempt to go
where they were setting up for the current shots.
Our battalion, The 95th Combat Engineers were on site for the Turk shot.
When it went off we were told that it was necessary for us to
immediately leave the area and we left when the busses got there. There
were teams of people with geiger counters to check us. We were brushed
off with brooms as we entered the busses. I suppose that there was some
radiation on our uniforms as the fallout cloud appeared to be drifting
directly over us. We had no special equipment other than it was very
cold and we had on all the cold weather clothing that we had.
We went back the next day and walked toward ground zero until we were
told to go back. We passed various types of armored equipment that had
been tossed around by the blast and also there were some pieces of the
tower mixed in with it. I could identify something that looked like a
huge turnbuckle that would have stretched the supporting cables. Also,
there were some rabbits that were running around and appeared to be
blind and had their fur singed.
I noticed in some of the documents that were posted on the net that
there were a couple of people that received in excess of 20 rads of
radiaton. I remember one and possibly both of them. One was a grader
operator. The put him in the hospital for a couple of days and fed him
steaks and various things that were supposed to boost his blood count.
I remember his name, but won't post it for his privacy. I haven't seen
him since I went to Germany and he was discharged at Fort Ord.
I don't seem to have suffered any adverse effects other than that caused
by aging and a career of being a professional fire fighter for 27 years.
Feel free to ask any questions that you might like to and I will answer
them if I can. It has been very hard to get any information from any
source and I am glad that some is finally coming to the surface.
Don Doyle
Email: dedoyle@home.com
Operation Teapot
Keith Whittle
December 13, 1998
