Operation Castle
1954
US Atomic Veterans
Durwin Rogers
Durwin Rogers sent the following email about his duty during Operation Castle
From: Durwin Rogers kd5dk@starband.net
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Castle Bravo Participant
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998
In the spring and summer of 1954 I was a participant (willingly
or unwillingly) in Operation Castle, in which a series of Hydrogen Bombs
were exploded in the Pacific. I was a Boatswains Mate Third Class assigned
to the U. S. Douglas A. Munro (DE 422) Homeported out of Pearl Harbor Hawaii
and on an operational cruise for nine months (9) operating out of Agana
Harbor in Guam.
Our mission (as known to me) was to keep a check on the
Marshall Islanders and on a monthly basis we went from Island to Island and
as I was the coxswain of the whale boat crew, we took one of the officers
and the Hospitalman (Medic) onto each of the island to check on the well
being of the people who lived there. We picked up some people from the
Island of Kapinga Maringa Island and their cargo (pickled fish and
associated plants) and took them back to Guam. The were there to check the
results of the Hydrogen Bomb Explosions that were taking place in Operation
Castle at that time.
On one patrol we were steaming along just before
morning chow (I was standing in the chow line on the starboard side) and the
light was twilight (still almost dark) when the whole sky lit up as bright
as midday day.
One of the Nuclear Explosions had taken place and was larger
than they had expected and the wind was not cooperating (blowing the way they
had forecast it would) and we were ordered to pick up some natives from
their island and transport them to an island that was considered safe. We
were to decontaminate them and we rigged fire hoses for this purpose.
However, before we could proceed to the removal point, they were picked up
by some other ship and removed. Well, we washed down the Ship (for
decontamination) and proceeded with our normal patrol. At this time all
film was confiscated from the shutterbugs. Why I don't know and as I was
not a camera enthusiast at the time, I never gave it a second thought.
We were scheduled for a lecture on the woes of radiation poisoning by the
Engineering Officer (Sloughfoot we called him because of his unusually large
feet) and he attempted to tell us about the perils of radiation. We didn't
know what he was talking about and I don't think he knew much more than we
did. We completed our tour of duty and returned to Hawaii.
LINGERING DOUBTS YEARS LATER:
I have often wondered if this was not the
beginning of my medical problems. I have later been seen for a higher than
usual white blood cell count, with no apparent (or at least that is what I
am told) reason. I have lesions on my skin that I call cancers, but the
Dermatologist says are old age spots. She took a biopsy and said it was
non-malignant. That is the information that I was given.
I have had
stomach problems for years and I wonder if that was particularly a result of
eating contaminated food, when on trips to the islands with the Hospitalman.
I have been diagnosed as having Sugar diabetics and am currently taking
70/30 insulin .38 units each morning and .28 unit at night. Effects of
getting old you say, but I saw a documentary where the people of the South
Pacific had a higher than usual rate of diabetics and it was though to be
the result of the Nuclear testing that was done earlier in their area. They
were receiving the insulin from the United States Government and were being
compensated for this problem. This was also the case of the Japanese People
who were bombed at the ending of World War II. Why would it affect them,
but not the rest of us who were there at the same time?
I wonder if this not the cause of some of my medical problems. The
Veterans Administration say's no so, but I wonder if they are telling me the
absolute truth.
We were involved in testing and it took me from 1954 until
1995 to find out that it even had a name and other people were involved in
it. I submit that the majority of my current medical problems are the
result of this exposure to Nuclear Testing. I am not condemning the testing
or saying that I should not have been there, because I was there, and would
be there again if it became necessary, but I am saying I feel like I have
been short changed by not being advised of the results of other peoples
experience with this testing and I feel like I should be compensated from
1954 forward as I was there not by choice, but by the fact that the DE 422
was participating in nuclear testing and I was a crew member. Where it went
I went. It is a simple as that, and what was in the area, I as well as the
rest of the crew was exposed to, it is as simple as that, and if bad things
happened as result of that exposure, I am the scapegoat, its as simple as
that, but the US Government is at fault by not being honest about the
situation and waiting and hoping we would die before we became aware of the
situation. Well I am not dead and I feel like I deserve to be compensated
and have made application thereto, though it has been denied over and over
again, I will still keep appealing until the day I die. Keeps people in the
Veterans Administration working you say. Well so be it.
I did on the 12th of October 1995 have a conversation with a Mr. James
Dennis who lives In San Jose, Costa Rico. He was on Kawajaline on May 1,
1954 at the time of Shot Bravo. He started having black out spells and was
subsequently returned to the Unites States some four month early and
discharged and has been drawing 100 percent disability since that time, due
to exposure to radiation. My thought is that if I was there too and I was
according to the Defense Nuclear Agency, and I know I was because where the
Munro went I went, how is possible for my radiation dosage to be zero and he
was exposed to enough to totally disable him. I don’t understand how this
is possible. In fact I would assume I received some, maybe not as much as
him but some.
I realize this is probably not the type of information you are
interested in but what do I know.
The VA and no one else seems to be very
interested in it.
I was on the USS Douglas A. Munto (DE 422) during this
period of time when the detonation took place and we were not a part of the
test opereation, but were in the period looking for any trace of a downed
aircraft either in or outbound to Kawajaline Island.
I have been in contact with
the Defense Nuclear Agency and all they could or would say that my
reconstructed dosage was 00.0r for the period I was there, but I also know
that none of the people saying this was old enough to be there and are just
saying what the policy to say is.
I left the Navy and Joined the Air Force
in 1955. They have known we were there since 1993 and possibly before, but
I had to ask them about it. There was never any information forwarded to me
until I ask. (years later)
The VA has
since certified me as 90 percent or unemployable but have never addressed
the exposure to nuclear radiation. I have an appeal now pending but don't
think they really care too much as I just found out they have no records of
my naval service from 27 November 1951 through 30 April 1955 and have asked
them to change my records. Also have sent them what Naval Military Records
I have been able to round up. At one time they told me they had my Naval
Records but have since said they do not. Why? I have no idea.
Thank You,
Durwin R. Rogers, MSgt, USAF Retired
Panola Texas 26 March 1998
Email: kd5dk@starband.net
Keith Whittle
March 30, 1998
From: "Durwin R. Rogers" kdsdk@prysm.net
To: "Keith" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Atomic Veterans
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999
I am having some trouble with the Veterans Administration at the present time. I was operated on the first time in june and they removed my big right toe and as I am a diabetic it is taking a long time to heal. I have started (in October 1999) taking Chelation Therapy and the Veterans Administration will not pay for it. I have an ongoing battle with them about it. I know my health is not to good and the other day I counted the number of times the term "death" was mention in my records from the first of 1996 to 1999 and it makes cold chills run up and down my back.
My real problems stem from the fact that they will not acknowledge the fact that I was exposed to nuclear readiation on March 1, 1954 while aboard the USS Douglas A. Munro, DE-422 when shot Bravo, Project Castle was denotated. Of course I got no radiioactive fall-out according to them. I don't expect I have a lot longer to live, but who knows. If I had known what I know now I would have lived in fear for a long time but as I did not know it didn't bother me. I got out of the Navy in 1955 and decided to try the US Air Force and I retired from there on March 1, 1973 after a total of 21 years, three(3) months and four (4) days service. I liked the military life and am a little bit upset now that I am not treated the way I think I should be.
Durwin R. Rogers
MSgt, USAF Retired
377 Panola County Road 334
Deberry Texas, 75639
Email: kdsdk@prysm.net
Keith Whittle
November 20, 1999
PS. Address has changed again. I have lived here since May 31, 1973 and the address has changed three or four time and I haven't moved an inch.
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