Operation Redwing
US Atomic Veterans
Wayne Parsons
Wayne Parsons sent email about his duty at Operation Redwing.
From: "Wayne Parsons" wrp@insightbb.com
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Operation Redwing
Was surfing the Web and came across this. I too was there arriving in May of 56. I first was assigned to the Task Force Headquarters and was the clerk for Colonel Custer who was the S-4 Officer. In November of '56 I was transferred to the Post Hospital and was the clerk for Captain Cutshaw. In this capacity it didn't take me very long to know that no one really knew how much of the radiation we were getting was going to cause problems for all of us sooner or later. I witnessed 16 shots. Captain James A. Cutshaw was actually the head Doctor at the hospital. I soon found out that there were two reports each month that I was typing up that were being mailed 'Top Secret' to the office of the Surgeon General in Washington, D.C. that were NOT being sent through the Chain of Command. I was told the first time that I sent one of these out that I was not to tell anyone, even the other medics in the hospital what the contents of these reports were about.
Later in the Spring of '87 there was a problem that came up and I found out that the Captain had the phone number of the Surgeon General and the authority to place a call directly to him. However when the Admiral in charge of JTF-7 found out he was going to do this he came to the hospital and there was a loud argument. Finally the Admiral agreed with Captain Cutshaw and he didn't have to make the call.
Like many I too tried for several years to get my records from the Army and was always told that they must have burned up in the St. Louis fire. Finally in 1999 while living in Quincy, Illinois which was in the 17th Congressional District I came to know Congressman Lane Evans. In a conversation with him I told him about my inability to get my records, he looked at me and said I can get them for you and in about 3 weeks I had the whole file, almost 3 inches thick. My records as I believe everyone else's had never been in St. Louis. They came with a cover letter from the Nuclear Defense Agency in Bethesda, Maryland.
Ever since then as a recognized "Atomic Veteran" all of my health care needs have been taken care of by the VA. However I have one of the '35 Presumptive Conditions' and to this date am still fighting with the VA for recognition of it and a disability rating. Now at the age of 73 I wonder if I will live long enough to see this through.
I am,
Sincerely,
Wayne R. Parsons
Lafayette IN
Email: wrp@insightbb.com
Keith Whittle
December 7, 2007
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