Operation Ivy
US Atomic Veterans
Don Welch
To: Keith Whittle pdxavets@aracnet.com
From: Roy Romo roromo@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Don Welch...Passing Over the Bar
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004
Ahoy Keith,
I am forwarding a message I just got from the brother of Don Welch.
Don and I served on the USS LIPAN ATF-85 during "Operation Ivy" in the testing of "Mike" the first Hydrogen bomb and "King" the first pure fission atomic bomb on November 1952.
As you can see the government failed this brave sailor in time of need.
Last year, Billy Sharp, another shipmate during Operation Ivy, passed away due to cancer at the age of 69.
Roy Romo
Begin forwarded message:
From: Welch1111@aol.com
Date: March 26, 2004
To: roromo@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Information
Hello Roy,
My name is Dave Welch, and I am the younger brother of Don Welch. I read your e-mail to my brother at NAVY TALK on 3/22/04, and I wanted to let you know that Don passed away 1/28/04. He had been on chemo, as the doctors detected bladder cancer. Don then went into the City of Hope hospital in Duarte, CA, on 10/26/03 give or take, to have a bladder operation, but when they found more cancer than originally thought, they removed his bladder rather than building a new one. His operation was fine, and he was about to be released but caught an infection. Probably to his low immunity from the chemo. They moved him to ICU, and gave him infection medicine. The medicine he took for the infection knocked out his kidneys, and he went on dialysis. He developed another infection, and his kidneys rejected the medication and he went into cardiac arrest.
I visited Don almost every day, and on 11/22/03, last day he was able to talk before going into a sleep that he never fully awoke from, he said that Operation Ivy finally caught up with him. I know he had filed a claim with the VA regarding his ailments he felt were due to heavy ionization, but after giving them everything they wanted, they kept wanting more, and he died before anything materialized. I would like to continue pursuing his cause, and hopeful will be able to do so. I know he talked about you and he communicating by e-mail, and he enjoyed that. I kept his e-mail address active as I knew you might write him again.
Thanks for being there for him.
Dave Welch
Work phone: 626-915-5441X120
Don Welch sent email about his duty during Operation Ivy.
From: NAVYTALK@aol.com
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999
Subject: Re: Operation Ivy
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Keith, how many people are in Ivy section? I didn't know if there was any left.
The Arikara was a sea going tug and we had scientists aboard. I don't
remember hearing the bomb go off. I just remember alot of pressure in my
ears. We were so contaminated that when we got back to pearl the civilian
yard workers would not come aboard. Only Navy workers would come aboard
when we went into dry docks.
Don Welch
731 Evergreen St.
Burbank, CA 91505
NRAR (call sign of Arikara)
From: NAVYTALK@aol.com
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999
Subject: Re: Operation Ivy video
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Keith. My heart just about jumped out of my body when I saw this. I have told
my family about about this experience for so many years I have begun to
imagine many things. For one, was the ship I was on. I thought it was the
Arikara and not the Lipan. Now that I know it was the Lipan lots of things
make sense. The Lipan ATF-85 had a call sign of NAUZ. Now I have to
rethink the whole thing. The Lipan was painted white and used by the coast
guard as a drug interdiction vessel. I got some of that on a VHS TAPE. They
had removed all the guns and towing equipment.
From: NAVYTALK@aol.com
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999
Subject: Correction
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Let me correct an earlier memo. I was stationed aboard the USS Lipan ATF-85
as a radiomen during operation Ivy. The morning we were to depart for Pearl
after we had completed our assignment, the captain gave me a message to send
out to ships movements at Pearl to confirm our return to Pearl. The weather
conditions were poor and the radioman at pearl got nervouse and sent back
that he had received the message and threw it in the trash can since most of
our communications were insignificant. When we got back to Pearl and I asked
for permission to enter the harbor you can imagine the hell that broke loose.
No one was expecting the Lipan to be returning. If I had been higher than a
radio seaman I would still be in the brig.I was interigated for three days.
I found out how serious the Navy took ships movements.
Don Welch RM2 - by alot of luck
Thanks again,
Don Welch
Email: NAVYTALK@aol.com
Keith Whittle
August 13, 1999
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