It’s always interesting hearing from nuclear veterans about their experiences; albeit, witnessing a handful of tests over a 12 month period; mind you, one bomb is enough, however, my own encounters with such tests were to endure the USA’s 25 atmospheric nuclear H-bomb tests within 11 weeks.
It took the UK seven years to carry out that many tests. The codename, ‘Operation Dominic’ was used by the USA; it was their show. And, the codename ‘Brigadoon,’ was used by the UK. The detonations were carried out at a distance of between 18 and 22 miles over the sea off Christmas Island, during 25th April up until 25th of July 1962. Most were carried out in the pitch dark around 6:30am. During this period, the 200 UK servicemen that were already stationed there, including myself, had an extra 100 arrivals for the occasion, making a total of 300; comprising, RAF, Royal Engineers and Royal Navy, who were billeted mainly within the Port Camp area. The tests, involved 10,000 USA servicemen.
The UK did very well out of it. For the first time, the US shared information, in exchange for the use of the island and a handful of men. Unfortunately, at the end, not everyone came away unscathed. The fellow veterans I kept in contact with over the years, are sadly, no longer around. In 2006, Roy Prescott was awarded $75,000 by the US Government for his cancerous illness. At the time, Channel Four televised his case. I too would have qualified for this award but I feel very fortunate because my ‘high-risk’ tumour was discovered and removed before it had turned cancerous.
For my part, I was amongst the last to be called-up for National Service into the RAF at the age of 20. Friends who were a few months older than I, were in and out by the age of 20. Anyhow, be that as it may, this threw my way of life into complete disarray; as a pianist, torn away from a very successful rock’n’roll group, together with a decent well-paid job.
Eight months into service life and married, I was offered a choice of oversea postings. Naively believing that I actually had a choice, I ticked the “any accompanied posting” box. Soon after this, the unaccompanied posting came through. Despite my wife being pregnant, there was nothing I could do to change things.
Over the years, I wrote a no-holds-barred account about my 12 month ‘sentence’ on the island and it has recently been published under the title; ‘FACING ARMAGEDDON’- complete with previously unpublished photographs. Grub Street Publishers, who specialise in military books, took on the task, and have informed me that they are now in the process of also producing an audio version.
Kind regards
Chas Hall
Facing Armageddon by Chas Hall can be bought from: https://grubstreet.co.uk/product/facing-armageddon/
It can also be bought from all the major high street book sellers as well as online.
Search for: Facing Armageddon by Chas Hall or ISBN: 9781911667889
