Nuclear test veterans speak out

By NAOMI LARKIN, ANNE BESTON and JOSIE CLARKE

Two of five New Zealand servicemen used as human guinea-pigs in 1950s nuclear tests have spoken out about their exposure to atomic radiation in the Australian desert.

Then-Brigadier John (Blackie) Burns, now aged 83, and Flight Lieutenant Roger Peart, 78, told the Herald last night that trucks were used to speed past them and raise dust, ensuring they got fallout over their heads.

They wore protective clothing, but other servicemen exposed to the 1956 tests in the Maralinga desert, South Australia, wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

Their descriptions contradict assurances from the British Ministry of Defence - repeated to the Herald last night - that the men's skin was covered at all times.

Mr Peart, now aged 78 and living in Howick, was one of the five Second World War veterans ordered to take part in the trial.

He said the men knew they were going to experience the effects of an atom bomb.

"I wasn't aware of it being a military exercise. I knew we had to go over there to be exposed to an atom bomb explosion."

Mr Peart stayed on for a second trial with two Army officers.

He wore white overalls and white gumboots, similar to those worn by staff in nuclear power plants.

Only after they had arrived at the site were the men told the purpose of the trial and the health risks.

"It was a test, basically, to see how contaminated we became from dust which was primarily beta-emanating radiation getting on our skins, how we could be decontaminated at the end of it, etcetera."

Mr Peart, who studied physics at university, said he was aware of the effects of radiation.

"I don't suppose it mattered how we felt. We were all serving officers. We just had to do it. But it was interesting. We were relatively young and this was brand new and it was interesting to see one of these things."

He said he did not have concerns about his health. He trusted that those in charge of the trial dealt honestly with the servicemen.

"Of course. I don't think they intended to kill us."

Mr Peart laughed when asked if he had suffered any side-effects from the trial. "I don't know yet," he said, adding that he would turn 79 in July.

He had two children and two grandchildren. None of them had experienced any health problems attributable to the tests.

"I don't feel angry, because somebody had to experience these things."

The soldiers and officers who went to the bomb sites were "invited" to go, said Mr Burns, aged 83, who now lives in Eastbourne, Wellington.

They did not think too much about the danger because high-ranking British officers were sent.

"It wasn't as if ordinary soldiers were being put through something that the top brass knew about but kept quiet.

"We had a pretty good idea of what we were going to see."

For the first test, the group were taken 8km from a 20-kilotonne blast, detonated from on top of a tower.

"We were all in our ordinary uniforms. The only protection we had was by turning our backs."

The second test was a 2-kilotonne blast at ground level, done to test the bomb's efficiency at demolishing buildings and defence equipment such as tanks. The party observed that one from just over 3km away.

Three days later, Mr Burns was invited to take part in another experiment, this time to march through the bomb test site.

"We put on protective clothing and then we were taken, or marched, through the fallout area and the closest we got to 'ground zero' was about half a mile.

"We wore rubberised clothing, respirators and gumboots.

"From time to time, trucks would speed past and raise dust to make sure we got a bit of the fallout over the top of us. Then we were taken back and hosed down and put through showers and monitored."

Mr Burns had a radiation reading of .02 of a roentgen, a reading considered to be "very, very low" he said. He was told it would take about 200-plus roentgen to kill a person.

Asked if he felt the men had been used as guinea-pigs, he said it was a difficult question.

He did not recall signing anything to give his consent, but on the other hand he was director of artillery at the time and took up the invitation so he would be able to pass on his experience.

Mr Burns said his children were born before he watched the tests so they could not have been affected.

He had had a couple of small skin cancers removed from his nose, which he put down to his time serving in Egypt during the Second World War.

But he now felt morally bound to join other servicemen seeking compensation from the British Government for being forced to watch nuclear tests in the Pacific.

Herald files show the other three New Zealanders involved in the trials were Major P. H. G. Hamilton of Central Military headquarters, Commander L. B. Carey represented the Navy and Lieutenant Colonel W. R. K. Morrison.

Colonel Morrison said at the time that the atomic bomb was "not as bad as it is made out to be."

Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is visiting Korea, said yesterday that she was outraged.

"This story is about New Zealanders who in effect were experimented upon at Maralinga. We just have to get more information and quickly."

It also emerged last night that New Zealand turned down Britain's request a year earlier to conduct an H-bomb test on Kermadec Island, less than 1000km from New Zealand, as Prime Minister Sydney Holland was worried about public reaction.

Defence Force historian John Crawford said that previously classified documents showed that when Mr Holland declined, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden told him he was disappointed "that you did not feel able to help us."

New Zealand Defence Minister Mark Burton said two other New Zealand servicemen may have been part of further nuclear tests the following year.