Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / June 2, 1994, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
sun THE THURSDAY, JUNK 2. 1*94 ? 7 VUstinas. 6-7 ?Sports, 9-72 Atom Bomb Test Was A Crossroads For Local Veteran BY ERIC CARLSON sat week, veterans told Googieas about the health ptubteun they have differed since the * ^Yiaiau Gulf Wv and abool the FentMon'e re ruaal to admit that they may hive been victims of chemical or biological warfare. Thousands of troops returned Gram the deserts of bnq with mysterious for which doctors have no other logical explanation Now the government seems to want those veterans to quietly disappear. It'a a scene that aeema all too familiar to Leroy Tibbetts of Holden Beach. He's a World War D veteran who has abo been plagued with iimwnal health prob lems that don't seem to afflict other men his age. For past 13 yesrs, T2?zss hss cspcrisaced Se quent outbreaks of a strange rash that often gets so bad ihai his akin bieeds. His legs and swell to three timea their normal size. He hna had sev eral heart attache Last year doctors found cancer in his left lung, which had to be removed along with a rib and all his lvmnh narit*. Thes is Jssusry HbbcSs s stroke, which slowed his speech and dulled his memo ry But not enough to keep him from asking questions about why a 67-year-old man, who has otherwise led an active, healthy life, should suddenly start falling apart "What 1 want to know is the reason why all this is happening to me and not to other people my age," Tibbetts said recently. There are guys playing golf in tfti*w OA* V ?* "wnut ?!?!. ? y ? jy fHnffTC without stopping to rest "I think they're trying to push all this under the rug and hoping that we'll all just dk off and go away." By "they," Tibbetts means veterans affairs officials in Washington, D C By "we" he means what are left of the 42,000 American servicemen who were eye wit nesses to the most powerful force ever imfeafhed by humans on earth. It was called "Operation Crossroads," becauae even then, officials knew that once mankind ventured down the path of nuclear warfare, we would never be the same. Conducted in July 1946 on Bikini AtoU in the South Pacific, Operation Crossroads marked the second end third teats of the atomic bomb (if you don't count Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and tne first blasts tram which significant data would be collected on the effects of sudesr wcspoBs. After evacuating the population, a fleet of more than 20 shipa was anchored inside the ring of islands More than IQjOOO measuring instruments were jnataBrri on nearby shorelines, on observation ships and on the tar gets themselves. Gather at were aat up to take more than SO^OOO still phetomaphs and 1.5 mitlinn fact of movie film. Drone airplanes were uaed to collect data from aisidr the billowing muahroom clouds At age 17, Tibbetts waa one of the youngest in a fnrtiiMwH of IJ 55 Mninet .in' 1 * ? USS Mount McKinley, the flag ship of Vice Admiral WJLP. Blandy, commander of Operation Croaaroads. It was there, lyias face-down on the *ek Hm? TMmm* watched the ffcat of two atomic bombs ? designated -Able "You couldn't believe the flash," Tfobetts remem bers. Even eight miles away, he recalls finding the shock wave that npped away hundreds of tons of steel IDC HfUBU VC88Q0 DC8T QIC Q6BKT The Baker blaat 24 days later created a sight that was even more aweaome. This time the bomb wa ed 90 feet under water, ao there wasa't Instead, the explosion instantly [fniHN a 10-million ton column of water 2200 feet in diameter more than a mile into the air. T a. r in??(l ? *- - * - ? * S^ ? TImLm S - * - - (Jl IDC PMlCi CXpKJSKJo* you caa dearly see a full -sized hattfeahip on its end in the riaing water column. Other ships look Hke ?' - *? - - - ^ . i jf , I * . ? -a* a ? # * * - ji ? any toys, awaited oy me cylinder of rising water tnai * smt mooo ir accMuo* LEMOY TBSBETTS hath a fhotogrmfh of tkt ateomd of two wkmi r bomb blasts he 11 kmttmd om SOlimiAmfm im mjpw& would tend most of than to Ike bottom a few momoti ncaca." ikdocus rememocrs ons oc oorai notn me oocn floor niuBg down on the observation ship. The shock _* iL. ?-? ? - ? -*?_??..?. ^m.,| _n ?;#?_ ffr.? ?* oc me oust tmmcaiaieiy KUiea ui tee me sor gwiw around. What was left of the taiget fleet was drenched lie government's official historical wad of Operation Grossronds, published ? 1946, talks about MalXaal M 4? n - (SmAa ? - ? ? residual radioactivity as utxie more than a ?naanoe, and not the slow, silent killer it has sinoe been found to be. The rqport notes thst "This innocent-appearing but rndioocrivc water was auch a hazard, even after four days, that it was still unsafe for inspection parties to spend any useful length of time at the center of the tar Bs8 r"l^"~lf'r ayMf oCCuiiipMIiyUlg IOC icpoft, show servicemen "deccntami ra&ng" vessels by hosing them down with that same TLa - - - A* - - - - A " jl , _ L * ?MwpBf- I n? ownntw 5Q?5 B5S5 5SS VtftTJ "washed down and made free from harmful ladioactiv J|yft "We swam in thai water We in that water Vfe washed oar dothes in that water," TBsbetts said. He betievesejrposyre to the btaat itaelf and the resulting ra OjmmAwi Sit ID ulBZnC Jim ncy | CI 1 1 DCSuul Irf iH_r H? * If Hbbetts said his efforts to convince the government of that have largely fallen on deaf earn. When he re ported his condition to the Veterans Administration, they naturally recommended that he report to a VA hnsfntal for a compirte physical examination The doctor never even asked me to get undressed," Tibbetts said "They just asked me some questions, took my temperature, checked my blood pressure and weighed me. inen they toid me ail my problems were caused by smoking. "When I was in the service, it was the government that gave me the free cigarettes that got me smoking!" he said Since he began to suspect that his health problems might be associated with his days on Bikini Atoll, Tibbett said he has read everything he can get his hands on about other veterans with similar experiences. The trouble is, most of them are already dead, he said "Late one night I saw a documentary on TV ahrmt ? guy from Operation Crossroads who went on board the ipcusd a era ship after the Abie blast wearing oouiing but a pair of tennis shorts," Tibbetts said. TWenty-five years later he had to have his left leg amputated, then his right, then his hands. They finally admitted it was radiation just before he died in 1983." Recently, Tibbetts'fbund a classified advertisement from a veteran in Tfcxas who has filed a class-action lawsuit in connection with health problems be suffered since serving in Operation Crossroads. And Tibbetts said the local Veteran Service Officer Virgil Batten has been "very helpful" in getting him information and en tering him in the computer network that keeps track of such cases. Still, Tibbetts doesn't feel optimistic about getting Hie government In admit that it tnioht hav#? micharvfUH a military operation that happened a half century ago and a half a world away. There aren't many of us left to remind them," Tibbetts said. "And time is on their side." Diabetes Class Summer Session Begins June 8 The summer session of diabetes education classes at The Brunswick Hospital will begin Wednesday, June 8, and will take place from 7 until 9 p.m. in the hospital's conference room. The program educates diabetics about good nutri tion, exercise, eye care and foot care associated with the disease. It abo will focus on the stress and compii Classci are free and open to all diabetic* and family members involved in their care. Registered nurses from The Brunswick Hospital will teach the dames, which will continue for six weeks. Program participants will be invited to join the hos pital's Diabetes Support Group, which meets on the tint Monday or each month at 7 pan. in me Hospital conference room. The ? ?? .scheduled support group mrrting is June 6 with guest speaker Igor Westra, staff physician at Carolina Eye Associates Westra will speak on eye qjnditiuns related to dia ? ? ?*- ? _ * ?? - ? ?? ? * ? g-_ pqq. nc b a spmum m tj?prnc retmopatny, macular degeneration, retinal ocular tt? I and proliferative vitreofctinopathy, aiiwuig of tier eye ds For more information or space reservations, call Sherry Hendricksen, R.N., or Pat Nutter, R.N., at The Brunswick HospalaL 754-8121. Westra will speak on eye conditions related to dia ?- - ??- !, _ ' i* * a?_a_ ? - - ?? ? sL ? i ? ? ??.1.,, petes, tie a a specialist to qianmr rctmopemy, macular degeneration, retinal <faahiiitua, ocular tumors and proliferative vitreoretinopathy, among other eye dis For more information or space reservations, call Sherry Hendricksen, ILN., or Pat Nutter, ILN., at The Bnmswick Hospital, 754-8121. The Feminists Of The Animal World If the feminist movement has its counterpart in the animal world it probably it the sphids. Mos* of the 4,000 or more species of this ? common garden peat begin life na an egg laid near the bud of a plant like a roae. When spring comes and the sap rises, the bod begins to open and the rags hatch out only wingless females, fhese females dig their snouts into the bud and begin extracting the sap. Wuhis seven! days, these females give birth to live females, and after several days, they will also reproduce, bearing only female aphids. Each aphid may
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 2, 1994, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75