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A member of Britain's nuclear test programme, which left those involved with long-term side effects including cancer, has hit out at a military committee which has refused to award medals to veterans.
The Advisory Military Committee - the body that looks into whether campaign medals should be issued - had carried out a two-year "investigation" into whether to honour Terry Quinlan and his colleagues.
Mr Quinlan, of Baywell, Leybourne, was doing his National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps, when he was posted to Christmas Island where Britain tested the Grapple X H-bomb in November 1957.
The bomb was detonated just above the ground at one end of the island atoll, while Mr Quinlan and his fellow servicemen were advised to sit on a beach at the other end with the backs to the blast and to close their eyes.
The bomb went off with an explosion equivalent to 1.8 megatons of TNT - it was 120 times more powerful than the the Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War.
Although Mr Quinlan and his colleagues were miles away from the point of impact, they were knocked over by the blast wave.
The servicemen had been issued with no protective clothing. Indeed in the blistering tropical heat, most were wearing nothing but shorts.
Mr Quinlan described a tremendous flash of light like an X-ray and a scorching heat on his back. He said: “I could see the bones in my hands.”
After a few brief minutes of horror, the servicemen were allowed to stand and watch as the mushroom cloud rose in the sky.
But the real horror was to come later as the soldiers suffered the effects of radiation.
Mr Quinlan said: "I spent two weeks in the sick bay with an unidentified illness, which of course now I realise was connected to the radiation."
He and his colleagues have also suffered long-term illness, particularly cancers, which sadly has also been passed onto the next generation. Research by the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association indicates that the children of test veterans were 10 times more likely to be born with birth defects than the average population.
Despite that, the Advisory Military Committee ruled that: "The key criteria for the award of a campaign medal is the exposure of deployed personnel to a significant degree of risk to life and limb, and to arduous conditions, in excess of what might be expected as part of normal service duties, whether deployed or in the home base.
"We have concluded that although the efforts of those involved in the campaigns should not be discounted, the cases did not meet the level of risk and rigour which is generally required for the award of a campaign medal."
Mr Quinlan, who went on to endure four more nuclear tests, said: "How they can say there was no risk or rigour is beyond me. I myself developed two tumours - the first when I was only 24 - and I'm only here today because of wonderful medical surgery.
"Many of my comrades died young, the wives of others had miscarriages.
"Even after that first explosion I was on the island for a year, travelling around in big trucks kicking up the dust which is sure to have been radioactive. Our drinking water was desalinated seawater, almost certainly also contaminated."
The nuclear veterans are doubly disappointed because after years of campaigning it had seemed almost certain they would be awarded a medal.
When the then Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had referred the issue of a medal to the Advisory Military Committee in 2019, he had said: “We must never forget their courage and bravery in contributing to keeping their country safe during the Cold War.”
The five-man independent committee is chaired by Dr Charles Winstanley who has been an officer in both the Regular and Reserve Army and is a former non-executive director of the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Quinlan, 81, believes the decision continues the general attitude of the MoD, which has always played down any risk to the servicemen involved and has disputed all claims for compensation.
He said: "I believe we were used as guinea pigs to see what the effects would be."
The British Nuclear Testing Programme ran between 1952 and 1967. It was the largest combined service military operation since the D-Day landings.
More than 20,000 servicemen took part in the weapons tests which gave Britain a place at the world superpower table. The UK is the only country involved in nuclear testing which has not recognised the contribution of its test veterans.
However, there is hope that MPs may yet persuade the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to over-rule the committee's decision.
Former Cabinet Office minister Sir Johns Hayes told the Sunday Express: "Given that the remaining servicemen, who are in the autumn of their lives, made huge sacrifices, the award of a medal is the very least their country owes them.”
An early day motion was also laid down in the House of Commons by back-bench MPs calling on the Government to re-think.
Mr Quinlan's own MP, Tom Tugendhat (Con), is among those known to support a medal.
He previously told KentOnline: "I have raised my support for Mr Quinlan and his courageous colleagues on several occasions and will continue to back their plight to get the recognition they deserve for such tremendous bravery and the sad price that they had to pay for it, with many suffering lifelong health complications as a result.
"I am sure I speak for many in the community in offering my personal thanks to Mr Quinlan and all the British Nuclear Test Veterans who experienced the tests, and hope their reward will come soon."
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