Military News
Radiation Exposure and Liver Flukes: Little-Known Veterans' Issues Get Attention in Congress
7 May 2021
Military.com | By Patricia Kime
When Robert Celestial arrived on Lowja Island in the Marshall Islands' Enewetak Atoll in 1977, he was given a shovel and gloves and told to get to work. Like his fellow troops, he waded into the muck at the bottom of an atomic bomb crater and began digging.
He was dressed in shorts.
"We were young soldiers. We didn't know what we were doing," Celestial told Military.com last year. "So many of my friends have passed away."
Since at least 2018, Celestial has worked for passage of the Mark Takai Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act, a bill that would recognize hundreds of veterans who participated in decontamination and containment work in Enewetak from 1977 to 1980 as "atomic veterans."
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/05/07/radiation-exposure-and-liver-flukes-little-known-veterans-issues-get-attention-congress.html
