The forgotten heroes of Britain’s nuclear tests will get their long-awaited medal this summer, it has been confirmed.
Parliament was told today, Friday, that applications will open by the end of March.
It means the forgotten veterans will finally get official recognition for their service 71 years after they helped develop the UK’s first atomic bomb.
Veteran’s son Alan Owen, who has led the medal campaign, said: “It is wonderful to know the veterans will be able to pin it on their chests before the next Remembrance Sunday.
“The tragedy is that it has come too late for more than 20,000 men who died, ignored by their governments, of radiogenic disease or in despair at the effects of radiation on their families. The medal means a lot, but we continue to campaign for war pensions, education, research, and an apology.”
Plans for how the medal will look are underway and the Ministry of Defence has been asked to include the late Queen in its design.
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Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)
The Mirror test veterans campaign
The Mirror first revealed high cancer rates and birth defects among test vet families in the early 1980s.
Around 22,000 men took part in 45 nuclear explosions and 593 radiation experiments in Australia, America and the South Pacific between 1952 and 1991.
Studies show survivors have the same rate of genetic damage as clean-up workers at Chernobyl. Radiation is capable of causing disease, death, and birth defects in all living things.
The MoD insists it experimented on weapons, not personnel.
Today we publish damning evidence the nuclear test veterans WERE atomic guinea pigs.
Steve Purse, whose RAF dad David was in charge of the airfield at Maralinga in South Australia where 600 toxic radiation experiments were conducted in the 1960s, said: “My father is long since passed away but he signed up to serve Queen and country, so it’s vital she is on it.
“It’s right the King is on there, he’s signed it off, but if his mum’s not on it, the medal would be missing something very important to a lot of veterans.”
Britain became a nuclear power in 1952, a few months after the late Queen came to the throne, and the medal was finally announced last November, just two and a half months after she died.
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Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)
We will remember vital chapter of UK history
By Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer
At the height of the Cold War, troops, scientists and civilian staff sailed to the other side of the world. Many of them did not know the true purpose of their mission, so secret the operation that they were about to witness.
Today, 70 years on, we remember this sometimes forgotten chapter of our nation’s story.
At a time when nuclear technology was in its infancy, Britain needed its own defensive shield. Thanks to the courage of our veterans, and the ingenuity of British science, we have a nuclear deterrent that still keeps our country, and our NATO allies, safe and secure today.
We all owe our nuclear test veterans an enormous debt of gratitude. I salute not just their courage but their determined campaign – brilliantly supported by their families and publicised by The Mirror – for recognition of their vital contribution to Britain’s post-war history.
It has been a privilege and an honour for me to hear from many nuclear veterans about their experiences during Operation Hurricane and the many other operations since. Their accounts are both humbling and, at times, harrowing.
As your readers may know, I served in the Army in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2010. My driving reason for getting into politics is because I was deeply unhappy with the level of veterans care that this country offered, particularly at government level.
So I want to take this opportunity to say that this government is absolutely determined to ensure that the sacrifices made by these heroes and their families remain firmly at the forefront of our nation’s history and memories.
On Monday, at a ceremony at the National Memorial Arboretum, we brought together nuclear test veterans and their families to thank them for their unique and significant achievements.
The event was always going to be a special occasion. But the reaction of the veterans to the Prime Minister’s announcement that they will be awarded a medal for their service, is something that will live with me forever.
I know that this is a campaign which veterans, their families, and this paper have felt strongly about for many years. It was incredible to see the elation, applause and raw emotion of veterans and their families to the news of the medal and to see their contribution being recognised at such an event.
This medal will be a lasting symbol of their sacrifice and I look forward to meeting veterans wearing the medal with pride in the future.
This doesn’t stop here. Through the Office for Veterans’ Affairs we are creating both an oral history, and an accessible digital archive, to chronicle the voices of those who supported the UK’s work to develop a nuclear deterrent.
In this two year-project, which starts next year under a leading historian, veterans will be able to record their experiences and testimonies – creating a lasting national memory.
There could be no more fitting legacy nor tribute more richly deserved.
Lord Watson of Wyre Forest has echoed the call, writing to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace pointing out that when Arctic Convoy veterans received their medal in 2012, it broke tradition to include the cipher of her father, George VI, to mark the fact they served under him.
Lord Watson, who hosted test veterans in Parliament as part of the campaign, said the King’s suggestion of an “investiture-type” ceremony was ideal and “the veterans would be delighted to be so fussed over, and deserve nothing less”.
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Phil Harris)
Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer: ‘Nuclear test veterans kept Britain safe – now we will commemorate their unique service’
Last year, I had the honour of seeing the joy of veterans of Britain’s nuclear testing programme, when the Prime Minister announced that they will receive a medal for their service, 70 years after the first British test of a nuclear weapon.
On that rainy November day at the National Memorial Arboretum, we shone a light on this previously-unheralded group of former service personnel and staff who made such a significant contribution to this country’s security.
It’s often forgotten that some 22,000 service and civilian personnel served far from home, in Australia and Kiribati in the South Pacific, between 1952 and 1967, along with others from the Commonwealth.
They were involved in Britain’s nuclear testing programme, and subsequent clean-up operations. Their service is unique. They worked behind the scenes on the development of our nuclear deterrent, which remains the cornerstone of our security, and that of our NATO allies, to this day.
In the coming weeks we’ll be publishing information on how veterans and civilians who worked on the tests, and their next-of-kin, can apply for the Nuclear Test Medal.
But our commitment to recognising this unique service does not end there.
Today, the Office for Veterans Affairs is inviting bids to the Nuclear Test Veteran Community Fund. It will provide money to help memorialise, provide educational activity or deliver support for this community, demonstrating our nation’s enduring gratitude.
The £200,000 fund will allow charities and organisations across the UK to bid for up to £70,000 each for community-led initiatives.
I encourage anyone who is interested in this area and has ideas to bring, on how we continue to recognise and remember this special cohort, to consider bidding.
More than 70 years on since the first British nuclear test, I’m in no doubt that nuclear test veterans played a critical role in keeping Britain and her allies safe and secure. The reality is that the product of their service protects us every hour of every day, and this fund will help ensure the wider public can learn about and remember their service.
No longer the forgotten veterans, their service should and will be remembered.
He added: “After 70 years, the veterans deserve their medal to be delivered with all the pomp the British state can attach to it.”
Junior defence minister Andrew Murrison said yesterday the medals “are expected to be available in summer 2023. He added: “There is a long-established process to design, procure and produce a new medal and collectively this process takes some months.”