The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Nuclear weapons test veteran Dougie Hern is delighted with a £25million fund for victims and descendants – but wants none of the money himself.
Dougie Hern
Moulton couple Dougie and Sandie lost youngest daughter Jill to a rare form of cancer at the age of 13 and Dougie has suffered health problems. Both occurrences he attributes to the effects of his involvement in the testing.
Dougie (78) said: “This fund is for people in far more need than me.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got health problems but they have not decimated my life.”
He added: “I’m very pleased [with the fund]. There’s an awful lot of health problems affecting veterans and their families.”
Ex-Royal Navy cook Dougie flew to Christmas Island off the coast of Australia on his 21st birthday in 1957. In the 12 months he was there he witnessed five major weapons tests including hydrogen bombs Grapple X and Z.
About 22,500 people were involved over the 15-year testing period, with around 3,500 still surviving.
In Royal Naval uniform in 1957.
The charitable fund was announced in last month’s Budget. South Holland and the Deepings MP John Hayes met British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association officials in Downing Street last week to discuss running the fund.
Mr Hayes, who worked with MP John Baron on the veterans’ campaign, said: “The Prime Minister was really committed to this, and he and the Chancellor drove it [provision of the fund].”
Mr Hayes said he had learnt much from Mr Hern’s “passion and expertise”.
“The thing that touched my heart about this was that these were people who were simply unaware of what they were getting into,” he said.
“Given what we now know about radiation, even though that it might not have been a cynical move, the whole test programme was to find out what a nuclear weapon would do.”
Dougie thanked Mr Hayes for supporting his campaign since the MP moved into Moulton before being elected in 1999.
Dougie has collaborated on a 90-minute film documenting the effects of the nuclear weapons testing.
Nobody Told Us Anything (rating PG) is being shown at Stamford Arts Centre on Sunday, April 12, at 2pm, and will be followed by a question and answer session.
