By Fred Hagstrom
[Albuquerque, New Mexico:] Strong Silent Type Press, 2023. Edition of 20.
8 x 10"; 30 pages. Printed in intaglio from polymer plates. Printed on Anigoni papers. Ariel Rounded MT Bold for text font. Codex binding with cloth boards. Illustrated pastedowns. Includes bibliography with data and photo sources. Signed and numbered by the artist.
Fred Hagstrom: "''This book is about the experience of the ‘nuclear vets’, service members exposed to radiation during nuclear bomb testing."
Introduction: “Between 1945 and 1980, the US, USSR, UK, France, and China carried out more than 500 atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons totaling the explosive equivalent of 440 megatons of TNT. These tests injected radioactive material into the atmosphere, much of which were widely dispersed before being deposited as fallout. Cancer investigators have been studying the health effects of radioactive fallout for decades.
“The US conducted 196 atmospheric tests, with 86 in Nevada. The largest in the US was the Hood test on July 5, 1957, detonated from a balloon at 15,00 feet and 74 kilotons.”
Excerpts: “Government figures estimate between 400,000 and 550,000 American military personnel participated in a variety of nuclear tests between 1946 to 1992.
“The service members were told to never speak of their experience in the nuclear tests- even to each other or to close family. It could be punishable as treason
“Darrel Robertson, Army – ‘As I placed those gloves over my eyes and sat there and when it went off, I thought, this is odd, I think I see the bones in my fingers.’
“Jim Dangerfield, Army - We were just like an experiment animal that you’d use in a lab. And I think a lot of my lumps and that, these nodules I have had taken out of my body is due to that. I’ve had more than 30 taken out. They knew everything that was gonna happen and what danger was involved in it, and they are just hoping you all die before they have to do anything.”