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Since he sailed with ships secretly testing chemical and germ arms for
Dugway Proving Ground, Frank Tetro says he has suffered memory
problems, severe headaches, boils, blisters and high sensitivity to
chemicals.
"The VA (Veterans Affairs Department) won't even believe that the
ships did that kind of work when I was on them," says Tetro of Eagle,
Idaho. Proving it is difficult because many ship documents are
classified. "So they haven't approved my disability claims."
Richard Smith of Hayfork, Calif., has had better luck. His skin cancer
appeared while he was in Dugway's secret navy. "Because the ships had
been targeted during atomic bomb tests in the Pacific, the VA approved
my claim" for partial disability from possible residual radiation.
Jack Alderson of Ferndale, Calif., also suffers from skin cancer he
suspects might be related to his participation in the tests. But that
isn't what worries him the most.
"I was the officer in charge of five tug boats assigned to the
project," he said. "The men I commanded could have an illness today
related to what they were exposed to. But no country doctor treating
them is going to know what to look for" because the military won't say
exactly what hazards they may have been exposed to.
Tetro, Smith and Alderson show the human consequences of Dug-way's
testing at sea - and how the continuing secrecy about that makes it
difficult for them to know if illnesses they suffer are related, and
makes it tough to receive VA benefits.
Tetro has been fighting the military and VA the longest - 13 years -
trying to prove his illnesses come from his Navy work and that he is
entitled to full service-related disability payments.
He notes he often helped scrape and paint the Granville S. Hall - the
flagship of Dugway's small navy that sailed through clouds of chemical
and germ agents to measure exposure and decontamination effects.
Documents obtained by the Deseret News show deadly nerve agents used
would often quickly bond to paint, and a major goal of the tests was
to find a way to prevent that.
"And I scraped that paint all the time," he said.
The Army also used germ agents that form spores that can survive years
in proper conditions. Tetro also may have been exposed to them as he
helped clean and decontaminate his ship.
"Ever since I served on the Granny (Granville Hall), I started getting
severe headaches, for one thing. I never had them before," he said. "I
also started getting large boils around the stomach and groin
about the time I got off the ship, and they've persisted to this day.
Nothing cures them up." he adds, "I get little white blisters on my
hands. I can't get next to chemicals at all because it gets me sick.
When they spray chemicals (on crops) in the valley, it instantly makes
my heart race. I've had to go to the emergency room several times. . .
.
I can't use some types of soaps because it makes me break out head to
toe."
Tetro was able to work for years after he left the Navy, but in 1983
he suffered a fall that banged his head at work - which his neuro-psychologist,
C. Dene Simpson of Boise, says "emotionally reopened the can of worms
as-soc-iated with his Shad Project (Dugway) experiences," and he has
not been able to work full-time since.
Simpson says Tetro suffers Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and "a
variety of well-established neurotoxic symptoms," possibly from the
at-sea testing, such as "depression, frequent headaches, irritability,
sleep problems, tension and nervousness."
Simpson added in a letter about Tetro, "Neurotoxicity (such as from
nerve agents) impairs the immune system function, causing many
individuals to develop a `fail to heal' condition" - which Tetro has
not only with boils but also incisions from surgery.
Despite Simpson's opinion, the VA has not given Tetro the benefits he
seeks and has not even acknowledged that he was exposed to nerve
agents or germ tests during his service.
Part of the problem is a letter written by the Army saying the at-sea
germ and chemical tests occurred from 1963 to 1965 - or before the
time Tetro served on Dugway ships from 1966 to 1968.
Other documents Tetro had managed to find about the ship were often
classified - and therefore did not provide the proof he needed.
So Tetro managed to win only a 30 percent VA disability by proving he
had been exposed to a "stressful" fire aboard the ship - recorded in
unclassified documents - which officials agreed might have contributed
to his ailments.
Tetro also wonders if the fire reached and spread chemical and germ
agents.
But the Deseret News has found new documents showing germ and chemical
arms testing with "secret" agents occurred when Tetro was aboard in
1966. The agents likely would not be classified as secret unless they
were somehow dangerous.
Also, other documents showed Dugway maintained a biological and
chemical liaison office in Hawaii in 1967 (and maybe beyond) to help
coordinate such testing in the Pacific.
Tetro said he will use such documents to again seek the VA pensions
he's been seeking. "I hope it will help," he said.
Somewhat luckier than Tetro was Smith - who had been the engineering
officer on the Granville Hall. He had medical records that showed he
developed skin cancer when he served on that ship.
When Tetro's research showed that the ship had been used in earlier
tests to pass through radiation clouds from atomic bomb tests in the
Pacific, Smith used it to apply for VA disability benefits contending
that residual radiation may have caused it.
"They gave me a 10 percent disability for scarring and lesions, but
nothing for recurring cancer," he said. He is refiling to try to
increase benefits by contending the germ and chemical tests during his
service from 1964 to 1968 also contributed to the cancer he still
fights.
During Tetro's years of fighting for benefits, he started to track
down shipmates - both for reunions and in hope that their statements
could help him.
Tetro said he found many beside Smith were suffering - or had died -
from cancer. He also said he found most were not willing to talk or
testify at all about the secret work because they had been warned
strongly not to do so when they left the project.
Alderson - the commander of the tug boats - is one who still will not
discuss any specifics of the once-secret work. But he too has skin
cancer and questions if it may be related to the testing.
He isn't concerned so much about the chemical and germ weapons used -
"they probably took all the precautions needed to protect us from
them," by keeping the crew in airtight, pressurized citadels or
protective suits during testing.
He's more worried about the chemicals used to decontaminate the ships
afterward. "While they may have been state-of-the-art in those days,
it's been alleged to me they may have been carcinogenic."
Virgil Hodges of Portland, Ore., who commanded the tugs after
Alder-son, said, "We just used what they gave us for decontamination.
We often didn't know what it was" - and they still don't (except that
some chlorine was used) because the information is still often
classified or not available.
Hodges and Smith add that some men question whether inoculations they
received for exotic diseases may also have caused problems later - and
said a few had bad reactions at the time.
They said many had no idea exactly what inoculations they received -
and many did not have it included in their health records. Tetro and
Alderson said most or all of their military health records have been
lost.
Alderson said, "I think that it's time for the federal government to
look at the health record of the people involved."
He wants the government to tell them what they were exposed to and
study whether their illnesses may be related. He says without such
information, local doctors may not have the information needed to
properly diagnose and treat ailments.
Archive article
Tetro, Alderson and Smith have written to several members of Congress
and even the Pentagon seeking such help - but often have received what
they describe as "bureaucratic responses" by promising to seek help,
but not delivering much.
Alderson said Rep. Frank Riggs, R-Calif., currently seems to be making
progress. But Mark Davis, an aide to Riggs, said it is office policy
not to talk about such matters until they are resolved - especially in
this case because it involves some past classified activities.
Norman C. LaChapelle of Memphis, Tenn., was a medical technician on
the Granville Hall and says he knows some of what the sailors were
exposed to - but says he's still under orders not to talk about it
unless cleared by the Department of Defense.
Says he has written the Army asking it to provide summaries of such
information to sailors, but never received a reply. "This information
would be beneficial to former members of Shad and Hall who are being
currently evaluated for medical problems," he told the Deseret News.
Alderson says he feels the sailors are owed such data.
"These were highly trained, skilled and handpicked crews. Not one tug
missed a commitment in three years" - even though those in his command
sailed on the high seas in tugs designed only for harbor duty.
"The stability problem was horrendous," Alderson said. "We would roll
60 degrees. . . . I had tug captains so seasick they would throw up
blood."
Alderson said the men may also have sacrificed promotions because of
secret work. For example, he said he was passed over for promotion -
and found his records listed three years of "unassigned" service in
the Pacific during the secret testing.
"That doesn't help your career much," he said.
Alderson added, "These men realized what was important and did it. In
return the nation needs to check on the condition of health of the
people involved now."
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