I chose this book of Dianne's to talk about instead of A Brief History of Male Nudes in America, short stories, just because I feel part of the whole Downwinder problem. I read this book before I purchased it. The big problem with Cancer is that you don't know exactly where it came from, so you can't go out and sue the world. Ranchers and sheepmen knew what was happening when cattle and sheep died, but proving it to the very ones that thought it all right to bomb the hell out of Utah, was very difficult. I certainly relate to the anger felt by so many and still suffer. When I finished radiation and chemo, the numbers coming into the St. George Cancer center had tripled in just that period of time. I hear it's higher now. All those who drank radiated milk and ate the food ash fell on are now going through cancer. How long it will affect the land...plutonian? Generations still. I'ts hard to believe that our government would bomb the hell out of us just to find out how bad a nuclear war could be. As if Hiroshima wasn't enough. Dirty Harry was three times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
My sister LaRae, who died of ovarian cancer. actually worked for a time at the test site. So did my brother-in-law, Pole. Both died of Cancer in their fifties.
So many others have joined them.
This book, though a novel, is timely with some facts about the testing that are very true. Diane and her husband did an excellent job. The story line, about a murder, only brought out the facts of many more murdered.
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Ooh, this is scarey stuff. I did not happen to be in southern Utah when this all happened. I don't know where I was but I saw cancer eyed cows and read stuff about rashes and burns in western southern Utah that raised the hair on my neck. I know they even shipped dirt from the movie site where the fall out was to Hollywood to finish the movie and about all the major stars later died of cancer, including John Wayne. They got test happy before they even really knew what the fallout might be. And as a result all you "downwinders."
ReplyDeleteOne guy kept track of everyone that worked on the movie as well as set guys, camera men.. 360 people. In this book 180 had died...and counting. I heard later that 80% that worked on the film died of cancer. I think a few stragglers lived on.
ReplyDeleteI read another book on this subject that had even more deadly facts. He was a pilot who was hired by the government to follow the mushroom cloud to record where they came down. Some of them went a long ways. He got so disturbed about his reports never surfacing that he wrote a book, BOMBING UTAH...or something like that. That gal in Boulder who has MS said her and her brother went out and played with the silver dust that came down, before she was afflicted with her MS. and that was in Salt Lake. Our government didn't know...just like they didn't know that all those depleated urainum rockets would cause gulfwar syndrome. Sorry soldier. Grown men and they toys need to be put on a lease. We need to get a women running the country.
ReplyDeleteSo glad both you and LeFair were downwinder survives. It all seemed so strange at the time. The government ignoring everything bad and pushing right on. I remember when I was fourteen and they were just beginning tests. A whole herd of sheep died and I thought that was enough of an indication that they should stop immediately. glad you finally missed my entries. I wrote a lot for the family site but lost it all as it wouldn't post. My blog was fine though so peruse it.
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