Military records (Army & Air Force) destroyed in 1973 by fire

Why is it so hard to track down the names of the soldiers who were at Camp Desert Rock?

Overland, Missouri: "On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at NPRC (MPR) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The affected record collections are described below.
Branch.......Personnel....................................Estimated Loss
Army.........Personnel discharged 11-1-1912, to 1-1-1960..80%
Air Force....Personnel discharged 9-25-1947 to 1-1-1964...75%
(with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.)

No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Nevertheless, NPRC (MPR) uses many alternate sources in its efforts to reconstruct basic service information to respond to requests."

Studies: The National Personnel Records Center Fire: A Study in Disaster by Walter W. Stender & Evan Walker, October 1974

" * Some U.S. Army Reserve personnel who received final discharge as late as 1964
* Various U.S. Navy, United States Coast Guard, and U.S. Marine Corps records which were out of file and were caught in the section of the building which experienced the most damage in the fire.

The 1973 fire destroyed the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center. Damage from the fire can still be seen today. In 1974, a massive reconstruction effort was begun to restore the service records which were destroyed in the 1973 fire. In most cases where a military record has been presumed destroyed, NPRC is able to reconstruct basic service information such as military date of entry, date of discharge, character of service, and final rank.

In recent years, some conspiracy theorists have accused the Federal Government of intentionally starting the 1973 National Archives Fire as a cover to destroy unwanted military files, erase certain records from the Second World War, or to reduce budget costs by destroying a floor of an under budgeted federal building. Certain Veteran Organizations have also stated that the 1973 Fire did not happen at all, and that the explanation of a fire destroying millions of military records is a lie conceived by the Federal Government to cut costs and avoid public requests for the older military files. The National Archives and Records Administration, however, continues to formally state that the 1973 National Archives Fire did, in fact, occur although the exact cause, to this day, remains unknown."

VA Shred's Evidence of Radiation Claimants 2003

Wikipedia sources of the Nuclear bombing series

wiki: Operation Dominic I and II 1962, 105 (Christmas Island & Nevada) explosions

wiki: Operation Plowshare 1961-1973, (NM, NV, CO) explosions

wiki: Operation Nougat 1961, 45 (Nevada) explosions

wiki: Operation Argus 1958, 3 (south Atlantic) explosions

wiki: Operation Hardtrack I & II 1958, 72 (35 Marshall Islands, Johnson Island (I) & 37 Nevada (II)) explosions

wiki: Operation Plumbbob 1957, 29 (Nevada) explosions
Shot SMOKY, A Test of the PLUMBBOB Series, 8-31-1957, Fact Sheet pdf version more information about Smoky test

wiki: Operation Redwing 1956, 17 (Marshall Islands) explosions

wiki: Operation Wigwam 5-14-55, 1 under water (Marshall Islands) explosion

wiki: Operation Teapot 1955, 14 (Nevada) explosions

wiki: Operation Castle 1954, 7 (Marshall Islands) explosions

wiki: Operation Upshot-Knothole 1953, 11 (Nevada) explosions,

wiki: Operation Ivy 1952, 8 (Marshall island) explosions (1st hydrogen bomb)

wiki: Operation Tumbler-Snapper 1952, 8 (Nevada) explosions (4 daytime, 4 nighttime drops), video, study Shots Easy, Fox, George, and How

wiki: Operation Buster-Jangle 1951, 7 (Nevada: 6 atm, 1 underground) explosions, more information, Lieutenant General Joseph May Swing, Commanding General, 6th US.Army 1951-54, General Mark Clark, Chief of the Army Field Forces, Major General William "Bill" B. Kean Jr. "More than 1,000 paratroopers and infantrymen - most of them attached to the 11th Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky", Film Badge Dosimetry int Atmospheric Nuclear Test, studies, video

wiki: Operation Greenhouse 1951, 5 (Mujinkarikku Island) explosions

wiki: Operation Ranger 1951, 5 (Nevada) explosions

wiki: Operation Sandstone 1948, 3 (Marshall Islands) explosions

wiki: Operation Crossroads 1946, 2 (Marshall Islands) explosions

wiki: 2 (Japan) explosions: Little Boy 8-6-45, Fat Man 8-9-45, photos

wiki: Trinity test July 16, 1945 (New Mexico) Pu nuclear bomb

wiki: Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act), amended 1954, text, html

wiki: Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) 10-15-90

Thousand of American Soldiers lasting affects of the US atomic bomb.

My hopes in starting this site is give another collection of the soldiers' stories and the lasting effects on their bodies, their family, and genetic mutation after the USA dropped nuclear bombs a few miles from thousands of US soldiers at Camp Desert Rock (alias Area 22, Nevada Test site, Camp Mercury, [Operation Plumbbob, i.e. Shot Smoky]) Nevada in 1950s. Plus I hope to provide this as collection of resources available for research and my personal reflections upon the event and its legacy.

These veterans have remained silent because of the Atomic Secrets Act that was lifted 51 years later in 1996.

Websites about the Nuclear Testing:

1. Atmospheric Nuclear Testing at the Nevada Test Site 
2.  National Association of Atomic Veterans (Sageland, Houston, TX) history
3. Military & Veterans: Politics for the deserving: National Association of Atomic Veterans
4. Children of the Atomic Veterans
   
5. Atomic Testing Museum, video
6. Nuclear test database Johnston archive
7. What You Always Wanted To Know About Nuclear Weapons But Were Afraid To Ask, Jeremy Bernstein 2009
8. Toxic Agents: Atomic Radiation Exposure
9. The Nuclear Vault: Resources from the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project
10. The Atomic Heritage Foundation- Veterans History Project
11. Nevada Test Site Oral History Project
    

    In December 1950, President Harry S. Truman approved the establishment of a continental nuclear proving ground 65 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada. Between 1951 and 1992, 1021 nuclear detonations took place at the Nevada Test Site - one-hundred explosions were in the atmosphere and 921 were underground.

Movie-Video:

1. The Atomic Cafe 1982
2. Trinity and Beyond 1995, "331 Atmospheric nuclear test from 1945-1962 until JFK signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty"
3. Youtube.com/nuclearvault

Photos:

1. Nuclear explosions
2. Camp Desert Rock closed in 1964

Studies:

1. Cancer among Military Personnel Exposed to Nuclear Weapons.
2.  The Five Series Study: Mortality of Military Participants in U.S. Nuclear Weapons Tests 2000
3. Timeline of radiation in the 1950-1960s
4. Effects of Nuclear Testing
5. Veterans' Advisory Board for Dose Reconstruction
6. Department of Energy report on nuclear tests from July 16, 1945 to 1992
7. Indeterminism and the contrastive theory of explanation by Petri Ylikoski, pg 6, discusses radiation, leukemia, Smoky)
8. Analysis of Radiation Exposure for Task Force WARRIOR-Shot SMOKY-Exercise Desert Rock, VII-VIII Operation Plumbbob 1979
9. Mortality and Cancer Frequency Among Military Nuclear Test (Smoky) Participants-Reply by Caldwell et al, JAMA 1984; 627

   We agree that leukemia appears with a latent period between two and 20 years and that the latent period for solid cancers probably exceeds 15 years from the time of radiation exposure. Although we reported a statistically significant increase in the occurrence of leukemia in the Smoky participants, the latent period exceeds 15 years for 63.6% of the cases, as shown in the Table.

book:

1. Exposure to radiation
2. Exercise Desert Rock VII and VIII
3. The Atomic Frontier: Atmospheric Testing in Nevada, The Two Sides By Julie Etchegaray
4. Atomic Midnight by Ken Nightingale
5. Film Badge Dosimetry in Atmospheric Nuclear Tests

Pro bomb propaganda: "I'm not Afraid of the A-Bomb" By Captain Richard P. Taffe 1-26-52