| Re: [GMCnet] Any atomic testing Vets in the list? [message #233546] |
Fri, 20 December 2013 15:44  |
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ljdavick
Messages: 3548
Registered: March 2007
Location: Fremont, CA
Karma: -3
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Senior Member |
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Funny you ask. One of my high-school buddy's father was in the 82nd Airborne in the late 50's, here in the States. He would volunteer for whatever was available, since you'd almost certainly get leave afterward. One thing he volunteered for was ground zero testing in the desert of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, somewhere I don't remember. They were told to sit in their ditch until they got the go-ahead and then march toward ground zero. They were told to look away from the blast - he remembers looking at the hills and seeing more brilliant colors than he had ever seen before - it was beautiful. Then as they marched in they were greeted by scared rabbits and little else.
Later in life, he must have been in his 50's, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This was successfully removed, though he lost the hearing in one ear and his tear ducts no longer work in one eye.
He's as tough as any Airborne soldier and quite probably too proud to take anything from anyone. I wonder if I could persuade him to do this for his grandkids...
By the way - he loves our GMC!
Larry Davick
Fremont, California
A Mystery Machine
'76 (ish) Palm Beach
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Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, Ca
Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Dizzy
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| Re: [GMCnet] Any atomic testing Vets in the list? [message #233549 is a reply to message #233546] |
Fri, 20 December 2013 16:16  |
Robin Hood
Messages: 1078
Registered: April 2011
Karma: 3
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Senior Member |
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Larry, check with your buddies father.
If we can confirm that he participated in the test, and if we can confirm a
diagnosis of a brain tumor, then he would probably want service connection
and VA benefits.
There is also a separate pot of money where the government makes a lump
some payment of $75,000 or $100,000. Now we offset that with the VA
benefits, but for a lot of guys in makes more sense to take the lump sum
all at once.
A lot of veterans of the atomic testing are not aware of that lump sum
payment that is available. It's also available to widows if the Vet didn't
claim it well he was alive.
On Friday, December 20, 2013, Larry Davick wrote:
> Funny you ask. One of my high-school buddy's father was in the 82nd
> Airborne in the late 50's, here in the States. He would volunteer for
> whatever was available, since you'd almost certainly get leave afterward.
> One thing he volunteered for was ground zero testing in the desert of
> Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, somewhere I don't remember. They were told to
> sit in their ditch until they got the go-ahead and then march toward ground
> zero. They were told to look away from the blast - he remembers looking at
> the hills and seeing more brilliant colors than he had ever seen before -
> it was beautiful. Then as they marched in they were greeted by scared
> rabbits and little else.
>
> Later in life, he must have been in his 50's, he was diagnosed with a
> brain tumor. This was successfully removed, though he lost the hearing in
> one ear and his tear ducts no longer work in one eye.
>
> He's as tough as any Airborne soldier and quite probably too proud to take
> anything from anyone. I wonder if I could persuade him to do this for his
> grandkids...
>
> By the way - he loves our GMC!
> Larry Davick
> Fremont, California
> A Mystery Machine
> '76 (ish) Palm Beach
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
--
Robin Hood
Jackson, MS
2013 Subaru Outback "Top Flight"
1968 Pontiac Catalina "The Cheshire Cat"
1978 GMC Royale motorhome "Pinto Bean"
1977 GMC Palm Beach motorhome "Barn Queen"
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