For years, these veterans tried to seek assistance and compensation from the Veterans Administration (VA). After leaving the armed services, many developed serious health complications, including cancer.
At that time, many of these servicemen did not know about the effects of radiation exposure and did not question if their health was at risk. Approximately 400,000 servicemen in the US Army, Navy, and Marines were present during these atmospheric tests, whether as witnesses to the tests themselves or as post-test cleanup crews. From 1946 to 1962, the United States conducted about 200 atmospheric nuclear tests-more than the other nuclear states put together at that time.
