A Moulton man who was made to sit through the explosions of five nuclear bombs has been talking about its effects on him and his daughter for a moving documentary.
Douglas Hern (83) is featured heavily in Arena – A British Guide to the End of the World which was screened on BBC Four last week and is currently available to view on BBC iPlayer.
In the programme, Douglas, who set up the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) charity, talks about how he was seconded to Christmas Island in the Pacific in 1957 aged 21.
He and several others initially had no idea why they had been taken there, but they were soon told to sit on a beach while a nuclear bomb was detonated just 19 miles out to sea.
It also touches on the fallout and how the tests affected Douglas, his comrades and their families.
Douglas’s story in particular takes prominence due to his daughter Jill having thought to have developed cancer at a young age and dying at just 13.
Douglas believes the around 12,000 x-rays he suffered led to Jill’s cancer, though calls through the BNTVA for nuclear veterans to be given an official apology by the British government have so far fallen on deaf ears.
There are plenty of people looking to tell their story with Douglas working with two authors on books and a Japanese led documentary, the makers of which hope will become a film.
On the Arena programme showing on IPlayer, he said: “It’s taken quite a while to make and I had no idea what they had in mind.
“All I can say is that it’s the most amazing piece of work and a real in-depth telling of our experiences.
“It took my by surprise at how it’s done it but it looks fantastic.
“People get the idea that we didn’t contribute to World War Two, but out World War has never finished – it’s still going on.
“The effect and distress is still there.”
In total 22,500 British people had nuclear tests carried out on them with Douglas saying there’s just 1,500 of them left.
That’s not including relatives such as Jill whose story also features in the documentary alongside Douglas.
“I’ve never found out what was wrong with her really,” he said. “All of the medical records disappeared so we couldn’t access them.
“I think what happened to us all needs to be exposed.”
Watch the documentary on iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000b1gn/arena-a-british-guide-to-the-end-of-the-world
