Doug Hern and I were friends. We went to the same school in Donington and in the same year.
Dougy always had a cart load of things to swap.
After leaving school, Doug joined the Royal Navy, me the Royal Marines.
Several years later, I was walking towards the dockyard gate and in the distance I saw a soldier approaching.
It was Dougy and we virtually bumped into each other so we turned back towards the Guildhall and went into the Trafalgar Club at the top of the road, where he told me of his experiences with an atom bomb.
I was several minutes listening before I realised what he was talking about. So I stopped him and said: “You mean to tell me that our elected government at the time sent 2,000 personnel to watch an atom bomb go off and then make you sign the official secrets act so you could not defend yourselves in court or get compensation? What about human rights?”
Because military law is subject to civil law I wonder what would happen if they tried that today?
As far as I know, human rights were about in those days.
Frank White
Spalding
