Dave Whyte has spent decades fighting for justice. His fight continues, despite the obstacles put in his way by the Ministry of Defence in the UK. In his words:
One expects to obtain the truth from all Government Departments when asking questions under the ‘Freedom of Information Act, but truth is the last thing found.
As a Nuclear Veteran, I realised the most important information regarding this issue, was the ‘Radiation Levels’ received by the Troops attending these experimental tests of Nuclear Weapons.
I was at Christmas Island, and most of my evidence comes from the experimental tests carried out on the Island. I have no doubt there are many horrific stories to be told regarding the other Nuclear Test sites.
I started by asking questions relating to the radiation levels at ‘Ground Zero’, this is the area directly under the detonation of the suspended bomb. I did not receive a proper reply to this question. I raised the question again and received a document labelled GZ/12/RM which was taken from document ES1/602, the interim report for Operation Grapple.
This document showed the level of Radiation depreciation over a period of 150 hours but did not reveal the levels of radiation.
I received this document around the 1st March 2008. I continued to send in Freedom of Information Questions requesting radiation levels and finally received a report dated 11 January 2012 from a Mr Andrew Tranham which stated: You have been informed that in addition to being vexatious on the subject of film badges and the graph ES1/602, section 14(1) now applies to any future requests for the following information
· Numbers of those surviving who took part in Christmas Island tests
· Information about a “covert medical research programme”
· The tasks allocated to participants in the tests;
Tranham is supposedly a “Civil Servant” yet, he is denying, or being forced to deny, the supply of information which could help in obtaining satisfaction for our problems.
I decided to take the matter up with the ”Freedom of Information Commissioner” and a “First Tier Tribunal was held regarding my request for radiation levels at Ground Zero after Operations Pennant and Burgee. The expert witness that the Ministry of Defence produced, wrote 18 pages, which was mainly ‘drivel,’ on how to prepare graphs. To cut a long story short, the Judge agreed with me and I received the documents requested. The Judge also discovered that the AWE had sent a reply to my Freedom of Information Question, to the Ministry of Defence, but Tranham refused to send the reply and stated he did not have the information requested, and did not know anyone who did.
I received an apology from a Simon Marsh, Head of Corporate Information regarding the refusal by the Ministry of defence to answer my question. I attach a copy of this letter.
This shows that Tranham was not doing his job properly.
The other prolific ‘LIAR’ that I wish to ‘OUT’ is Mr R Cockerill, supposedly the ‘Dosimetry Manager’ at AWE.
Mr Cockerill has stated that the maximum radiation dose I received throughout my entire tour of Christmas Island, totalled ‘2.4 mSv. Does Cockerill know, the average radiation dose for an individual living in the UK is on average 2.4 mSv per year? Is he saying that I received ‘No Radiation’ from the THREE HYDROGEN AND TWO ATOMIC BOMBS detonated during my tour of duty? I was ordered to enter the area of Ground Zero TWO HOURS after the detonation of the two Atomic bombs Pennant and Burgee. I was denied any protective clothing or respirators throughout my tour of duty at Christmas Island.
As a Dosimetry Manager, Cockerill would have had access to all the information stored in their archives why, did he not look? In the document ES1/602 it clearly gives the radiation level 1 ½ hours after the detonation of Pennant Atomic Bomb as 1 Roentgen = 10 mSv and Burgee Atomic Bomb as 1.6 Roentgens = 16 mSv. Why did Mr Cockerill fail to discover this fact? was he ‘LYING’ or was he told the radiation levels he had to report?
This letter:
states there were no ‘Bunkers’ what do they think is shown on in this image:
This was the bunker situated at the Ground Zero for both the Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. The Atomic bomb bunker had FIVE OR SIX instruments inside. One can only wonder at the lies told regarding it being a CUBE and made of Steel. This bunker is made of Iron and is Rectangular. It is stated that the instruments were placed in the open air in instrument Lane 1. What rubbish! Everything was atomised in the area of ground zero, I know, I WAS THERE!
I have named ‘TWO BLATANT LIARS’ what action will be taken against them?
We go from LIARS TO APHONY. When Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, I had a great deal of respect for him as he came from my home town of KIRKCALDY. I had expected him to be truthful and straight forward regarding my pleas for information relating to the Nuclear Experiments. I wrote THREE LETTERS to him, October and December 2009 and February 2010. I am still waiting for a reply or an acknowledgement. When I received no reply to my letter sent in October to No 10 Downing Street I surmised he may not have received my letter. I have come across this on numerous occasions. The December letter, I posted in the letterbox of his constituency office as he was in Kirkcaldy at the time.
I feel fairly certain that he would have seen this letter but refused to acknowledge. This appears to be a fault that all Prime Ministers appear to inherit on taking office.
We now come to letters received such as the letter dated 18 October 2013 in reply to my correspondence
complaining that my ‘Release Medical Certificate’ was a forgery. My letter was obviously not read correctly as Miss Vicky Reeds states ‘It is unclear from your letter whether you wish to pursue your allegation of forgery.’ This was the main reason for writing in the first instance, she then goes on to say ‘If you do wish to pursue it then a way forward would be for you to instruct a Solicitor (holding a practicing certificate and regulated by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority) to engage a handwriting expert to compare your signature with the alleged forgery. The Solicitor can then correspond with us directly and we will investigate further. Without this evidence we cannot proceed any further. One starts to wonder whether Miss Reeds is too young to know anything about the British Nuclear Experiments, or, due to age she has forgotten.
I could go on and on but will end with the letter from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition on 3rd December 2009, Mr David Cameron:
It is amazing what individuals say whilst in Opposition, as opposed to what they say in Power. I also sent a letter to Gordon Brown. Brown refused to respond, Cameron got his Secretary to answer, but, both did nothing to rectify this long standing matter.
I hope you enjoy reading this true extract and realise the deaths of many hundreds of Servicemen lay at the ‘MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DOORS’
David Whyte
Nuclear Veteran
Grapple ‘Y’ & ‘Z’
Christmas Island 1958
March 2021