“We were patriotic Americans who believed our government when it assured us, “there is no danger.” Our government not only lied to us for decades, but considered us expendable. We have paid and continue to pay an enormous price. A government that knowingly harmed its own citizens has a moral responsibility to take care of those harmed.”

“That was my first introduction to cancer. Little did I know that additional occurrences would become commonplace in my small community of fewer than 10,000 people, where the incidences of cancer continue to be too numerous to count. I can tell you, however, that in my immediate family of four, every one of us was a victim of cancer.”

“The AEC chose the Nevada location because they considered the nearby inhabitants ‘a low use segment of the population.’ I was considered dispensable, part of an experiment and a Cold War victim. But really it was the entire country.”

“[My husband] John was the 13th member in his family to die from cancer. His mother died from uterine cancer and his father died from complications of colon cancer. He lost aunts, uncles, cousins, and his brother-in-law. His sister had colon cancer [and] is the only family member of that generation to survive. There is now a genetic factor involved where cancer is being passed down through generations.”

“The earliest memory that I have…was sitting on my father’s knee, moments before dawn and watching an A-bomb go off. I was about three years old. It scared me very much, and that’s a fear I guess that never left…there’s a stamp. I always called from childhood on, the bomb, the testing, ‘the demon.’”

‘‘As a former underground and surface mine worker for UNC, I worry about my health daily. I am not and never have been a smoker, but in the past several years, I have developed breathing difficulties. My doctors cannot find anything specifically wrong with me, but they have alluded to asthma and high blood pressure. I will also mention that as a kid, I played on the big piles of ore and mine waste across the road from our home, unaware of the dangers.’’

“My daughter was born with defects that could not be repaired with a simple surgery. She had to have 5 surgeries before she was 4 years old to build the hips she was born without. The professional medical people that were responsible for her surgeries and recovery convinced me that over exposure to radiation was the cause of her birth defect and I quit working in uranium that day.”

‘‘I have sleep apnea, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, a kidney transplant from kidney failure, arthritis, and diabetes. I tire very easily and must be careful not to overexert myself which does not allow for a quality in life. The medications I must take daily are a staggering amount, there are just too many to list.’’

“We were never told the extent of the 66 nuclear detonations… We were all young. We got to the Marshall Islands and it was beautiful.

You can’t see the danger, you can’t smell it, taste it. ... We just did what they told us.”

This short documentary shares the harrowing experiences of veterans that participated in above-ground nuclear tests in Nevada, and then were sworn to secrecy for decades.

“It haunts me to think of what I had witnessed and not realized at the time the import of what we were doing…actually serving as guinea pigs.”

“When she was dying, I promised my daughter I would never give up advocating for the abolition of nuclear weapons. At 98, I admit I’ve slowed down a bit, but I hold out hope our elected officials can come together to do the right thing. By extending and expanding RECA, our government can take an important step towards rectifying the harms caused by U.S. nuclear weapons.”