Nuclear security

We were guinea pigs: Documentary puts Atomic Veterans in limelight

In 1958, Frank Farmer was a young sailor on the USS Hooper Island, one of many deckhands who took part in an operation so secret, they couldn’t talk about it for almost 40 years.

Afloat in the Pacific, the ship participated in Operation Hardtack I, a series of 35 nuclear tests conducted in the throes of the Cold War arms race with the Soviet Union. Farmer personally witnessed 18 of the explosions.

“You feel the heat blast from it, and it’s so bright, you actually can see your bones in your hands,” Farmer said in a new documentary highlighting the service of thousands U.S. troops who participated in nuclear weapons testing from 1946 to 1968.

The “Atomic Vets” installment of Retro Report, released on Memorial Day weekend, is a collaboration of Reveal News, from the Center for Investigative Reporting and The New York Times.