18 September 2023 , 19:58
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The nuclear test medal will be sent out in the post to survivors of Britain's Cold War radiation experiments this week.
The oldest living veterans will receive theirs first, and all 1,700 who have had their applications approved already can expect to receive their gongs by Remembrance Sunday.
But in yet another snub for the country's most mistreated heroes, the new Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has ignored requests for a meeting to discuss their evidence of crimes being committed by his department. They have already been told by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that he is too busy to meet them.
Campaigner Alan Owen said: "It is a calculated insult by the Ministry of Defence and political establishment, which had to be forced to look these men in the eye and, having had a medal wrung from them, want never to see any of us again."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak laid a wreath for test veterans last November, but has refused to meet campaigners to discuss the continuing scandal and cover-up (Reach Commissioned)More than 120 veterans and families are gathered for their annual reunion in Weston-super-Mare, where a press office team from the Office of Veterans' Affairs is visiting to create a slick social media video promoting an oral history project paid for by the government.
Out of touch Rishi Sunak doesn't regularly read papers or online news sites
But Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer has no existing plans to meet campaigners, and has blocked campaign group Labrats on Twitter.
Meanwhile Mr Shapps has not acknowledged their requests for a meeting to discuss the nuked blood scandal.
Earlier this year, the King let it be known he was leaving space in his diary for an "investiture-type" ceremony, but one has never been arranged.
The Mirror revealed 10 months ago that scientists were taking blood tests from servicemen and civilians at the weapons trials, and the data was being withheld from their service medical records when they request them for pension claims. We reported in July on 200 pages of archive documents containing blood tests, and top brass discussions about how, when and why the tests would be conducted.
Yet Parliament has been told repeatedly that no such blood data exists in the MoD or the Atomic Weapons Establishment, one of its agencies.
Around 50 nuclear veterans will march at the Cenotaph this year, but some are not sure if they will want to wear the medal when it arrives.