Nuke test veteran, 92, is first to get new medal - but not his blood records

23 September 2023 , 15:38

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Bob Last has been given a gong, but cannot get a copy of the blood tests taken while he was serving at the nuclear weapons tests

The first nuclear veteran to get his ‘Medal for Heroes’ beams with pride.

Poppy seller Bob Last, 92, waited 65 years to be acknowledged for his role defending Britain in the Cold War. He now has dementia, but is fully aware of the medal and what it means.

“He knows he has dementia. He never smiles. He has falls and other problems,” said daughter Sandie Catlin. “But when he opened the envelpe he was so chuffed, he just smiled and smiled. We haven’t seen him smile for so long. It’s getting that medal which made him happy for the first time in years.”

The nuclear test medal was approved by the King last November after a four-year Mirror campaign, in which the Ministry of Defence, three Prime Ministers, and a corrupted medal committee repeatedly refused to honour or even meet the men who served at the nuclear trials in Australia and the Pacific.

Bob, from Ipswich, was in the REME and worked as a mechanic at three atomic bomb tests codenamed Operation Antler in 1957.

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After national service he became a regular soldier, got married, and had two daughters. Sandie is in remission from her third type of cancer, her son has seizures, and her sister was born with curvature of the spine.

Nuclear veteran Bob Last beams with pride as he becomes the first nuclear test veteran to receive the new medal (Picture from the Last family)

The night-time explosion codenamed Taranaki, part of Operation Antler in Maralinga in 1957. The device was 25kt, larger than the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki (From the Nuclear Weapon Archive)

You can donate to help the Nuclear Test Veterans' fight for justice by clicking this link.

“My dad never spoke about it, because he was well,” she said. “After we started being ill, it just seemed too much of a coincidence. Now he talks about it all the time. That’s why the medal means so much. He'll be wearing it when he comes out selling poppies with me this year.”

More than 1,700 survivors have applied for the medal and are now checking the post every day for the parcel, but many are angry and disappointed that, after such a long wait, it's not being marked with an investiture-style ceremony with the King.

Rishi Sunak approved the medal soon after taking over, but has refused to meet heroes like Bob or his family, even though like dozens of others they have been refused access to blood tests that were taken from him during his service in Maralinga, South Australia.

The Mirror has uncovered repeated Whitehall orders that 100% of personnel on the range were supposed to have regular blood testing. Less than half Bob’s comrades were given an ineffective badge to measure external doses.

Sandie, 65, said: “He can remember blood being taken. He can remember everything about the tests, about watching the bombs and seeing the bones in his hands after the flash. We made a data protection request for his records, and all we got back from the Atomic Weapons Establishment were nine lines detailing his enlistment, service, and rank.”

The final design for the nuclear test medal, which is now being mailed to survivors and their families

The Last family are now considering whether to join the mass lawsuit launched this week, with other taking the MoD to the High Court to force it to hand over documents it claims do not exist.

In February this year, MoD veterans minister Andrew Murrison wrote to an MP claiming: “Although blood and urine tests were due to be conducted, the AWE does not hold any evidence that such tests ever happened.”

This week, AWE published a list of 150 documents with titles including “blood count data”, “blood examinations - personnel” and “blood counts at Maralinga”.

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Hundreds of people have signed up already, including dozens from Australia where there is growing outrage not only at the impact on servicemen, but that indigenous people were apparently subject to blood testing as well.

To join the case, email: [email protected]

You can donate to help the Nuclear Test Veterans' fight for justice by clicking this link.

Susie Boniface