New documentary tells the story of nuclear weapons tests around the world

27 October 2023 , 17:11

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Nuclear test veteran Terry Quinlan is featured in a new documentary uniting victims of nuclear testing worldwide

Britain's nuclear test veterans are among the stars of a new documentary telling their full story for the first time.

A Thousand Cranes by Canadian filmmaker Daniel Everitt-Locke compares the legacy of trauma and illness for ex-service personnel with that of civilian 'downwinders' in the US and indigenous people in the Pacific, who all report similar health impacts and. birth defects in their children.

It will be the first time the veterans' story has been on a global stage, with international TV commissioners reportedly already interested in screening the documentary once completed.

But after dozens of interviews and 18,000km of travel, the project may stall without a £100,000 injection to finish the job.

Daniel has sunk £24,000 of his own money into the work done so far, but more is needed to enable the crew to film in Australia and the Pacific and bring on an editor to knock the documentary into shape.

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He said: "This will be the first work of its kind to take a full global look at the impact of nuclear testing on communities worldwide. Our ethos with this film has always been the importance of firsthand accounts. Stories are what make changes in society."

They also hope to travel to Kazakhstan to speak to victims of Russian nuclear testing, including those who took part in the 1961 Tsar Bomba explosion which, at 50 megatons, was the most powerful weapon ever fired on Earth.

Indigenous communities at testing locations worldwide all report - as do service veterans in the UK - a horrifying genetic legacy of cancers, blood disorders, birth defects and infant mortality. The documentary would be the first time they have all been on camera together.

* You can donate to the film here

New documentary tells the story of nuclear weapons tests around the world

Operation Mosaic veteran Roger Grace, of Saltash, Cornwall, is interviewed for the documentary

Terry Quinlan, a veteran of Operation Grapple in 1958, speaks at his home in Leybourne, Kent

Interviewees include Brian Unthank, of Erith, Kent, a RAF chef who witnessed three nuclear weapons at Christmas Island. His wife later experienced 13 miscarriages, Brian lost all his teeth in his 20s after a series of oral haemorrhages, and 20 years of his annual medical records are missing from his military files.

Also featured are Terry Quinlan, an army driver who had a piece of radioactive shrapnel lodged in his chest for decades, and Roger Grace, a sailor on HMS Narvik ordered to take scientists into Ground Zero at the Montebello Islands a few hours after the explosion of a massive weapon of between 60 and 98 kilotons.

Their stories are featured alongside nuclear historians, indigenous people, US 'downwinders', and survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The documentary got its name from Japanese girl Sadako Sasaki, who was two years old at the time of the bombings and died of leukaemia a decade later. While in hospital, she heard that anyone who folded 1,000 paper cranes would be granted a wish. Her paper cranes became a symbol of world peace.

Daniel said: "If we don't reach our goal, unfortunately we will have to step back and reevaluate destinations and communities we will have to miss. Then we have to rely more on archival footage. This will reduce the impact of our piece, but will mean we can still finish the film, even in a worst-case scenario."

Filmmaker Daniel Everitt-Locke, right, and cameraman Rodrigo Borda, left

Survivor Brian Unthank demonstrates how veterans were ordered to ball their fists into their eyes during the flash of the nuclear weapons

Those who donate are rewarded with copies of the film, signed posters, and for larger donations can earn an executive producer credit.

Daniel said: "These communities have been fighting for decades for fair compensation and recognition, and this gives people a chance to be a major part of that.

"Millions of people are still suffering today, with minimal or no compensation, without apologies or acknowledgment. We can show governments that they cannot get away with such poor treatment of their own citizens, and we can have a positive impact on the current discussions on compensation for communities across the globe."