Thread by @fleetstreetfox

Today is important.

At 0857 on November 8, 1957, an RAF Valiant bomber dropped a carefully-prepared device of explosives, uranium-235, plutonium, beryllium and lithium deuteride, on the southern tip of Christmas Island in the South Pacific.

#missingmedal 🧵

The explosives detonated, the beryllium tamper compressed the blast wave and forced it back inwards, and the atoms of uranium and plutonium were split with a force equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT.

Britain had just gone thermonuclear.

There were thousands of British troops on the island, at the most 20 miles from the blast and some around 6 miles.

Others were ok ships at sea, where the top brass were keeping a safer distance on HMS Cossack.

The 500 islanders were huddled under blankets on the beach.

The blast was bigger than planned, and it destroyed equipment, helicopters, and buildings.

The rubble was bulldozed into pits. The helicopters were put on board ship and dumped in the deep ocean.

The islanders, and the troops, stayed on the island.

In the years that followed Christmas Island saw five more bomb tests. Grapple Y, the biggest, was 3 megatons. It remains the most powerful weapon Britain has ever fired.

The islanders and the troops began falling ill. They got cancer. Wives miscarried. Their children got cancer.

In 1962, the US asked for and received permission to detonate some of its own bombs at Christmas Island. Operation Dominic saw 24 nuclear bombs in just over two months.

The combined nuclear yield was 38 megatons.

(Sorry earlier tweet should read Grapple X was 1.8 mt)

British troops were sent to take part in Dominic, too.

Then came clean ups. Buildings and equipment were buried or dumped at sea. But today, the island - now known as Kiritimati - is still littered not just with modern plastic, but rusting oil drums and vehicles from the tests.

The areas used for blasts still contain vitrified sand, and here, the anchors that held the balloons below which the Grapple Z bombs were suspended.

Kiritimati islanders still suffer not only from radiation, but poverty and climate change. It’ll be the first place to go when the oceans rise.

Of the 22,000 troops who took part in UK nuclear weapons testing in America, Australia and the South Pacific, only 1,500 or so survive.

Studies show they have suffered great illness, death, and misery in return for delivering the nuclear deterrent.

The MoD asks them to prove it, demanding evidence which veterans believe is hidden within the MoD itself.

Yesterday it was leaked they’ve been refused a medal again.

A junior defence minister told Parliament not to believe what was written in the @DailyMirror.

We’ve done more to reveal the truth of those tests than any government since.

And today, veterans are protesting at Parliament for their #missingmedal.

They include veterans of multiple tests, and their families.

I am very proud to be alongside them to report on the 65th anniversary of Grapple X, and the 60th anniversary of Dominic.

I will be taking down names of all MPs who attend - and those who don’t.

#missingmedal

The ball is now in @RishiSunak’s court - only he has the power to ask the king for a medal.

He backed the veterans in his run for No10, but made no comment since. @No10Official has ignored requests to meet them.

They’re not going away. Nor is @dailymirror. #missingmedal

Some have accused the Mirror of “seizing control” of the cause. It has reported on and supported the veterans since the 1980s, and always will, regardless of governments, or circumstances.

Journalism’s job is to give a voice to the voiceless. These people will be heard.