By Graeme Strachan

A DUNDEE man who took part in atomic bomb testing over 50 years ago has joined a multi- million pound legal action against the Ministry of Defence.

John Martin Gilchrist (72), of Broughty Ferry, is among hundreds of British servicemen behind one of the country’s biggest compensation claims.

Mr Gilchrist said the potentially devastating effects of tests that took place in the Pacific in the 1950s and 1960s could be behind a series of tragic events that have befallen his family.

He said, “The effects of the radiation could have caused us various problems with our health and with our children’s health and our grandchildren’s health.

“Personally I feel fine but that’s not to say that my children are or my grandchildren are if I’ve passed on any genes that are bad genes to my children and they in turn are passing them on to their children.

“I’ve had the loss of three grandchildren.

“Whether that’s any part related to the tests we don’t know.

“One was stillborn, one died halfway through pregnancy, and one we had for seven weeks and she died.”

Around 12,000 servicemen and 1000 civilians are thought to have witnessed atomic explosions between 1957 and 1962 when the British and US detonated 31 devices over Christmas Island.

Among these tests were the “Grapple Y” and “Grapple Z” series of six detonations of weapons many times more powerful than those discharged at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Thousands of other servicemen took part in hydrogen and atomic bomb testing in the Pacific Ocean and Australia between 1952 and 1967.

The tests were carried out at a time when Britain was trying to match Soviet and US nuclear technology.

Now two groups of veterans are spearheading legal action in a bid for compensation from the MoD with London law firm Rosenblatt filing a writ in the High Court on their behalf.

Rosenblatt is using research unearthed by scientists in New Zealand which shows servicemen’s genes have been altered as proof.

Mr Gilchrist served with the Royal Navy for two years’ National Service and took part in hydrogen and atomic bomb testing in the Montebello Islands off Western Australia.

“There were tests that we had to do because we had no choice,” he said. “But there were no medical checks when we finished or when we got home to see how they had affected us.

“To me they left a lot of unfinished business. There were a number of lads who were on the ship with me who have died from cancer and leukaemia and various things like that.”

Mr Gilchrist said it’s not about the money but protecting his family’s future if they do get ill.

“I’ve never had any compensation from the Government,” he said. “If we are going to be given compensation then that’s fair enough but it’s more to do with if there’s anything likely to happen to any of my family in the future.

“Will they have any claim to come back in the future if they get ill? That is the main thing.

“I feel that we were put in a dangerous situation and we should have had adequate protection.

“The servicemen just want answers from the Government and there are things that we want to get to the bottom of to find out just what damage they have done.”

Experts have estimated that one in three of those who were involved in the tests have developed cancer while others have suffered a range of health problems.

The writ issued at the High Court in London has just been made available to the public and also says some claimants’ children have been born with missing or defective arms or legs.

Some of the claims have been launched by families of veterans who have since died.

According to the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, of 2500 men surveyed in 1999, 30% had died, mostly in their 50s.

In their grandchildren, spina bifida rates are more than five times the usual rate for live births in the UK.

At present, the 1000-plus servicemen are fighting to have their day in court because the MoD claims they are out of time in bringing the case.

“The ministry are using a “limitation defence,” arguing that the men’s cases should have been brought within three years of their injuries appearing.

Mervyn Fudge, a consultant with Rosenblatt’s, said, “That is morally bankrupt because the Government have been saying since the mid-1980s, when these people started to think they may have been ill, that they were not exposed.”

An MoD spokesman said, “When compensation claims are received they are considered on the basis of whether or not the Ministry of Defence has a legal liability to pay compensation.

“Where there is a proven legal liability, compensation is paid.”