Atomic tests veteran: 'My teeth came out'
Shropshire's Charlie Price was a 21-year-old serviceman during the atomic bomb test off Christmas Island in the 1950s. Here he tells of how his health has suffered since.
Charlie Price sat on the beach with his arms folded over his knees and his eyes closed.
Behind him was the Pacific Ocean - and an atomic bomb being dropped from a Vulcan bomber overhead.
The 21-year-old felt the impact of the blast before turning round and snapping a picture of the huge mushroom cloud towering above him and the other members of the RAF stationed on Christmas Island.
"We would all sit on the beach, turn our backs to the bomb, fold our arms and they said they would tell us when we could move," said the 70-year-old veteran who now lives in Leebotwood, near Church Stretton.
"We could feel the heat and the pressure from the bomb even though it was 15 miles away, we could feel the pushing of it and after several moments they would say we could turn around and look at the bomb."
Mr Price joined the RAF in 1956 at the age of 17 and celebrated his 21st birthday during the British nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.
But although the experience at the time was something he will always remember, he has been left with poor health ever since.
"I lost most of my teeth. They just came out. They were perfectly healthy and then they just started falling out. The dentists said they thought it may be gum disease to begin with but they didn't know what it was," added Mr Price.
"When I came back from there I never felt well, I felt sickly all the time and had lots of stomach problems.
"I had treatments for stomach ulcers, but there were no ulcers. I was posted to Cyprus in 1962 and I was still going to see the doctors and they tried and tried."
Mr Price, who moved to Shropshire in 1969, said a few years ago he visited a local doctor who tried to get hold of his medical records from Innsworth in Gloucestershire but he was told they wouldn't let them go.
"When they did eventually get them things had been taken out," he added.
Around 1,000 servicemen who witnessed the nuclear tests are currently fighting a case in the High Court over the claim that they did not realise the dangers of the radiation.
The case, expected to last up to three weeks, could see veterans claim compensation totalling millions of pounds against the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Price said as someone who lost his quality of life and is still "never 100 per cent" he would like to receive some of that money.
By Rhea Parsons
