An US Air Force veteran who served on a top-secret base known as “Area 52” claims he has suffered life-threatening illness due to his secretive work there, as former employees push for compensation from the government.
Mark Ely, 63, worked at the facility as a technician in his 20s and says he was tasked with inspecting secretly obtained Soviet fighter jets.
He was then a fit young man, but now says he lives with several life-threatening health problems because of the radiation from testing at the base, known as Tonopah Test Range, CBS News reports.
Air Force vets have previously launched legal action against the federal government alleging that they developed health problems from working on the base in 1980s.
More former personnel are reportedly breaking their silence with claims they were left with debilitating illnesses later in life after working at the nuclear testing site, where according to a federal assessment, the military tested weapons that would leave scattered radioactive material.
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Speaking to the news channel, Ely said the work “scarred my lungs. I got cysts on my liver. … I started having lipomas, tumors inside my body I had to remove. My lining in my bladder was shed.”
But the former employee says he hasn’t been able to get the government to acknowledge his service which he carried out under a non-disclosure agreement and can’t even prove he worked there.
Ely is angry at his treatment by the federal government,, adding: “It makes me incredibly mad and it hurts me too because they’re supposed to have my back. I had theirs and I want them to have mine.”
Dave Crete has spent years trying to locate hundreds of other former employees.
He and fellow former serviceman Pomp Baswell filed a lawsuit last year over the effects of their work in “Area 51,” an area covering more than 2.9 million acres next to the nuclear test site, MailOnline reports.
Crete, who formerly worked for the Air Force’s security police squadron guarding the F-117A steal bomber range at the site, says he suffers from chronic bronchitis breathing problems and had to have a tumour removed from his back. He also says he has seen “all kinds of cancers” in other vets.
Other employees that worked in the region have been able to get over $25 billion in federal assistance, though Air Force veterans like Ely and Crete are yet to benefit, the Mail reports.
The Department of Defense confirmed that the two men served when approached for comment by the outlet, but declined to say where.
Crete and Baswell allege in their lawsuit that their health problems developed as a result of living and working on soil contaminated with toxic materials by government testing.
Braswell, who worked at the site between 1987 and 1990, told the channel: “The thing is we were all handpicked, to be up there and get that clearance. With that being said, we were all at the top of our game, always.
Crete, who was there between 1983 and 1987, claimed: “The government said they secured the area so there would be no more spread of the contamination.
“The way they secured it was with a barbed wire fence. Now I don’t have a PhD in Physics, but a barbed wire fence isn’t going to do that.”
“Its infuriating, especially when our government and company is taking care of other countries and they won’t take care of us,” Braswell said.
The department told the Mail they do not comment on any pending or ongoing litigation.
Speaking to Arizona Family News, Nevada’s Republican Representative Mark Amodei said he is working on a bill aimed at winning compensation and restitution for vets and their families affected by exposure to toxic chemicals.
