Test Site workers unlock Cold War memories

Jennifer Knight

Monday, June 16, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

The craters that transformed the Nevada Test Site into a moonscape during the 1950s tell only part of the story of what went on there.

The lingering memories of former workers during that tense Cold War era tell the other part of the story.

A group of historians at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, will unearth some of the untold stories of former Test Site electricians, plumbers, supervisors and scientists in a three-year long oral history project that will chronical their experiences during America's race to win the Cold War.

"I think there had to be a Test Site, otherwise there would be no America," said Jake Jacobs, 72, who worked as a supervisor in underground testing beginning in 1961.

UNLV has been granted $582,000 from the Energy Department to chronicle the stories of the remaining Test Site workers over the next three years. The resulting interviews will be archived in the university's library and will also be part of a multimedia exhibit at the Desert Research Institute's new museum.

The Test Site, which stretches over more than 1,350 square miles in the desert northwest of Las Vegas, was a central player in the Cold War. It hosted more than 1,000 nuclear weapons tests from 1951 to 1992.

The historians working on the oral history project say the story of Test Site workers goes far beyond the tests that occurred there.

It is about lifelong friendships forged in the cloistered government facility. It is about dedicated workers keeping secrets for decades from family and friends. And ultimately, it is about how the arms race that workers participated in took its toll on the health of workers, the environment and the nation, historians say.

"It was an incredible scientific achievement, but it was a double-edged sword because there were some frightening implications of building these weapons," said Andrew Kirk, an assistant professor at UNLV who specializes in 20th-century history.

Atomic bomb tests were conducted at the site both below ground and above ground, spitting radioactive material into the air -- some of it reaching as far as New York, Kirk said.

While in the eye of the Cold War hurricane, workers weren't always aware of the what the tests meant historically or what dangers they presented.

"It was just mind-boggling to see the devastation they were causing," said Oscar Foger, 62, a miner from 1960 to 1995 who recalled standing in a ditch and watching one of the above-ground explosions. "There was a little curiosity there about what we were going to use this for. But back then, you weren't allowed to ask a lot of questions. We just went about our business."

Tino Salasar, a laborer who worked at the Test Site from 1963 to 1992, said 14 of his former co-workers have died from cancer.

"All of the guys I used to work with are already dead," said Salasar, whose job was to clean up radioactive pellets after the underground blasts went off. "Now, I have cancer in my left lung. I can't walk like I used to. I can't work."

Despite their bittersweet relationship with the job, workers said there were good things that went on at the site.

"The Test Site was my life," said Sandie Medina, who handled clerical support for underground testing from 1970 to 1995. "Forget the families we had in Vegas, because our family was these guys at the Test Site. It was depressing the day we had to walk out."

Medina, along with other Test Site workers, were interviewed by the Sun last week at a monthly reunion at a local pancake house. The workers get together to trade old stories and catch up on recent ones.

Several workers said last week they got used to not seeing their families until the weekends. When they left the Test Site, they often saw protesters at the gate. And once they were home, they could not talk about the work that consumed so much of their lives.

"When they told you not to talk about anything, you didn't do it 'cause you wanted to keep that job," said Fred Widmier, 75, who was a shift boss from 1958 to 1963.

"There wasn't a whole lot you could tell them," Foger said. "I never was able to get into any details."

Because of the sensitivity of the work, much of what went on at the Test Site could not be studied by historians until now.

James Frey, dean of liberal arts, said the historians hope to interview at least 150 workers before the project is complete.

Still, it is doubtful that all of the secrets of Test Site will be exposed during the interviews. Widmier said there are some things that are better left unsaid.

"They should have done some things differently," Widmier said. "But this was the Cold War. The things that they did had to be done to keep up with Russia. Those things should never be talked about."