'I was exposed to nerve agent on Okinawa' – US soldier sickened by chemical weapon leak at Chibana Ammunition Depot in 1969 breaks silence on what happened that day.
Dados Bibliográficos
| AUTOR(ES) | |
|---|---|
| ANO | 2019 |
| TIPO | Artigo |
| PERIÓDICO | Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology |
| ISSN | 1743-7555 |
| E-ISSN | 1743-7563 |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1557466019015626 |
| ADICIONADO EM | 2025-08-18 |
Resumo
On July 8 1969, 19-year old US soldier Daniel Plemons was working at Chibana Ammunition Depot, Okinawa, in one of the most dangerous – and secretive – jobs in the US military: the maintenance of chemical weapons.'There were 500-pound (227 kg) bombs filled with nerve agent and we were sandblasting the old paint off them before repainting and stenciling their markings. Our team had finished around 25 – then I started having trouble breathing and my vision became strange. Thinking it was just the dust, I stepped outside for a moment but when I went back inside, everybody was gone. I found them out the back of the building and they yelled at me to inject myself with my automatic spring-loaded antidote. I injected it into my upper thigh. It hurt – but that's what saved my life.'