Family given posthumous medal for service at 1950s’ nuclear test site

A LOCAL family has received a posthumous medal on behalf of their late husband and father, Harold ‘Hal’ Spencer, for his services at a nuclear test site on Christmas Island from 1957 to 1958. Known as Operation Grapple, there was a series of four British nuclear weapons tests of early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs, which were carried out on the island in the Pacific Ocean as part of the British hydrogen bomb programme.

Harold ’Hal’ Spencer, who served in the RAF for 38 years, was one of the troops on the island at the time. He died in 1999 after over 30 years of ill health. “He had a huge stroke just after he retired and passed away when he was 69,” says his daughter, Kathy Iles, who is a Melksham resident. “He was posted to Christmas Island as part of Operation Grapple in December 1957, when his first daughter was just nine weeks old. When he returned home a year later, my mum, Elsie, said his entire back, including legs and arms, were completely covered in boils, welts, and blisters and he was in complete agony for weeks – absolutely horrific.”

Over 20,000 servicemen from the Royal Navy, Marines, Army and Royal Air Force took part in these operations, which involved building a camp on Christmas Island, along with two airfields. Other islands were also used for the operation. “He told her that when the bomb was tested, they were all gathered on the beach and just told to turn their backs for the ‘flash’,” says Kathy. “I was born eight years later; my parents thought they could not have any more children as my dad was diagnosed as being sterile after returning from Christmas Island.

He never spoke of his experiences on Christmas Island for the rest of his life. “We are incredibly proud and emotional to receive this medal on my dad’s behalf, but also just so very sad that this happened in the first place and thousands of men were used as guinea pigs and died young, were denied their own families, or worse still, passed on illnesses caused by radiation to their children because of it.” The Nuclear Test Medal, which was announced in 2022, was the first military medal issued by King Charles, and is awarded to veterans of the nuclear weapons testing on Christmas Island in the 1950s.