Ivan McCabe
New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association
-Operation Grapple
February 10, 2023.
Shimasaki:
Ivan, can you share with me your story and experience of Operation Grapple please?
McCabe:
My story starts with the Air Training Corp. I didn’t have school certificate so I couldn’t become Air Crew, and because I couldn’t become Air Crew I said, ‘bugger that’ and at that stage I had a very bad speech impediment and when I had my recruitment interview I was told the only work that I could do was those that didn’t require verbal communication. And, back in the day, everything, most everything on board was verbal. So, the only things that were available were; a stoker in the engine room, a writer in the office, or a cook. So I chose the cook.
Shimasaki:
I heard you were a cook.
McCabe:
And so, still with my speech impediment. I joined the Navy at 18, and after initial training, I was fairly fit in those days, and stroked a Navy rowing crew that operated out of the North end. I joined Pukakai, July 1958, and after a couple of weeks found myself at sea on the way to the Pacific, somewhere called Christmas Island. I thought, ‘oh, well that sounds like a nice view.’ And, I heard people talking about Christmas Island but didn’t really understand what they were talking about. Mid-ocean, somewhere, I think we had a medical-type person on board who talked to us about what was coming up- the nuclear bomb tests and this was being done on behalf of the British Government. Nuclear bomb tests, oh that will be interesting. What’s that all about? We were told there was no risk to anybody because the location was suitable because there was no significant land mass to attract any infestation of the fallout. and as it was over the ocean, the air currents would carry any fallout away, and it would be harmless. So I thought, oh well, that was all very interesting, very new to history, still didn’t understand what it was all about. And, the first things at Christmas Island was to get used to what our purpose up there was, and that was to gather weather information and so we would send up weather balloons to track the weather, the direction, the strength, etcetera, etcetera. And then one day, we were told, first blast is tomorrow evening at half-past five or six-o’clock, or whatever it was, all non-essential crew members will assemble on the upper deck in full anti-flash gear with special goggles which were supplied. Ok, all right, that’s alright- still didn’t really understand what it was all about. Assembled on the upper deck, sat down with our backs, which I now realise was towards the blast, and there was an announcement, “when we begin the countdown you must close your eyes, put your hands over your eyes, and stay still until you are given the command to stand up and turn around.” So, weren’t quite sure when the detonation was going to happen, but then there was a countdown and the first thing that you knew was the wave of heat on your back, as you were sitting there, there was a flash of light, some people can recall seeing the bones of through their hands, I certainly cannot recall that but apparently that’s what it was. Then came the crack, then came the boom, then we were given the command to stand up and turn around, and when you turned around you saw the mushroom cloud starting to form and the colours; the reds, the oranges as this thing slowly grew. As it grew up into the sky. After a period, we were stood down and went back to our normal duties and then the damage control people would go out, Geiger counters, because we understood and apparently to see if there were any hotspots. And I seem to remember seeing somewhere later, in later on years, that the response to that was that there were, “no significant findings here sir.” Then the decks were washed down and yeah, and basically that was that. The next three tests we were down below and only went out during the cloud formation stage. One thing that I do remember though is seeing Pukaki heading towards the mushroom cloud and sort of thought at the time, ‘well shouldn’t we be sailing away from it, instead of sailing to it?’ But, however, that’s what it was. And I also recall in my naivety hearing about water sampling, and of course they would stick something into the water to see if there was any radiation in the water, and that generally came back negative. But of course, the issue was that it depended on what depth the test was taken from but apparently not being a scientist I didn’t quite understand what that was all about. And then, of course, in the years after that it was generally not talked about. It was something that we did, we did it because it was our duty to be there although we didn’t have any say whether we would be there or not, and then in later years when it became apparent that there had been adverse health effects I then took part in the various studies; the Victoria University Study, and the Sir Paul Reeves Study, and I kept on, I think being young and fit and all of that, I had no perceived health issues, so I kept on ticking ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no,’ and then there became a point where they stopped contacting me. So, I then slid below the radar and, I must admit, I’ve been happy that up till now I’ve not had any adverse health effects, although that is now starting to catch up with me. I just recently contacted Veterans Affairs for some health issues that are starting to present themselves; hearing and eyesight, not eyesight as such, but the glare from the eyesight, and I remember reporting that to the hospital not long after the tests, and said look the glare was so bad. So, I was sent up to Auckland public hospital and they did tests, and the answer was that because I have an English heritage, that there was a pigment shortage in my skin, and it was the pigment shortage that was causing glare in my eyes and it is only recently that I have realised, ‘yes, there may have been a pigment shortage,’ but my deployment at the bomb tests certainly has aggravated it and so I am now going through the process to see if that can be recognised and the treatment that I need for my eyes and also for my ears can be recognised. That, going through Veterans Affairs, seems to be a very long process and I am just at the start of that journey.
Shimasaki:
I hope it all goes well for you.
And, looking back retrospectively now, how do you reflect on your experience and your time at the tests?
McCabe:
It is only in recent years that I understand the enormity of it. When I left the Navy I was able to get an Armed Forces rehabilitation dispensation to do a course with the New Zealand Society of Chartered Accountants so I went back to night school and studied for six years, another six years to do an accounting degree. And because of that, my focus was on that rather than maintaining contact with my old shipmates. So I am only now coming back into the fold as it were.
Shimasaki:
What would you like to see from sharing your story?
McCabe:
There has been some recognition, there has been a little bit of acknowledgement, but I don’t think there has been really much understanding or appreciation of what we did. And that has manifested itself in many ways that the Operation Grapple people are forgotten but the people who went to Mururoa, on the ships that went to Mururoa, they are the heroes, and that disappoints a lot of us because we were there in an active capacity and Mururoa were there as protestors because that was the politically correct thing to do at the time. And, a prime example of that is, I’m a stamp collector and a few years … ago New Zealand Post issued a 75th anniversary special edition and in the folder there was a brief history and I thought, ‘oh well, yes, i’ll get that because there will be something of Grapple in there, 1950s, no mention, 1960s a little bit, 1973, the first words in the 1973 section was, ‘New Zealand warships went to Mururoa in protest.’ We’ve been whitewashed out of the history books and Mururoa people are seen as heroes and that is both hurtful and disappointing. We have had some recognition, the one thing that we haven’t had, we’ve all got our medals and that sort of thing, but we have not had an apology from the government. The government of the day said, “yes, it’s ok for you fellows to go up there and do all that.” And it would not take much, it wouldn’t cost anything except acknowledgement and that’s I think, what probably all of us want. End of story.